Tag: square

VeriFone Publicly Calls out Square Security Hole

by BrothaTech

Square is the popular start-up company that allows iPhone and Android users to process credit card transactions using their phone and a free credit card reader dongle that plugs into the phone’s headphone jack.

VeriFone, a leader in credit card transaction technology has a similar product (PayWare Mobile app), but Square’s minimalistic approach to its transactions (no merchant account needed, no credit check, AND a free credit card reader) has proved to be some serious competition for Verifone. I’m not sure if Verifone is generally concerned with the financial security of the consumers, or this is an outright attempt to squash the competition, but VeriFone’s CEO has just released an Open Letter, demonstration video, AND a free fake Square app that allegedly identifies and demonstrates a serious hole in Square’s ability to encrypt credit card information when swiping it through the free credit card reader.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObGQxSuORy0&feature=player_embedded

Whatever the reasoning, VeriFone is serious about this latest development and has called out Square and notified its credit card processing partners (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and JP Morgan Chase). The Fake Square App released by Verifone can be downloaded by ANYONE to test this flaw for themselves.

To back VeriFone, if this is true, the possibilities for ANYONE with the Square reader, a decent card skimming application, and your trust can have your credit card information within a matter of seconds. THAT’S A PROBLEM, and could mean curtains for Square, let alone any legal implications if this particular issue goes mainstream.

To back Square, if VeriFone REALLY cared about the consumer’s credit card security, and not its revenue, would it have just given would-be crooks the keys, complete with an instruction manual and tutorial video to steal our credit card information? Additionally, card skimming is not a new trick and companies like VeriFone have been fighting for years, so it’s not solely a Square issue. In the end, it all boils down to customer common sense as it relates to who you hand over your credit card to.

/Rant off

Nonetheless, the implications are serious enough that it needs to be addressed, and so far, mums the word from Square. Hopefully the company’s representatives will respond and restore its customer’s sense of trust and security and continue to offer its products and services to individuals and small businesses who want accept credit card payments, while offering competition to larger credit card processing companies. Competition is always good for the consumer.

[via: Engadget]

Square Drops Transaction Fees, Hopes To Boost Volume

by BrothaTech

From my email inbox:

Square drops transaction prices

I’m assuming that Square was paying attention to Intuit and its new smartphone credit card processing service GoPayment, which is one of the reasons why Square has decided to drop their fees for its own no merchant accounted needed service down to just a flat 2.75% per total transaction fee (purely speculation). Now you will still have to pay 3.75% if you manually type in the credit card number, but for both transaction types, the “+15 cents” Square initially tacked on to every charge has been dropped.

Most of the buzz around this announcement by Square is that they will more than likely take a revenue hit by dropping the 15 cents charge, hopes to gain volume in order to further cement itself as the front runner in the relatively new mobile transaction processing arena as other big players (like Intuit, Visa, Bank of America, etc) start to make a move and offer similar services that rival what Square has been doing for a little over a year.

In my opinion, if a move like this from Square can get other players’ attention like Intuit, and thus creating even more competition (which is always good for the consumer), paying per transaction fees as a small business with low volume credit card transaction (and the cool factor for swiping a client’s credit card with my smartphone) still beats dealing with those expensive POS (Point of Sale) machines…that ALWAYS seem to be out of receipt paper.

…But that’s just me

Get Your Mobile Payments Squared Up

by BrothaTech

Allow me to paint a picture.  You’ve got a hot product (at least you think it’s hot) that you want to sell at your local festival, expo, or event.  You know you’re going to get those “I only carry plastic with me” folks that want your product, but are not willing to go hunt down an ATM and pay a ba-jillion dollars in ATM fees.  Now you’ve just started and may not have the credit history to be extended a merchant account (or have no clue what a merchant account is) and you don’t have the funds to buy a credit card machine. Let’s be honest, you really don’t want to bother with messing around with the receipt paper that ALWAYS gets stuck in those machines either!

Enter Square, a mobile credit card system that allows users to accept credit card payments anywhere without a merchant account using your mobile device.  Imagine how smooth a transaction would go if you could just whip out your mobile device, and swipe your customer’s credit card and email them a receipt?  With Square you can do just that.

Whether it’s an iPhone, iPod Touch iPad, or Android mobile device (sorry BlackBerry folks), you can use Square’s mobile card reader that’s about the size of a tic-tac container that plugs into your device’s headphone port and allows you to accept credit cards as payments.

You don’t need the reader or merchant account to accept credit card payments, simply download the app from your smart phone’s respective app store, link a bank account and you’re set.  It would behoove you to go ahead and apply for the reader, because the fees associated with swiping a card versus manual input are cheaper, I mean, more monetarily advantageous.

Speaking of fees, although you don’t need a merchant account, there are no setup fees, fees for the mobile reader, monthly charges, or contract required (crazy right?).  All Square asks of you is a 2.75% + 15 cents per swiped charge and 3.5% + 15 cents per manual card input per transaction.  Which, I might add, is lower than most merchant account fees per transaction

Again, imagine how smooth your credit card transactions would go, and how cool you would look doing them if you were using Square.

For more information, and how to get signed up, visit squareup.com Or watch the video below: