Square Adds Tracking of Gift Card and Check Purchases to Register App

[MacRumors]

Square has updated its iOS app to add tracking of gift card and check purchases, in addition to the credit card and cash purchases that it tracked previously. The company is attempting to make the Square Register app an all-purpose cash register app for small businesses.

The app was updated back in April with barcode scanning and order modifiers like "extra cheese" for restaurants.

What's new

For iPhone and iPod touch:
- Record and track all kinds of payments, including checks and gift cards.

For iPad:
- Reconcile your cash drawer quickly and easily with cash management.
- Record and track all kinds of payments, including checks and gift cards.
- Connect a Bluetooth printer to wirelessly print receipts from the portable SM-S220i

Square Register is a free download from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Article Link: Square Adds Tracking of Gift Card and Check Purchases to Register App

 

[Aidyn's X]

I've been waiting for this!

 

[unplugme71]

This is great and I think Square is doing a good job. Too bad they don't do tier pricing with their swipe rates. If you do a decent volume, you'll pay hundreds more than any other system.

Is there any export functionality from Square? I'd like to dump into excel or some other application to do reporting.
Are the items stored on Square's servers? Or is it local? Any backup/restore functionality?

 

[jmcrutch]

Information is stored on Square's servers accessible from any iOS device and via a browser. You can export data to excel from the browser.

Square does have two different pricing tiers so if you are truly high volume then the flat monthly rate would be your choice.

 

[PLin]

I've been waiting for this feature too, but Square Register still doesn't support split tender. Most merchants who accept gift cards will eventually have to accept a gift card with a low balance on it. For example if the gift card balance is $1, and the customer wants to purchase something that comes to $5, there's no way to split the transaction as $1 gift card and $4 cash/credit.

 

[digitalfx]

I've been waiting for this feature too, but Square Register still doesn't support split tender. Most merchants who accept gift cards will eventually have to accept a gift card with a low balance on it. For example if the gift card balance is $1, and the customer wants to purchase something that comes to $5, there's no way to split the transaction as $1 gift card and $4 cash/credit.

this is a must have feature. Accepting gift cards is great, but its of no use if it can't handle a split transaction.

 

[PLin]

this is a must have feature. Accepting gift cards is great, but its of no use if it can't handle a split transaction.

The only workaround that I've found is to add all of the items to get the total, and then clear the transaction and process 2 or more custom amounts for the different payment methods that add up to the total.

 

[japanime]

Kudos to Square for improving upon an already-great service.

I absolutely love the service provided by Square. I've been using it ever since it was first launched. I even have the original "beta" version of the card reader, which is shaped like a little box (rather than the "rounded-edges" version that came later). Still works like a charm!

If only Square worked internationally the way PayPal does, I could kiss PayPal goodbye forever...

 

[applesith]

I've heard many horror stories of Square holding funds and not depositing them and their customer service is non-existent.

 

[digitalfx]

I've heard many horror stories of Square holding funds and not depositing them and their customer service is non-existent.

This is BS. Ive never had funds held and they are deposited the next day.
Customer support is via email, hey don't have phone support, but they respond the issues immediately.

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The only workaround that I've found is to add all of the items to get the total, and then clear the transaction and process 2 or more custom amounts for the different payment methods that add up to the total.

This is not ideal, they need to add split transactions as a priority.

 

[applesith]

This is BS. Ive never had funds held and they are deposited the next day.
Customer support is via email, hey don't have phone support, but they respond the issues immediately.

This is not ideal, they need to add split transactions as a priority.

You had a good experience. Good for you! But I know of 2 personal experiences where they hold funds and do not respond. Google square reviews and you will see it's more common than it should be.

 

[digitalfx]

You had a good experience. Good for you! But I know of 2 personal experiences where they hold funds and do not respond. Google square reviews and you will see it's more common than it should be.

As I said this is BS, I know dozens of Square businesses, and we are all very happy. The ONLY time Square holds funds is when transactions over $1000/day are made without card present. If this is what you are doing, then get another vendor, you don't belong on Square to begin with. If you haven't personally experienced a problem, why are you posting. I love all the 3rd party Square haters who don't have Square, yet seem to know someone....WTF is your issue?

 

[PLin]

I'm on Square's $275 flat rate plan, which allows up to $21,000 of charges per month. Anything over $10,000 is gravy, and if you can hit $21,000, then you're only paying 1.3%. I've never had any problem with Square holding onto the funds, and we are doing high volume processing.

 

[applesith]

As I said this is BS, I know dozens of Square businesses, and we are all very happy. The ONLY time Square holds funds is when transactions over $1000/day are made without card present. If this is what you are doing, then get another vendor, you don't belong on Square to begin with. If you haven't personally experienced a problem, why are you posting. I love all the 3rd party Square haters who don't have Square, yet seem to know someone....WTF is your issue?

Do you work for square? You are taking this very personally.

 

[digitalfx]

Do you work for square? You are taking this very personally.

haha..No.
Im just a happy customer. I think its funny that Square gets so much negative feedback. For the uninformed, if you read what most people post you would believe that Square has the highest rate in the industry. The truth is 2.75% flat is very low. Far lower than Stripe and PayPal, and lower than most Merchant accounts when you factor fees. I have several Merchant accounts, and at the end of the year Square beats all of them hands down. We are paid next day and there are no hidden fees. I have a Merchant account that sold me on Interchange + .05% + 5cents...pretty standard rates. At the end of the month this equates to over 5% when you add all the fees. Not even close to Squares 2.75%.

Square started getting a bad rap once they disallowed Gun vendors...ever since then bogus posts like the one above appear in forums everywhere. They are always posted by people who don't even have Square.

I have Square, and love it. I know many other small business owners with the same feelings. I don't know any real business owner that has ever had their funds withheld that are swiping cards. If you are not swiping but entering cards that are not present thats a totally different story and the entire industry penalizes you. Its not unique to Square.

Honestly I wish they would extend Square to online sites. I would ditch our Merchant accounts in a heart beat.