No Cash, That’s Ok!

Now carrying cash is just like another heavy, bulky thing that you have to lug around. Well not anymore. A lot of people don’t bring cash because of this reason. These days’ people only carry plastic on them because it is an easy form of payment and is smaller than a big roll of green paper taking up room in your pocket. People with small business may lose customers this way. Not anymore! If you have an iPhone then you no longer have to decline a person with a credit card every again. The “Square” new mobile payment solution is just what you are looking for. Square was developed from Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. The Square is a very small plastic cube. It is about the size of two Chiclets. On the bottom it has an audio connector that plugs into the headphone port. There is a small slot in the cube that lets you pass the credit card through. After sliding, the reader on the Square converts that data from the magnetic strip into an audio signal (cool huh!) and passes it on to software on the phone. The square is still in early beta mode, but Wired was able to get it and put it to the test! Even though the pricing, software and sign up process are not final, they look at it as a great option to let anyone with something to sell be able to accept those impossible credit card payments. It is able to accept the general credit card like Visa, American Express and MasterCard. There also trying to have it work for Discover and also Diner’s Club. So far the hardware and required account are free. But the sale systems will charge merchants variable fees based on the card used. And the square will charge a flat rate for all cards. The software for this advanced peace of technology is well-designed. It is required to have an internet connection to run it, but it will work using Wi-Fi. When the credit card number is entered, the transaction is authorized, and a new screen lets the purchaser sign their name using the touchscreen. There is also an option for a transaction receipt to be emailed and emailed to the vendor as well. For the vendor it is a quick an easy process. It takes less than a minute. Money will show up in the vendor’s bank account one to two days after the transaction. There are so many options, you can refund transactions, create accounts tied to peoples credit card, and upload a head shot. A merchant can swipe a card that’s associated with a Square payers account; the head shot will appear and ask for verification that it’s the person making the transaction. So far the square has an app for the iPhone, iPod touch, and the iPad. They are working on an Android version of its software is currently being worked on. But in the future they hope to have it work for any device that contains a audio port, like laptops.