So I`m ordering a Square Terminal on the 5th

Q

quebert

Member
I haven`t used Square much, but the times I have I love it. I`m going to get back into detailing and make it my full time gig this time around. Square release their Terminal late last year. It`s basically their app on a rechargeable phone`ish device with a thermal printer. At $399 it`s not cheap. But you can get it for 12 $37 payments, which is right up my ally. With my brand of logic, I`m only paying $37 for it lol. Although I just did the math (I hate math...) looks like it`s $45 more if you go the payment route. Still, I feel like I`m somehow getting it cheaper *shrug* This definitely will make me look a whole lot more professional than when I use to pull out my phone and BT Square card reader. It also works with Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, and I think Google Wallet. I got my 1st Square reader when they were brand new, and a lot of people refused to let me run their credit card. A lot has changed, a few months ago I bought Girl Scout cookies because they had Square reader

"want to buy cookies?"
"Ooohh I`d love to, but I don`t have cash, sorry"
"we take cards" - points to Square dongle.

Anyone who uses Square should Google this. It looks like about the perfect all in one mobile POS system out there. Only thing that sucks, it`s Ethernet or Wifi only. So mobile I`ll have to set up a Hotspot on my phone. Not a deal breaker, but a SIM card would have been nice.
 
FWIW, there`s a lot of negative press regarding Square.

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/business/square.html

A friend of mine used this for his business and finally gave up on it. One of his biggest complaints was the swipe failure rate. The transaction processing cost for manual keyed entry was much higher than that of a swiped transaction. It drove him up a wall.
 
SGM2008 said:
FWIW, there`s a lot of negative press regarding Square.

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/business/square.html

A friend of mine used this for his business and finally gave up on it. One of his biggest complaints was the swipe failure rate. The transaction processing cost for manual keyed entry was much higher than that of a swiped transaction. It drove him up a wall.
Click to expand...

The problem with that link is it`s such a small slice of the Square user base. 415 pretty poor reviews for a year out of millions of people who use it. I`ve had some issues with Square myself, but, I`ve worked retail where I`ve had problems with the systems BoA deploys too. Being able to manually enter a card`s nice when the swipe doesn`t work. Yeah it`s 3.5% + .15 a transaction. But I`m detailing cars, not selling a product and my sells will hover in a low range. So losing $20-30 a month to be able to accept cards would be worth it imho. If I was to get a normal merchant account, the monthly fee`s & equipment lease cost would probably > Square`s fees even if I was to manually enter every card.


For accepting cards mobile, the big dogs are Square & Clover. I don`t think either are perfect. Clover requires you submit an application for approval, no idea how stringent they are. But I have less than perfect credit, and anything involving $$$, I`m worried lol. Oh, and they have monthly fees.


I`ll still look into Clover and their Flex terminal. But I definitely need something where I can charge customers where ever I`m at. And a full fledged merchant account setup would be out of my price range, and I probably wouldn`t pass a banks application process any ways.
 
My chiropractor uses one and my body shop guy. I think it’s a great idea for a mobile operation. Cash and checks have problems too. Not having to go to the bank to make deposits is a big plus, and no bounced checks to try to collect. My 81 year old Mother is about the only one I know that still writes checks and I’m trying to break her of that habit.

Are you going to include a surcharge in your prices to make up for the cost of the machine and their surcharge?
 
rlmccarty2000 said:
My chiropractor uses one and my body shop guy. I think it’s a great idea for a mobile operation. Cash and checks have problems too. Not having to go to the bank to make deposits is a big plus, and no bounced checks to try to collect. My 81 year old Mother is about the only one I know that still writes checks and I’m trying to break her of that habit.

Are you going to include a surcharge in your prices to make up for the cost of the machine and their surcharge?
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I don`t plan to alter my prices, the hardware I want is pretty pricey at $400. But, it`s a lot cheaper than some of the other options, which don`t do as much. The % per card I`ll ignore. Since I detail and don`t sell a physical product, the 2.7% hit per swipe isn`t as bad. Years ago I use to offer a cash discount, but like you said not having to go to a bank to make deposits saves me time and hassle. So it`s worth taking a bit of a lose to paying Square. Googling some more today I saw groups of people having problems with Square. But, I see a lot of people always griping about PayPal, and I haven`t had problems with PayPal (used since day 1) I don`t know how many people use Square, but it`s in the millions for sure. I guess I just gotta hope I don`t fall into that small group that does encounter problems.

The problem is if you don`t want to use Square, the other options are either companies nobody knows, ones that require a large amount of traffic, ones that charge anywhere from $50-199 a month just to use it. Or, you have options like PayPal, which you see so many people disliking for their online transfers. I can`t imagine their mobile processing would be any better. Clover does look interesting in how you can make it more customized with software modules.

So yeah in ending this long rant, my $25 basic wash will remain $25 even if they use a credit card. I`ll take the .75 cent hit as a cost of doing business. What I don`t want to do is start adding on fee`s for cards, or charging oddball prices to reflect my costs.

"how much for a wash and vacuum?"
"$31.62"
just doesn`t sound right to me lol. Also, maybe it`s just me but if I was to charge $26 or $27 or round up to the nearest dollar. I don`t like the amounts. $25, $30, $300. Even numbers. Quoting someone $302 to to a coating strikes me as off.
My math sucks, but on a $300 coating job I`d be out $8, which isn`t really terrible.
 
Again I really like the idea and to me it makes you more professional. It should also help you with your bookkeeping and end of quarter taxes. Just don’t let the costs associated with the machine affect your bottom line negatively. I understand it’s a few cents or a few dollars, but over a years time little stuff can turn into a big expense and no one wants to work for free. Please let us know how it works out for you and maybe help some of us learn something.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
rlmccarty2000 said:
Again I really like the idea and to me it makes you more professional. It should also help you with your bookkeeping and end of quarter taxes. Just don’t let the costs associated with the machine affect your bottom line negatively. I understand it’s a few cents or a few dollars, but over a years time little stuff can turn into a big expense and no one wants to work for free. Please let us know how it works out for you and maybe help some of us learn something.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I was 99% ready to order the Square, but I`m reading up on Clover Flex. It will be one or the other, but I want something in place before I`m officially in business. As you stated, small fee`s daily can turn into a big total yearly. The good thing about whichever POS I chose. If I end up not liking it, or find a better processing company 8 months down the road I can just switch. Clover has some sweet looking software modules you can add, where the Square Terminal is all you have, unless they decide to release new stuff in an update. But looking at the Clover monthly fee`s, like you said, the $19 a month that would be $228 a year. So the 2.3% they charge vs 2.7% for Square`s definitely a wash. I found some Clover Flex processing companies that charge 0.20% with a $15-20 monthly fee. And a few 0% + .8 a transaction. But they have high monthly minimums. And I`m pretty sure I`m a looooong ways from processing $10k a month, if ever lol. Both have built in receipt printers that use standard thermal paper rolls. An actual printed receipt with my logo on the top is a nice professional touch.

And I know how my luck goes, so as soon as I pick one (this week) within a month something new, better and cheaper will be released.
 
IMO skip the terminal and look more into their appointments feature. Ive been using square for years and just started using the appointments this year. MUCH more of a legit/professional feel with the appointments. Automatically sends appointment confirmations as well as reminders. I create invoices for all my customers and send them to their email when I begin working on their vehicle. I simply tell my customers, payment is due upon completion and if they would like to pay VIA card, they can pay online thru the link in their email, otherwise I accept cash or check as well. No matter how they pay, they will receive an emailed receipt. I do all of this thru my iPhone. No need to use a mobile hot spot or anything.

My chip card reader died on me MONTHS ago (figures the one I had to pay for broke) however I haven`t had to swipe a card since.

I must be one of the "millions" who has had no problems at all with square other than the reader failing. I don`t need it anymore so I`m not even bothered by that fact. Honestly square has SIGNIFIGANTLY streamlined how I handle everything on the business end of detailing.
 
Good info ShaneB, I have the Square Appointment app on my phone and will have it linked from my Web Site. I definitely want to take advantage of it. I probably need to read up more, I know you can do a lot of things. Can people tip thru it? I`ve already ordered the mobile POS system, but once I get it, I`ll have 30 days to return it. Maybe I`ll follow your suggestion and focus on using the appointment app. Square`s a god send for small businesses.
 
Agreed square makes things really easy for small businesses.

Take the time on a PC to setup your appointments. Plan an hour or two of your time to become familiar with it. Use the app for everything else. It`s much easier to setup and organize the appointments on a PC. Just setup individual services and every time a customer wants to book an appointment, collect their name, phone number and email and create a new customer. When you book an appointment you can add your customer and select the services they want to schedule. It will Auto fill your appointments calendar when you schedule an appointment with the service and the amount of time you had selected for it.

My favorite part of it is that it sends email and text confirmations of the appointment to your customer, and also automatically sends a reminder email and text the day before (or another time frame if you choose).

You select your appointment when the time comes (via the app) and when it comes time to pay, you`d select review and check out. It`ll automatically have everything loaded up and ready to charge based off the services selected for the appointment. You can take payment there or do what I do and send an invoice. If they are paying with a card the option will be there to tip. Sending the invoice allows me to tell them if they want to use a card to please pay online via the emailed invoice. Just make sure you turn on "allow tips" before sending the invoice
 
LOL the Terminal doesn`t work with Square Appointment, of course. That would make too much sense I guess. So, it appears if I use the Terminal and I want to use Appointments. I`ll still have to carry my iPhone. Great info from you. I`ll try out everything and figure out what method works for my needs. Options are good, too bad everything doesn`t integrate.
 
ShaneB said:
Makes sense. A terminal is more for selling goods rather than services
Click to expand...

While I see what you`re saying, if you`re a service based company that doesn`t sell goods. It would imho make sense to have the Appointment app on the Terminal. The Terminal`s probably runs on some sort of Android OS. From the best I can figure out with having never used either Appointments or the Terminal. You can charge a customer on terminal and then generate an invoice. But set something in the invoice so they don`t overlap and you end up with 2 transactions for a single sale.
 
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