I’m sure you’ve had a situation like this before:
- Let’s say your church is having a BBQ to raise money for the youth group’s mission trip to Guatemala next year.
- Let’s also say the local volunteer fire department shows up and wants to buy 20 of everything but they don’t have cash, only a credit card.
- Let’s say that you didn’t have a solution.
- Doh!
Most churches would have to turn them away but with Square’s iPhone app and credit card reader you can accept a credit card just like you accept cash.
Sweet? Yes!
When I first heard about Square last year I thought it was a really cool idea.
Being able to accept a credit card anytime and anywhere is a valuable service for small businesses, churches, and ministries. Whether or not you think churches or ministries should accept credit cards for donations, the fact remains that people like plastic.
It’s convenient and safe. If your church or ministry already accepts credit cards you probably have people fill out a form and everything gets processed back at the office. Those papers can get lost, numbers can get transposed and some people’s handwriting is atrocious.
Square eliminates all of those concerns and provides an easy and affordable way for a church or ministry to accept plastic of all kinds (AMEX, Visa, MC, and Discover).
What’s even better is that you don’t need a merchant account. Square charges you a modest fee (2.75% + $0.15 for a swiped card or 3.5% + $0.15 for a keyed in card) for each transaction. There are no monthly fees, no setup fees, no card readers to buy or rent, and no merchant account fees.
The app and card reader are completely free. The only time you get charged is when you actually process a transaction.
So, how does it work? Check out this video that I made:
Note: After recording this video, Square released a fix for the problem with the iPhone 4
In addition to charging the credit card, you can have a receipt sent to an email address that your “customer” provides and attach a note and/or photo to the transaction.
Para-church ministries and non-profit organizations can benefit greatly from this application. With Square, there’s no reason to turn away a donor or customer.
Square is available for the iPhone 3G/3GS/4, iPad and iPod Touch 2G/3G. It’s free to install and you’ll receive a free reader. Install it now and give it a try! Note: the app is also available for Android OS as well but only on certain smartphone models.
Eric Frisch says
I use the Android version of this app (as far as I know, it works on any device running 2.1 or higher with a headphone jack) to process cards when I sell CDs at shows. It is a fantastic little system, and I love it. Having said that, there are a couple of things that potential users should know:
Right now, it takes a LONG time to get your card reader (about 6 months for me). Square says that the wait time will be starting to get shorter as they ramp up production and improve their underwriting, and it’s hard to complain since it’s all free, but it’s something to be aware of.
John says
Good point. It did take a long time for me to receive mine.