# Square Credit card reader



## TxElectrician (May 21, 2008)

Most of my CC sales are service calls or projects under 2k. Being able to have my guys get payment on the spot, not have to worry about them losing the check, and not having to go to the bank to make a deposit all make it worthwhile for me.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

TxElectrician said:


> Most of my CC sales are service calls or projects under 2k. Being able to have my guys get payment on the spot, not have to worry about them losing the check, and not having to go to the bank to make a deposit all make it worthwhile for me.


Talk to your bank and see if they have an app you can make deposits with your smart phone with.


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## NYgutterguy (Mar 3, 2014)

If I know ahead of time it's different. I have a gc I install for that always pays by credit card. I always add a few bucks to job
Have another who always tries to talk me down $100. He also gets $100 added ahead of time. 


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## WalnutBuilders (Sep 24, 2016)

I accept credit cards via Square fairly regularly. I feel like offering CC payment as an option ( I mean Actually Offering it) helps me land customers that may be in the fence. I get my money in about 24 hours and they can pay for the work as they see fit.

If I Know someone will pay with a CC, I'll add a percentage to offset the charge. If not, I typically just absorb the cost and add it to the expense column.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

Half my CC customers are on their phones paying the bill while I'm running the card through. They are just using the card to rack up bonus points / miles.

Heck, what do I care? They're paying for it.


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## WalnutBuilders (Sep 24, 2016)

480sparky said:


> Half my CC customers are on their phones paying the bill while I'm running the card through. They are just using the card to rack up bonus points / miles.
> 
> Heck, what do I care? They're paying for it.


Exactly. Offer to accept a card so the HO can earn miles! Then charge them for the convience...


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

The card holder doesn't pay for the miles. The merchant does


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## Mordekyle (May 20, 2014)

But the merchant charges the card holder for it.....


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

Californiadecks said:


> The card holder doesn't pay for the miles. The merchant does


And I charge the customer. So they end up paying for them.


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

480sparky said:


> Everyone seems to panic about this subject and not realize that CC fees are _just another cost of doing business_. Just like your licenses, insurance, cell phone etc. Roll it into your overhead and don't lose any more sleep over it.





480sparky said:


> And I charge the customer. So they end up paying for them.


So I guess it isn't the cost of doing business.


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

heavy_d said:


> The catch to this is, you could have been charging this 3 percent more all along.. and now you are losing it when they pay with square or cc. So why not charge an additional 3 percent when they want to use cc??


This sums it up pretty good.


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## pcplumber (Oct 12, 2008)

This is something that nobody seems to pay attention to. It is illegal in California, Colorado, Massachusetts and several other states to charge a surcharge, or fee for taking a credit card.

I get very angry at business the little greedy business owners who charge to use my credit card. Last week, I wanted to fill my gas tank with my credit card and the gas station wanted $1 to use the card. I stopped at a mom & pop convenience store to but a Gatorade and the owner wanted 89 cents to use my card. I always argue with them, tell them that Visa puts on their merchant agreement that the vendor cannot charge the customer to use the card and they always tell me to screw-off.

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-convenience-fees-cost-surcharges-1280.php

If you live in one of the states where surcharges are illegal, complain to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, says Dan Rosenfeld, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation.

"We do not believe that consumers should have to pay a fee just to use their debit or credit card," says Carr. "It is unfair and wrong." 

Visa
According to Visa's policy, certain criteria must be met in order for a merchant to charge a convenience fee:

The payment must take place across an alternative payment channel.
Customers must be told about the fee in advance.
The fee must be a flat or fixed price rather than a percentage of the sale.
The fee must be included in the total transaction amount.
The fee must be applied to all means of payment that are accepted in that alternative payment channel.

MasterCard
Like Visa, MasterCard outlaws surcharges.


