I can’t do it all.  I admit it!  Therefore, I LOVE, I mean, really LOVE guest bloggers!!!  And today is no exception!  The extremely smart computer guru, Jason Gross from PC Made EZ stopped by The Savvy Socialista blog to guest blog and give you guys a GREAT tutorial on Square. For any of you that want to accept credit cards but don’t want to deal with all the hassles….this is just for you!  When Jason shared with me all the info on Square I immediately thought about all the vendors at hand-made markets, vendor fairs & craft fairs so I asked him if he would share with you all about this amazing little device!  Chat back and let me know if this helps you out at all!  And do me a favor–would you mind stopping by Jason’s Facebook Page and giving him a little “hey, how ya doin?” , I’d greatly appreciate it and I know he would to!

And with no further adieu…. Guest Blogger…..Jason Grosso…………

Do you want to be able to accept credit card payments for your products or services while out at events or a client’s home or business? Would you like to not have to carry around bulky equipment and paperwork to do so? Do you not want to be nickel and dimed to death with transactions fees, monthly fees, annual contracts or penalties for taking payments from “rewards” cards? Do you want the money sent to your business account quickly? Well…you can.

A company started by one of the co-founders of Twitter called Square provides you with all of the previously mentioned abilities and more. As long as you have an iPhone, Android phone or iPad you can accept credit card payments (Visa, Amex, MasterCard or Discover) through your device anywhere you go; be it a trade show, event booth or a client’s business or home. Square does not require much from you either. You sign no contracts, you pay no monthly fees, you pay no annual fees, you won’t even pay a fee for accepting a payment using one of the many “rewards” cards which many people use. You simply pay a very nominal fee of 2.75% of each transaction to Square and that is it. Talk about ease of use and flexibility!

So, you are probably wondering how to get setup with this. Well you simply go to Square’s website ( www.squareup.com ) sign up for their service with your business and bank info and they send you a free card reader which plugs into the auxiliary port on your mobile device. Square will make two small deposits into your account to verify it and then you will be approved to accept payments. It is that easy…seriously. We have been accepting customer payments for nearly a year now using Square and not only have we not had any problems; each and every transaction has gone through and the funds have been debited into our business account within 3 business days; every single time.

Once you have the card reader and the account setup you simply download the app to your iPhone or Android, login and you are ready to accept payments. You can even send your customer email receipts directly from the Square app and even customize your account to include your logo in customer receipts. Trust me, if you own a small business and have a need for mobile credit card payment processing you need to do yourself a favor and get Square!

***If you want to get your hands on a card scanner now, the first 40 people that “CHAT BACK” below & comment on my Facebook page that you would like one, I’ll get on to you.***

Since I have been using Square since they started they gave me 40 of them to hand out to fellow business owners.

Check out the images below to see how Square works. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at any time. Happy Computing!

Jason Grosso
Owner – Lead Tech
PC Made EZ
480-720-5656

Here’s how it all works

Here is the Square Card Reader which plugs into your phone’s auxiliary (headphone) port

Square Card Reader

You open the Square app on your mobile device, enter in the transaction amount, optional items notes and then swipe the customers credit card

Swiping credit card

The customer then signs for the transaction on the screen

Signing for the transaction

You can then send the customer an email receipt with the transaction details

Transaction receipt

And you are done!