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Square Cash

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Re: Square Cash

#231

Post by bloopletech »

foundlogin wrote: post #162
downandout wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just found a major limitation with this thing. It blocks payment from any prepaid Visa/Mastercard - even reloadable cards attached to virtual checking accounts that support ACH (payroll cards, Netspend, etc). That eliminates payments from a huge section of the population. http://prntscr.com/1xm5le Another issue: if you make a mistake on the initial email, and want to send a different amount, you're out of luck. Whe…

I didn't even bother trying. I knew it wouldn't do what it said because I'm not in America. I've sent cash to other countries before but this isn't cash so it can't possibly work. IT would be nice if they clearly listed who can't use it to save people's time.

Just a note, for most countries, the best non-cash way to send money is an international wire transfer (sometimes called a telegraphic transfer). This is _not_ western union. which is ludicrously expensive, it's done bank to bank.

Re: Square Cash

#232

Post by unclebucknasty »

cormacrelf wrote: post #178
unclebucknasty wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No kidding. That step 3 is a doozy: > The recipient will be emailed a link to easily deposit their cash to their bank. You have to wonder about the wisdom of training people to view such emails as legitimate.

They just got an email from you. Not so suss.

In the happy case, yes. But, that doesn't consider how phishing works.

So, Square trains people that these e-mails are OK. In the happy case, you get the email from a friend, followed by a link/invitation from Square. Everything is fine.

After doing this several times, one day you just get the email that appears to be from Square, informing you that you have money. This is a phishing email and there is no email from a friend, which should raise a red flag, but for many it won't. Or they may just think Square changed the process. Putting the onus on the user to discern this is not a good plan.

Training users to click a link from an email that resulted from a process they didn't initiate, then enter personal/financial information or credentials is not a good idea.

Re: Square Cash

#233

Post by bloopletech »

wildfire wrote: post #215
bloopletech wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Credit card transactions do sometimes have fees attached; specifically I was referring to EFT, which for person-to-person has no fees at all, and doesn't attract fees to the payer at the POS (whereas credit cards can). Yeah, the real question I was getting at was, given the Australian market is even more insular and stagnant than the US, why do we have much better systems? What you're saying sounds plausible; a compa…

Actually EFT does have fees. Typically between 10c - 25c / transaction. They are minimal, but they are there. Plus the fee for the terminal of course. Which varies significantly between banks in AU.

Sure; I could have been clearer here.

Specifically, you can do an EFT transfer from a bank account to any other bank account in Australia via online banking, and it's free (at least in all the times I've used it).

In the case of ETFPOS terminals, EFT is always free for the payer (the customer), and credit cards are usually free for the payer, but do sometimes have a fee for the payer (certainly AMEX and Diners).

As I've now been corrected on, both types of transaction have a fee for the payee (the merchant).

The fee for the terminal itself is definitely true - I was mainly thinking of fees in terms of payers, i.e. the customer, not the merchant.

Though given there are alternative methods for credit/debit payments (i.e. alternative terminal types, like the swipe thingy that plugs into iPhones) it'll be interesting to see if people keep the combined EFTPOS + credit/debit card terminals, or abandon the EFT side, as the number of non-debit bank/keycards dwindles.

Re: Square Cash

#234

Post by thaumasiotes »

neolefty wrote: post #213
thaumasiotes wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to break this to you, but they can already buy things in physical stores. And if you legitimately have a $20 bill, I can walk into a store, represent that it's mine, and buy things with it, never encountering an obstacle along the way. That's the same fraud you're worried about in prepaid cards.

Of course they can, but as a parent, I find it easier to supervise their store purchases than their online purchases, because they have to physically go there, and I can notice it.

Frankly, if you're that interested in tracking what your children have and haven't bought, online purchases are likely to be easier, in that they come to your home through the mail.

The general categories of things that children are commonly restricted from buying:

- Drugs. These are all black market, so availability of prepaid cards is unlikely to change how they're bought.

- Alcohol. I've never tried to buy this online; I know eBay Now wanted to sell it and concluded that the cost of legal compliance was too high. Even assuming they could find mail-order booze, it would arrive in the mail, easily detectible.

- Pornography. This can be consumed directly on the computer, raising possible detection issues. However, if you're afraid of children buying it over the internet, I've got some very bad news for you...

- Birth control pills? I'm running out of ideas.

Are you afraid they'll buy digital goods? Why?

Re: Square Cash

#235

Post by charleyma »

Square Cash is definitely some sort of loss-leader, but for what?

Most obvious long-run plan would be for user/debit card acquisition (which has lower interchange rates) to support their bread and butter business (merchant tools) as this would increase their profit margins by reducing processing expenses, especially since Square simply charges a single rate to merchants...

Re: Square Cash

#236

Post by driverdan »

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…

That's how it works in much of Europe. The US banking system sucks. I have clients in Germany. They pay me via credit card because bank transfers to US accounts are such a pain. If I had a German account they could pay me instantly without hassle. Even many of my US clients pay me by credit card because they'd otherwise have to mail me a check (yuck) or get some kind of 3rd party bank transfer service which they're not willing to do.

Re: Square Cash

#237

Post by jasonlotito »

artie_effim wrote: post #222
abalone wrote: post #185

The most stunning part of this is the "free" part. The Durbin amendment regulates the cost of debit transactions over the Visa/Mastercard network. It's $0.22 + 0.05%. Mossberg reports that Square is planning to monetize via "premium options" like international transfers. But still, $0.22+ is a lot to lose every time someone uses your mass-market service. Good thing they raised $341M of VC money. Who said the dot com…

my guess is the '1-2 days' for you to get your cash is how they are monetizing it. Sure, a poster above got $1 almost instantly, but as volume increases, 1-2 days in some form of investment vehicle will add up.

No, this cannot happen unless their FAQ's are explicitly lying.

Re: Square Cash

#238

Post by toomuchtodo »

philfreo wrote: post #133
toomuchtodo wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ACH transfers are stupid cheap compared to credit card transactions.

debit cards != ACH

You can apparently convert debit card transactions to ACH transfers: http://www.digitaltransactions.net/news/story/3518

Re: Square Cash

#239

Post by meritt »

IanCal wrote: post #219
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 automatic-authorization appears to only apply when it's between two previously validated parties. This doesn't feel quite right, as you describe it you'd validated that it's ok to receive money from them, not send it. I'd be more comfortable if it was validated in some way when you first send something to a person. Receiving money doesn't mean I trust a person. I could send you a dollar, and when you accept it…

You bring up an excellent point about simply replaying the same message. I'm curious what mechanisms are in place to prevent that.

And yes, the exchange was B -> A which gave automatic authorization for an A -> B transmission, which I do agree is a bit presumptuous on their part.

Re: Square Cash

#240

Post by untothebreach »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #234
neolefty wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course they can, but as a parent, I find it easier to supervise their store purchases than their online purchases, because they have to physically go there, and I can notice it.

Frankly, if you're that interested in tracking what your children have and haven't bought, online purchases are likely to be easier, in that they come to your home through the mail. The general categories of things that children are commonly restricted from buying: - Drugs. These are all black market, so availability of prepaid cards is unlikely to change how they're bought. - Alcohol. I've never tried to buy this on…

> in that they come to your home through the mail.

Says who? Who says they couldn't send a package to a friends house, or a workplace?

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