Mobile merchant services apps are taking the merchant services industry by storm. The question is which mobile merchant service solution is right for your business. Here a the pros and cons of the various payment solutions according to research done my Entrepreneur Magazine.
Square
Square which launched in 2010 is one of the most popular mobile payment systems. Its card reader is a small, white square that plugs into a Smart Phone or Tablet.
Pros: it is an easy to navigate design with big clearly labeled buttons which can help simplify the checkout process for the cashier.
It also offers an online dashboard to view sales trends. Lastly, the “Pay with Square” feature lets patrons open a virtual tab and pay via their smartphones without having to swipe a credit card.
Cons: Square customer support is terrible and it is near 100% automated. This means that if you are having trouble accepting payments from your customers you are pretty much out of luck. Setting up custom features, such as sales tax rates is very difficult for non tech-savvy users.
Price: Square has a 2.75% swipe fee and for cards in hand transactions or a 5.77% plus 15 cent per transaction fee for card transactions that are keyed in manually.
Who should use it: Business owners who are just getting started and want a moderately easy-to-use mobile payments service should consider Square.
Intuit GoPayment
Mountain View, CA (the same city as Google, Inc.), this mobile merchant services solution is built specifically to work with its QuickBooks accounting software.
Pros: If you rely on Quickbooks this solution is really nice becuase of its easy integration with QuickBooks. This solution works well for PC as well as MAC user. The process is automatic an easy. The solution also offers automatic, location-based sales tax calculations for purchases based on the location of the customer.
Cons: First, the card reader is large and bulky. Ironically, the Intuit GoPayment doesn’t make it easy to key in cash payments, so that you will have to find a way to manually import into Quickbooks.
Price: For $12.95 per month, pllus a per transaction from 2.7 percent to 1.7 percent and from 3.7 percent to 2.7 percent for keyed rates.
Who should use it: For dedicated QuickBooks users, Intuit GoPayment offers a good amount of time saved. Yet companies that take cash as well as electronic payments should want to avoid this solution.
PayAnywhere
By Troy, Michigan – merchant services processing North American Bancard, PayAnywhere is the leading mobile merchant services solution and has been in business since 1992 — longer than any of the other services.
Pros: PayAnywhere offers over-the-phone support, with separate phone lines for tech support and customer service. The customer support is the best in the mobile merchant services arena. There is also a live chat option on the PayAnyWhere website, plus comprehensive video tutorials. The system also supports blackberry devices which is rare.
Cons: The printing feature of Pay AnyWhere wroks with Apple AirPrint devices or Star Thermal Printers – if you want to print you will need one of those printers.
Price: PayAnywhere charges 2.69 percent per swipe, with 6.18 percent plus a 19-cent transaction fee for keyed transactions.
Who should use it: Most merchants – businesses that want reliable and the best served mobile payment solution. 24/7 customer support is great.
PayPal Here
Pros: PayPal Here accepts the widest range of payments, from credit card to debit card and echeck via use or a smartphone or tablet camera.
Cons: There is no dedicated app for the iPad or other tablets.
Price: PayPal charges 2.7 percent per card swipe and 6,2 percent plus 15 cents for keyed transactions.
Who should use it: Very small businesses that are already using PayPal.