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## Sir Mixalot (Jan 6, 2008)

pcplumber said:


> This is something that nobody seems to pay attention to. It is illegal in California, Colorado, Massachusetts and several other states to charge a surcharge, or fee for taking a credit card.
> 
> I get very angry at business the little greedy business owners who charge to use my credit card. Last week, I wanted to fill my gas tank with my credit card and the gas station wanted $1 to use the card. I stopped at a mom & pop convenience store to but a Gatorade and the owner wanted 89 cents to use my card. I always argue with them, tell them that Visa puts on their merchant agreement that the vendor cannot charge the customer to use the card and they always tell me to screw-off.
> 
> ...


That link you shared was last "Updated: December 20, 2012".

Not sure about California. But this is what shows up when I Google: 

"is it illegal to charge a fee to use a credit card"



> Is it legal to charge a credit card fee?
> As of January 27, 2013, these rules have changed. Businesses are now allowed to charge checkout fees to customers who use Visa and MasterCard credit cards (NOT debit cards!), and may continue to surcharge Discover and American Express, who were not involved in the recent settlement.


https://www.google.com/webhp?source... illegal to charge a fee to use a credit card


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## pcplumber (Oct 12, 2008)

Sir Mixalot said:


> That link you shared was last "Updated: December 20, 2012".
> 
> Not sure about California. But this is what shows up when I Google:
> 
> ...


Thank you very much. I will have to do more homework.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

pcplumber said:


> ......
> I get very angry at business the little greedy business owners who charge to use my credit card..........


Whether or not there is a line-item on the invoice for CC charges, *you still pay for it*.


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

The law changed in Cali as well. It was a compromise. They won't allow the charge to be on a debit card but debit cards can't offer rewards. Here in Cali. Anyway. Extra charges are however allow on a CC.


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## gingerbeardhs (Aug 24, 2016)

I think it should depend on the meyhod of payment: 

if you are using Square and use it occasionally then I don't think its a problem to add a surcharge. Do you give away free materials? I view Cc processing charges as a material cost.

If you do a many CC charges a month, you should talk to the bank about getting a bulk process System. In Oz you can get one that has a monthly fee for unlimited transactions. That way you can build it into costs. Its how cafe's do it here

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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

Well I recieved my square reader today. It accepts chip cards and works with Bluetooth. Pretty cool tech.


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## pcplumber (Oct 12, 2008)

Californiadecks said:


> Well I recieved my square reader today. It accepts chip cards and works with Bluetooth. Pretty cool tech.


I had three different credit card readers in the field and had serious problems with electronic glitches where employees thought they completed the processing of a transaction and a few days later the office figured out that 'something' went wrong. We had a few occasions where we barely found the problem and no more processing in the field for me. 

There is the old saying, "too many hands spoil the soup" and that definitely applies to having 5 or 10 people running around town with credit card processors and then trying to put the data together. It is much safer and more-accurate to have one person in one location with one machine and only one paper file.


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## EthanB (Sep 28, 2011)

I've been taking cards since 2009 and I don't really understand why a contractor wouldn't. I'd say 90% of the people that were going to use a card, asked before I'd given a price so it would have been easy to just roll it into the estimate. I just provide two prices on a quote, the full price and a price discounted 2% for cash or check. It's pretty simple.

One caution since you're starting up a new account with Square. They can put a freeze on the funds for a lengthy period of time. It may have changed recently but I know that was an issue for some people in the past. Read the fine print.

Just so you guys know. 2.75% is pretty darn high, if you're regularly accepting cards, talk to a real processing vendor and find a better solution.


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

EthanB said:


> I've been taking cards since 2009 and I don't really understand why a contractor wouldn't. I'd say 90% of the people that were going to use a card, asked before I'd given a price so it would have been easy to just roll it into the estimate. I just provide two prices on a quote, the full price and a price discounted 2% for cash or check. It's pretty simple.
> 
> One caution since you're starting up a new account with Square. They can put a freeze on the funds for a lengthy period of time. It may have changed recently but I know that was an issue for some people in the past. Read the fine print.
> 
> Just so you guys know. 2.75% is pretty darn high, if you're regularly accepting cards, talk to a real processing vendor and find a better solution.


