Take credit card payments on your phone

I don’t carry much cash around with me these days. I use my debit card most of the time to pay for most items.  It’s convenient, and I get to rack up points on my debit card when I buy something.

Last August, I just finished getting my haircut, and it was time for me to pay up.  I gave the hairstylist my card, and he swiped it on a credit card reader attached to his cellphone.  I was amazed by it, so I asked him about it.  He told me it was a free Square Card Reader  Square makes their money from the transactions which are only 2.75% for each swipe.  That’s lower than Stripe and Paypal’s fees of 2.9% + $.30 per transaction.

I left the hair salon amazed by the card reader, but I forgot about it for a few months until it finally hit me that the majority of people don’t carry much cash on them, and they sure don’t carry their checkbook with them.  I decided to give the Square Card Reader a shot.  I ordered one online and received it in the mail a few days later.

It was easy to set up.  No merchant account was needed.  I just entered my bank account information on the Square website, and I was set.

It ended up coming in handy when I was at a client’s office.  She was pressed for time, and she didn’t have her checkbook handy to pay for website updates.  That’s when I decided to pull out the card reader.  I ran her card, she signed with her finger on my smartphone, and I had a receipt sent to her email all in a minute or two.  The payment deposited in my account in just two days.