Square Card Reader User Review
by Kimberlie at Magic Starfish
If you are looking for a small, easy to use and inexpensive method of taking credit card or Debit card transactions at markets or for business sales then have a look at the Square Reader.
Cost $19 + 1.9% of each transaction
Available from Officeworks, Bunnings or the Apple store or you can have it posted to you.
It is a small device about 5 cms square which plugs into the headphone jack of your mobile phone, this reader links with an app on your phone to take transactions.
I found it easiest to set up the device on my computer but you can do it through the app. The website is very easy to navigate and the text is big so it’s easy to read. (I find PayPal website text is hard to read and it’s hard to find the area you are looking for even after their update)
Things to remember when signing up to Square
- Sign up 7 days before you intend to use it so that your bank account it tested and linked this way your money goes into your account 2 days after your transactions.
- If you have moved within the last 6 months use your old address in your information as the ID checking company that Square uses may be 6 months behind with their information.
- Have your business information e.g. ABN and bank account details ready when you sign up.
It’s very similar to using PayPal, these are the things I love about using Square
Benefits of Square
- It’s small, (easily fits in a bum bag or a pocket)
- charges quickly (lead included needs a USB socket for power)
- the battery lasted us all day
- Customers type in their pin number to authorise transactions (same as PayPal)
- You can email or sms receipts to customers (same as PayPal)
- You can see all your transactions in the app (same as PayPal)
- You also get an email each day for all your transactions, we found this very helpful after a market
- You are also told if this is a new customer or a repeat customer
- Customers can leave reviews of your business
- There are lots of analytics available on the Square website
- Funds are transferred to your account in 2 days so you don’t have money accumulating in PayPal which you need to remember to transfer. (one less thing to think about!)
We also took the time to add all our items and prices into Square (you can do this in PayPal too) this made it very easy at the market.
At the moment Square is having a special promotion, if you refer someone to sign up to square using your special promo code (this is Magic Starfish’s promo code https://squareup.com/i/
