Square delays reader distribution, says it's examining transaction limits
Two weeks back at WWDC, Square told us that the company was "catching up with demand" of its little plastic credit card reader for the iPhone, and that it would "be there really soon." But it looks like things won't quite "be there" as soon as they thought.They've decided to delay the mass roll-out of the devices, with Jack Dorsey telling users that the company "released parts of Square before they were fully baked." That coincides with what our readers were saying in the comments on the original interview -- that the reader devices were taking a long time to be shipped out to users. Dorsey also agreed with the other issue our commenters brought up (that the service's transaction limits, which Square originally put in place to counteract fraud, are too low), and said that those limits would be addressed soon.
Dorsey doesn't say how "soon" that may be -- there's still no ETA on when the readers will go out, and Square is still working on how exactly it will change or update those transaction limits. Basically, there is no fix in sight for those frustrated by the company so far.
So it looks like Square isn't quite where it wants to be yet. But then again, think about the problems it's having: it can't keep up with demand for free readers, and people want to transfer even more money through the service. Those are pretty good problems to have. Square is definitely taking its time while working out the kinks, but the fact that it just can't keep up with demand is far from a condemnation of their business model.
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Two weeks back at WWDC, Square told us that the company was "catching up with demand" of its little plastic credit card reader for the...
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It's not a good time to roll out a new credit fulfillment service. US Congress is in conference committee partly negotiating how much money merchants can be charged for transactions. Were I Square, I would sit on rollout until the bill is law and readjust my service fees according to what the new law allows. As opposed to offering people a contract that I might have to honor for a couple years that a month from now could be illegal or doesn't make financial sense.
June 21 2010 at 10:18 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyCongress is considering enabling a limit on debit not credit interchange. But it's a fair point.
From the perspective of a payments industry "insider", this is a fine idea for capturing spend that wouldn't normally get into the system. Let's call it "micro merchants." But it's hardly a revolutionary business model. And, if there is payment volume to be had with these micro merchants, there will be dozens of competing models long before this one gets any kind of killer mass.
Not being able to keep up with your own hype is so so so 2000's.
What's needed is Accessory #2: A small device that takes the credit card owner's thumb print for transactions above the nominal limit.
June 21 2010 at 8:18 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyIf you have a serious business, you ought to get a CC mobile terminal.
This Square idea is perfect for people not serious about their business.
I wish tech blogs would stop raving about something we can't get. I've waited over 2 months and still have nothing to use. BTW, I expect this device to move from the headphone jack to the data port as soon as they realize the jack will get damaged and not work from the swooping pressure after 100 swipes. Then your screwed.
June 21 2010 at 6:14 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWow, I must be like the only one that received mine. I haven't read one post anywhere about someone receiving their dongles.
Granted I did request one several months ago and got it a month ago, but still.
I actually find it real useful, they do run a credit check and determine your weekly limits (in my case $5700, others might be lower) but everyone is stuck with the $100 limit.
From what I recall Square plans on having users enter their tax information in for raised limits. Not quite sure I like that.
i ordered mine in april. still waiting.
but i'm hoping it will all work out soon, because i think it's a fantastic idea and a tremendously useful thing for my business.
Ok, a couple questions here.
1) Why are they using the headphone jack and not the data port?
2) As a corollary of 1, why are they using the headphone jack and a reader that has no way of securing itself to the phone other than the headphone jack? Please tell me i'm not the only one who imagines this thing spinning in your hand as your try and swipe a card through??
What I imagine is someone asking me to give their card back to them when they see I'm about to swipe it through something that looks nothing like any PoS card reader they've ever seen. It doesn't exactly instill a lot of consumer confidence.
June 22 2010 at 12:44 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply@Actionable Mango
That makes sense, I hadn't considered that they would be using the same hardware across platforms, but its a pretty clever way to interop.
@macserv
This one by mophie certainly looks a lot more polished for sure: http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/12/30/mophie-to-take-on-square-with-their-own-iphone-credit-card-reader/
I received that email as well (and am also waiting for my reader). The issue that I have, however, is that the email mentions that they are addressing the issue of the transaction limits by running a credit check. So, if you agree to perform the credit check, they will ship you a reader. Otherwise, they will not ship you a reader. My ONLY issue with this is that in order to be on the list to get a reader in the first place, they ran your credit. This email is making it sound as though I must allow for them to run my credit again to receive the reader. Here is the excerpt from that email:
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The way we are handling the risk of chargebacks and fraud is through transaction limits, but we have received feedback that those limits are too low. We are rethinking and expanding our underwriting infrastructure to address this issue. As soon as we finish, we will send you an email to confirm that you would like us to run a credit check (or you can cancel your request to process cards with Square which will securely remove your personal information). We will then ship your free card reader and activate your account to accept card payments.
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As stated, the email doesn't mention as to when this will all be available, but if it doesn't happen soon, I'll probably switch to using someone else.
They've clarified this on their site (you can log in to their new Settings page and see). Square has not run a credit check on ANYONE yet, even if you previously agreed to it. Once they have these issues worked out, they'll start running the credit checks and shipping readers.
June 21 2010 at 6:05 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyMaybe someone with figure out an alternative. I'm getting of tired of waiting for these fixes. I have two small businesses that this would be prefect for, come on Square!
June 21 2010 at 5:42 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThis was a really nice demo some time ago... but where's the chip and pin version?
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