Paypal Here

A month or so ago, I posted about the Square card reader. I was supposed to do an event in Columbia in February and be able to use my card reader then but I had to cancel doing that event. I did, however, get to use my Square at the SCASL a couple of weeks ago - more or less. I had daughter's phone but we couldn't get the wifi to work on her phone so Sybil put all of us on her phone (we each had to sign in on our own accounts) and she was nice enough to let us use her phone to scan credit cards for purchases. I had one sale via credit card.

This morning I accidentally opened paypal (was trying to go to a different website but clicked on paypal instead) and there on the front page before signing in is a big advertisement for Paypal Here card reader. It isn't available yet but you sign up and as soon as it is available, you will be notified how to acquire your reader and how to download the app. Both are free and they are pretty much in line with Square's fees (2.75% per swipe or 3.75% + 0.15 for manual transactions). The only difference is that it looks like the Paypal Here reader accepts American Express where the Square does not and your funds are transferred immediately into your paypal account. Since I'm upgrading my phone in April (gettin a Samsung Precedent which is android based and will allow me to download apps), I figure it can't hurt to sign up for another card reader. I will have both on my phone for the SC Book Festival in case Sarah doesn't have her tablet by then in order to take credit cards and will let her do the same thing as Sybil did - sign in and swipe the cards to her account. I'll use whichever works for me (if the Paypal Here is available by then). More than likely, the Square will just stay connected to the phone for both of us to use.

I also checked the FAQ on the Paypal Here page and it seems that the device will be available in Canada, Australia and Hong Kong (which several people have complained that the Square was not available to them), so really it sounds like Paypal Here will be available to more people and I hope they will take advantage of signing up so that as soon as the device is available, they will be able to start taking credit cards, especially authors who do live events where they are selling their own books.

I love the convenience of being able to take credit cards now and the quick payout (Square pays out the next day and Paypal Here will pay the same day of transaction). I can't wait to upgrade my phone and not have to borrow my daughter's phone for events now - lol. See you all in the postings - E :)