71–80 of 114 posts
If this can always process chip cards that quickly, I'm very impressed. Usually it's at least 10 seconds, just standing there staring at the card reader, waiting.
Honest question, I have never used Square, but what does the back-end for setting up products look like? In a resturant you may have many variations for a meal (Hamburger, no lettuce, extra mayo, etc.) and some may incur different fees. Has anyone had experience with that which can provide links or insight? I ask this because I got asked to help with a local mom and pops (Taco Shop) setup of their POS and genuinely c…
How is this going to affect how often I get asked to tip? I want to see less tipping, not more. Square seems to be one of the primary offenders in introducing bribery to transactions where I don't really want to rate how much I was pleasured by the personal performance being put on for me. Getting coffee shouldn't be embarrassing, and don't prompt me to tip you before you give me what I'm paying for.
IMO Square has great looking hardware but their software is pretty mediocre and unattractive. The Stripe guys are killing it on the software front recently, wondering if square should continue pushing hard on the hardware front when stripe is eating their online lunch.
My problem with Square is they are so focused on their ecosystem that they basically ignore anyone that doesn't operate a traditional retail store or restaurant. I'm really excited about Stripe Terminal as a developer, and I think they can eat Square's lunch by focusing on purely being the payment intermediary and letting 3rd parties develop solutions around their SDK (which supports web browsers in addition to mobil…
You misunderstand what strengths Square and Stripe both have. Stripe is a pure API/SDK that integrates with third-parties for everything other than payments.
Square has all those "third-parties" services bundled in to make it a much smoother experience for merchants. Payroll? Analytics? Dashboard? Everything is right there for you at Square. Stripe? They just link you to a bunch of third party sources.
Ultimately it boils down to: Stripe is geared towards more tech-savvy customers or those who can afford development costs for all these custom integrations + working with 3rd parties. Square is geared towards people who want it all in one ecosystem and don't need a lot of customization.
Stripe won't "eat" Square's lunch when it comes down to the base use-case of a simple merchant wanting an easy onboarding experience and taking payments. Stripe is anything but that. And for larger merchants you have to worry about what third-party services you integrate with Stripe - what if one of them goes under? Switching third-party services might be a huge pain. You don't have to worry about that with Square. Not to mention that first-party services always are better than third-party services. Square can always come up with better services to offer its customers because it has access to all the data. Third-party services are limited to what they can get via an API.
And as of right now, Square is actually beating Stripe on the SDK game with the release of ReaderSDK.
I hope this takes off solely so I can pay with a credit card directly at my table at restaurants instead of having them take it to back of house. Much of Europe has been doing this correctly for a long time now
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think all restaurants should emulate the Chili's experience.
They DO already in much of Europe. Every single restaurant in Norway operates this way. It's fantastic. You pay and go on your own time and you don't worry about your card getting skimmed. Nothing not to love.
And finally, I don't know if a skimmer has been added to the device by previous customers. It is left on the table.
[1] General neutral term for waiter/waitress.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Speaking as an American, I've always found at-the-table swiping to be kind of strange, at least for higher end meals. It puts the commerce part of the evening a little too front and center for me. Or maybe I'm just not used to it.
I prefer the system in Japan—-pay at a “host station” on the way out. You can leave without needing to flag anyone down.
I hope this takes off solely so I can pay with a credit card directly at my table at restaurants instead of having them take it to back of house. Much of Europe has been doing this correctly for a long time now
Almost, but go further. QR code on your table, open Square Cash app and pay directly from your phone and automatically divvy up bills between guests.
no chargeback fee is interesting
do you have a specific use case in mind where it’s a big advantage ? 2.6% + fixed fee seems to me mildly high for a card in the reader + pin entered type of solution. Also chargebacks should be ridiculously rare in this setting.
I hope this takes off solely so I can pay with a credit card directly at my table at restaurants instead of having them take it to back of house. Much of Europe has been doing this correctly for a long time now
I don't think all restaurants should emulate the Chili's experience.
I know Clover has a similar terminal that I've seen used in restaurants around Seattle, and if you go to a restaurant outside of the US, you'd likely see what's being proposed here.