{"id":45142,"date":"2023-10-20T15:41:26","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/squares-card-reader-has-finally-launched-in-australia-heres-how-it-will-make-life-easier-for-local-businesses-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:41:26","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:41:26","slug":"squares-card-reader-has-finally-launched-in-australia-heres-how-it-will-make-life-easier-for-local-businesses-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/squares-card-reader-has-finally-launched-in-australia-heres-how-it-will-make-life-easier-for-local-businesses-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Square’s card reader has finally launched in Australia: Here’s how it will make life easier for local businesses – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

By David Hancock<\/em><\/p>\n

Anthony Hill, Geeks2U\u2019s head of technology, authored the below blog for SmartCompany.<\/em><\/p>\n

Square\u2019s tiny credit card reader turns any Apple or Android gadget into a portable credit card terminal, making it easy to accept plastic wherever you are.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no shame in being a cash-\u00adonly business. In some situations it can make perfect sense but there might come a day when your reluctance to accept plastic starts to hurt the bottom line. When you reach this point it\u2019s vital you read the fine print and crunch the numbers before you sign up for merchant facilities with a credit card terminal.<\/p>\n

Signing up for merchant facilities is a big step for any business, often with lots of hidden fees. You can be slugged with joining fees, annual fees, monthly fees, transaction fees and other hidden costs. You might even be slugged with excess usage fees if you exceed your monthly transaction limit.<\/p>\n

These complicated arrangements might work to your advantage if credit card transactions are the lifeblood of your business but if you rarely put through a card transaction then you\u2019re probably losing money on the deal. This is when it pays to look at alternatives like Square, which offers a simple pricing model designed to suit occasional users.<\/p>\n

Square\u2019s $19 card reader is finally available in Australia and it is designed to plug into an Apple or Android smartphone or tablet. It reads Australia\u2019s credit card security chips plus it caters to old mag\u00adswipe transactions which are being phased out.<\/p>\n

When a customer pays by card, Square takes a 1.9% cut of the transaction and puts the rest in your bank account. That\u2019s it, there are no other fees, so it doesn\u2019t matter whether you use the Square Reader once an hour or once a year. It\u2019s not costing you money while it\u2019s sitting idle.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately we\u2019re still waiting for Square\u2019s contactless payments terminal, already available in the US, which lets you accept \u201ctap\u00ad and \u00adgo\u201d payments like MasterCard\u2019s PayPass, Visa\u2019s payWave and mobile transactions such as Apple Pay.<\/p>\n

It pays to shop around, as these days Square has plenty of nimble competitors \u2013 some of which do accept \u201ctap\u00ad and \u00adgo\u201d payments. Even the big banks are getting in on the act with more affordable mobile card readers for customers who can\u2019t justify a traditional EFTPOS terminal.<\/p>\n

Whichever way you go, never forget accepting cards means that it\u2019s costing you to take people\u2019s money. Customers who were prepared to pay cash might reach for plastic instead once they see you accept it, so think long and hard before you decide to offer them the choice.<\/p>\n

David Hancock is the founder and managing director of Geeks2U, a national on-site computer repair and support company.<\/em><\/p>\n

This piece was originally published on SmartCompany.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter,<\/em> LinkedIn<\/em> and<\/em> Soundcloud.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By David Hancock Anthony Hill, Geeks2U\u2019s head of technology, authored the below blog for SmartCompany. Square\u2019s tiny credit card reader<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45142"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}