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Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square

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Re: Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square

#181

Post by stbtrax »

nimrody wrote: post #130
pazimzadeh wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure that a picture of the customer appears on the cashier's iPad app/register.

In that case, the cashier can easily charge you without your consent. Of course, you get the confirmation mail and can cancel the transaction but this is inconvenient. Making payments too easy makes it easier on the bad guys as well.

Yes, but the kinds of purchases this is used for is usually < $10. It's not really worth anyone's time to follow someone around to get a free coffee.

Re: Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square

#182

Post by OJKoukaz »

So does this mean that Starbucks will use the same Square interface that we layfolk use? I find it impractical that they use this, and not something that integrates with their existing systems, but then that would mean that Square has opened up some sort of API to them? When will the rest of us get to see something like this, if so?

Re: Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square

#183

Post by pnathan »

salman89 wrote: post #6

I think more than any other benefit, Square has been validated by a premier American chain. It will be a much easier sell to other large chains. The big money for Square is in having these large customers with multiple POS deployments, where overhead will be small compared to revenues, at least relative to single shop customers. It will also put their product in front of end customers, many for the first time. I for…

enterprises run on "some other big company uses it".

This is a major coup for Square. I've said it before, I'll say it again: I look forward to the IPO. Square has value.

Re: Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square

#184

Post by andyakb »

encoderer wrote: post #156
raverbashing wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Question How does SB gets smaller fees through Square than negotiating directly with card providers? How do card providers allow Square to sell their services cheaper than themselves? And Square, you sure have a nice business, but the magnetic stripe is very insecure.

Businesses don't get to negotiate with Visa and Mastercard. They negotiate with banks. And banks negotiate with large volume customers. That's why McDonald's can afford to take credit for a $1 ice cream cone without losing 33% of it to the card company. Square has a lot of options in the way they process transactions, and they have a very high volume (now more so than ever)

...right, so why cant starbucks negotiate with banks, much like mcdonalds does?

Re: Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square

#185

Post by sjs »

kayoone wrote: post #85
jevinskie wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Square will process Starbucks U.S. credit and debit card transactions": Wikipedia says that Starbucks has $11.7 billion in revenue every year. I would assume that a majority of that revenue is through a card. I am not familiar with Square's revenue but I feel that this will at least double their transactions. Am I correct?

Here in Europe (Germany) i have never seen anyone buying a coffee with a credit card. Maybe debit card, but that also is rare, its mostly cash for these small transactions. Most coffee shops dont even take any cards at all, even here in germany!

In Canada (at least in southern BC) almost everyone uses their credit or debit card for almost everything. Cashiers assume it and if you hand them cash they'll often have to back out of the transaction they already set up on the debit machine and sometimes even say "you're the first person to pay with cash today". It doesn't matter if you're buying a TV for $2000 or coffee for $2.

Re: Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square

#186

Post by robryan »

ben1040 wrote: post #129
Simucal wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've read before[0] that it is actually a violation of a stores terms with Visa to enforce minimum transaction sizes. Those stores could potentially be reported to Visa and have sanctions placed on them (like an increased transaction rate). Interestingly, a merchant is allowed to offer a discount to people who pay by cash but they can't charge more for people paying by credit card. [0] - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/1…

After the credit card reform act went through in 2010, the card companies now allow for a $10 minimum. http://consumerist.com/2010/09/amex-visa-mastercard-all-give...

Yeah it is annoying really. Especially for anywhere where it is common to buy things under $10. I think in the end most businesses would be better off just taking the fee hit as they would likely see increased business.

Re: Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square

#187

Post by mh- »

kpozin wrote: post #160
superbeefy wrote: post #152

I really hope square improves their reader. Practically every time I've used this system, as a customer, it seems to take a couple of tries before it actually recognizes the card. This may be okay for lower volume businesses, but for starbucks I could see this backing up lines.

They also charge more if you have to key in the card manually (2.75% per scan vs 3.5% + 0.15 USD per manual entry).

this is because it's processed as a card-present vs card-not-present transaction. different fee (& risk) brackets.

Re: Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square

#188

Post by adg »

abalone wrote: post #115

Here's what's in it for Starbucks: Square's cheaper. Square loses money on transactions below $6. The reason is for the sake of simplicity they waive the per-transaction fee that Visa/Mastercard charges them and just charge a flat percentage of 2.75%. But even though this is a relatively high percentage, it's not enough to recoup the cost of the per-transaction fee at low transaction sizes. Take a $2 coffee charged t…

> Visa charges Square 1.76% + 6 cents

Last I checked, Square had not published the transaction fee they negotiated with Visa.

Re: Jack Dorsey: Today Starbucks Signed up for Square

#189

Post by te_chris »

gyaresu wrote: post #99
kayoone wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Europe (Germany) i have never seen anyone buying a coffee with a credit card. Maybe debit card, but that also is rare, its mostly cash for these small transactions. Most coffee shops dont even take any cards at all, even here in germany!

Norway: Cards for everything. There's no cost associated. Plus your bank card is also your ID. Chip & PIN.

Same in NZ. I buy 1.50 lolly purchases from the dairy on my EFTPOS card. (No transaction cost).
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