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Square Cash

square.com

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Re: Square Cash

#61

Post by privong »

sandipc wrote: post #38
jey wrote: post #32

They're obviously taking a loss on this (due to credit card fees) if the recipient gets the full amount sent. So this must be a loss-leader that's building up to something else where they expect to make a ton of money. That "something" is most likely just "replacing cash and cards", but will be interesting to see how it plays out. It's a bold move regardless. EDIT: I meant debit card transaction fees, not credit card…

Debit cards only. I'm sure the fees are significantly lower for debit vs. credit cards.

> I'm sure the fees are significantly lower for debit vs. credit cards.

This used to be the case, but in recent discussions with retail owners I've been told that the fees are now comparable.

Re: Square Cash

#62

Post by lbarrow »

usaphp wrote: post #53
MBCook wrote: post #13

Note that it takes 1-2 days for the deposit. They must be using ACH to do this. The 'free' part is great. Even with Square, I'd be hesitant to enter my debit card number. Planet Money recently did a great episode all about the US's ACH system and why it works the way it does. http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/10/04/229224964/episode-...

> Even with Square, I'd be hesitant to enter my debit card number. Are you afraid of entering your debit card number? How do you make purchases online?

I'm going to guess with credit cards.

Credit card numbers are much safer to use online than debit cards, mostly because credit card dispute mechanisms give consumers a lot more power. If a merchant behaves in an unsavory way, with a credit card you can usually just call your bank, issue a chargeback and that's the end of it. You can't do that with a debit card.

Re: Square Cash

#63

Post by keyle »

I cannot believe this is happening. This is extremely cool...

But didn't we agree that email wasn't a safe protocol?... How long do I have to cancel a transaction? Are they going to honor the fake ones like Visa does?...

Re: Square Cash

#64

Post by bti »

ketralnis wrote: post #47
Tomdarkness wrote: post #33

This is one area where the US seems to be behind compared to the UK. I am from the UK and that service would look quite poor if it launched over here. We have a system called faster payments service that offers instant (although in some cases up to 2 hours) bank transfers for payments up to £100,000 (can differ between banks). You can use this directly if you share bank account numbers and sort codes but there are al…

The US equivalent is ACH, which has the major downside that using only the bank ID (routing number) and account number you can effectively wipe out the target's account. It's up to your bank (or whatever ACH proxy) to keep you from doing that, not to the interchange, both legally and technically. ACH also takes several days to work, and has a wide window for either bank to declare the transfer fraudulent, so many ban…

If anyone is interested more about the state of transferring money and ACH in the US, there was a good Planet Money episode [1] about it recently.

[1] http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/10/04/229224964/episode-...

Re: Square Cash

#65

Post by nwh »

meritt wrote: post #40

Seems to work amazingly although I'm a bit concerned about the security. A friend sent me $1. I get an email from square, link to website where I entered my debit #, expiry and postal. It deposited directly to my debit card (I didnt even know you could do that). The deposit already arrived! "Checking Card Adjustment POS Pin (Credit) $1.00" So I sent him $1 back (to: my friend, cc: cash@square.com, subject: $1). And i…

The issue is also that people will just squat on compromised accounts and then nick funds as they appear. Low probability I suppose, and that's what they're betting on.

Re: Square Cash

#66

Post by downandout »

jser wrote: post #51
philfreo wrote: post #28

This is my favorite type of product. Here's why: - Take an existing known medium (in this case email) and makes it way more useful. - They didn't try to build a bunch of new UI for connecting your Facebook so you can find and invite and pay your friends, paying out to your card, etc. - It magically hides the messiness of an enormously complex problem (fraud, different types of debit cards & banks all over the world)…

Looks like an excellent target for phishing attacks!

That was my first impression. I could rip the site, post it to my own domain, and start sending out emails saying "you've got cash, give me your credit card number so we can credit it" in about 10 minutes. Great concept, and I plan to use the service, but as it gains momentum and acceptance, it's going to be a great attack vector for the Nigerians.

Re: Square Cash

#67

Post by meritt »

jacobbudin wrote: post #60
meritt wrote: post #40

Seems to work amazingly although I'm a bit concerned about the security. A friend sent me $1. I get an email from square, link to website where I entered my debit #, expiry and postal. It deposited directly to my debit card (I didnt even know you could do that). The deposit already arrived! "Checking Card Adjustment POS Pin (Credit) $1.00" So I sent him $1 back (to: my friend, cc: cash@square.com, subject: $1). And i…

Out of curiosity: Do you know whether the $1 is listed as "available funds"? Some (all?) banks list pending transactions like check deposits and include those funds in your account total, but then have a separate header for "available funds" that are actually usable to spend or move.

In my bank (Capital One 360, formerly ING Direct) the deposit is listed as cleared & available. The $1 I sent him back is in a pending status (and thus removed from my available balance)

Re: Square Cash

#68

Post by MRSallee »

nly wrote: post #15

And composing an email to send someone money is secure how? What stops someone from spoofing my email address, CC'ing it to cash@square.com, and clearing me out? And if someone does get in to my email account I'm toast?

Via https://squareup.com/help/en-us/article/5144-square-cash-sec...

> Square verifies each Square Cash email to authenticate that it comes from a legitimate sender. For added security, we send you a text confirmation each time you send Cash if you have linked your mobile phone number.

Re: Square Cash

#69

Post by j_b_f »

antirez wrote: post #49
meritt wrote: post #40

Seems to work amazingly although I'm a bit concerned about the security. A friend sent me $1. I get an email from square, link to website where I entered my debit #, expiry and postal. It deposited directly to my debit card (I didnt even know you could do that). The deposit already arrived! "Checking Card Adjustment POS Pin (Credit) $1.00" So I sent him $1 back (to: my friend, cc: cash@square.com, subject: $1). And i…

Even if Gmail is the reason I hope they'll add an option to verify the transfer anyway. It looks like something that is easy to use other vulnerabilities to mount an attack.

There's a pretty straightforward SMS confirmation thing you can enable by logging in to your Square account. Tested and it seems to work well. Also note that the weekly transfer limit is $250 if you don't verify yourself, so the risk is somewhat limited.

Re: Square Cash

#70

Post by downandout »

I just scoured the site and saw no limits for receiving through square cash. I can't imagine that this is actually the case; does anyone have any idea what the actual policies are?
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