I think they do a soft credit check on you. I'm okay if they did.


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## TxElectrician (May 21, 2008)

EthanB said:


> One caution since you're starting up a new account with Square. They can put a freeze on the funds for a lengthy period of time. It may have changed recently but I know that was an issue for some people in the past. Read the fine print


Seems like I remember that too. Would put a hold on anything over a few thousand. All it took was a call to confirm I was a real business, to do away with the hold, now the $ is in the bank the next day


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

EthanB said:


> I've been taking cards since 2009 and I don't really understand why a contractor wouldn't. I'd say 90% of the people that were going to use a card, asked before I'd given a price so it would have been easy to just roll it into the estimate. I just provide two prices on a quote, the full price and a price discounted 2% for cash or check. It's pretty simple.
> 
> One caution since you're starting up a new account with Square. They can put a freeze on the funds for a lengthy period of time. It may have changed recently but I know that was an issue for some people in the past. Read the fine print.
> 
> Just so you guys know. 2.75% is pretty darn high, if you're regularly accepting cards, talk to a real processing vendor and find a better solution.


It depends on your average transaction amount and what card they use. With Square there is no monthly fee which should be taken into account.

Where I use to work we paid 1.4 percent for Visa or MasterCard, and up to 3.5 for Amex rewards cards. But the average transaction amount was very high.


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## pcplumber (Oct 12, 2008)

EthanB said:


> I've been taking cards since 2009 and I don't really understand why a contractor wouldn't. I'd say 90% of the people that were going to use a card, asked before I'd given a price so it would have been easy to just roll it into the estimate. I just provide two prices on a quote, the full price and a price discounted 2% for cash or check. It's pretty simple.
> 
> One caution since you're starting up a new account with Square. They can put a freeze on the funds for a lengthy period of time. It may have changed recently but I know that was an issue for some people in the past. Read the fine print.
> 
> Just so you guys know. 2.75% is pretty darn high, if you're regularly accepting cards, talk to a real processing vendor and find a better solution.


I have been through at least 10 credit card processing companies in the last 45 years and every time I get a new company another company tells me that I am getting ripped off. I have switched processing companies as many as 3 times in one year.

The problem with credit card processing companies is they quote their basic and lowest rate of something like 3%. Then, when they process the credit cards they charge different rates for different types of cards. I was being charged 9% for federal credit card plus monthly service charge and fees I can't remember to name. I never even knew there was a federal credit card and then I found out that we processed several federal credit cards every month.

I know one contractor who uses Square and Square puts freezes on all his transactions when they are about $5000+ (don't know the exact amount). Then, it is always a nightmare because (at least at the time) the only way to do business with Square was by emailing them. Square always wanted signed copies of the contracts and it takes a long time to send a copy of the contract when it is in your office and you are in the field. I think it always takes about a week, or more, to get his money from the time he finds out that his money was frozen.


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## Lettusbee (May 8, 2010)

Square is an enemy of 2nd amendment rights. That alone sways my decision to avoid them.


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## EthanB (Sep 28, 2011)

What do you call something unrelated to elephants?



Irrelephant.


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## TxElectrician (May 21, 2008)

pcplumber said:


> I know one contractor who uses Square and Square puts freezes on all his transactions when they are about $5000+ (don't know the exact amount). Then, it is always a nightmare because (at least at the time) the only way to do business with Square was by emailing them. Square always wanted signed copies of the contracts and it takes a long time to send a copy of the contract when it is in your office and you are in the field. I think it always takes about a week, or more, to get his money from the time he finds out that his money was frozen.


As was previously stated, this can easily be avoided by getting in touch with them. I have never had to send them any copies of contracts or the things you are describing. My money has always been in the my bank in two days or less, mostly the next day. I have been using them for several years.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

Lettusbee said:


> Square is an enemy of 2nd amendment rights. That alone sways my decision to avoid them.


If you haven't let them know your feelings on the matter, then your actions have failed miserably.


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