SQUARE credit card device

Square does NOT work here unfortunately. Works in PR thou which I find annoying lol. Hey were a territory too! lol. The ONLY thing that will work is PalPal "Here" BUT you have to have it linked with a stateside bank account. I use PayPal "Here" for my photography and website payments - its actually REALLY awesome. You can create each item with its own description and price and a simple tap of the screen adds it into a cart. It emails and texts a receipt to your customer with all your business information and they can sign with their finger right on the phone/ipad. Its a GREAT app! Try downloading the app and play around with it - its a free app. They do charge a flat fee per transaction and since we dont charge tax here, I just imput the 3% into the tax field and it populates the fee automatically. You can also take cash payments, it will caculate change for you and also give the option to text or email a receipt. This makes it easy to keep up with your sale for end of the year taxes. OH and it takes checks too.

p.s. I dont have the actual CC swiper I just do it manually. I don't think they will ship the swiper here because technically its not supported here.

Good article: http://www.blessthisstuff.com/stuff/technology/apps/paypal-here/

One of my friends who sells stuff on cruise days has a card swiper. You sign your name on her iphone with your finger and get a receipt emailed to you. I think it is paypal.

I have a paypal account linked to a local bank acct (firstbank). I've never accepted a payment, but can send moeny out of it.

Due to what I just read in the above posts, I called Paypal directly. This is what the tech said:

The Swiper, for Paypal, is based on GPS. She told me oi could go to the website & try to download the Swiper App. If the Swiper App application goes through, then they will send me a Swiper. Plain & simple.

...off to try the download tomorrow...

stxem, which island is your friend on?

I have had to get an ATT Microcell in order to get cell phone service, and that is based on GPS locale.

Can you hook me up with your friend for more info????

On St. Croix. She uses it in Frederiksted on Strand Street where there is very good cell coverage.

Thanks!

AandA2VI: Here is the message I got when I tried "PayPal Here". So, I guess you are still using a stateside mailing address.

PayPal Here isn't Available in U.S. Territories
Sorry, PayPal Here isn't available in U.S. territories.
If you moved and no longer live in a U.S. territory, go to paypal.com to update your address and then log in to PayPal Here.

Rocky Dock
Water Island

AandA2VI: Here is the message I got when I tried "PayPal Here". So, I guess you are still using a stateside mailing address.

Yes, she said in her post that she's using a stateside bank account. I use regular PayPal a lot and it's hooked into my Scotiabank account with no problem so I imagine that the "Here" will be available in the USVI before too long.

Weird....I live on STX and use PayPal all the time. It seems to work fine with both my BoSTX and Banco Pop accounts.

Weird....I live on STX and use PayPal all the time. It seems to work fine with both my BoSTX and Banco Pop accounts.

Yes it does - but what's being discussed is their "Here" credit card transaction application which isn't yet available in the territories using a local bank account - but can be used with a stateside account..

It is not where the bank is located, it is the address you register with in PayPal. Which in my case is Water Island because that is where my stateside bank sends me mail. Also, in another post it is mentioned that the GPS location of where the scanner is being used will determine whether PayPal Here will be allowed. So, I'm guessing that by entering the credit card number by hand you could avoid the GPS cross-check. Since my PayPal registered address has to match the address used by my bank, I will have to change my bank mailing address to a non-territory US address and update my PayPal address also to that same non-territory address.

I ran into this problem back in 2007 when I started using Skype while traveling and I wasn't allowed to make payments to Skype through PayPal. I ended up using Moneybookers, which is based in London, to pay Skype. However, the payment to Moneybookers was made from my Paypal account. Go figure.

Rocky Dock
Water Island

I just got off the phone with PayPal again this morning.

They have another great option.

"Virtual Terminal". https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/virtual-terminal

This Paypal system uses a laptop/internet, and can be used anywhere there is internet services/wifi.

Credit cards are entered manuallly, and that's it, that's the process. It costs $30/month, no additional equipment needed, although the rep did mention a cc reader usb could be purchased for about $10 on Ebay.

I think this sounds GREAT!

Do they charge interest on the transactions?

I haven't yet had the opportunity to read-up on the link, so I don't know details.

Do they charge interest on the transactions?

No, but they charge a commission. I think it's 2.9% + 30 cents.

I just got a hold of a local option for the same sort of service, and here's what they offer:

$10.00 set-up fee
Average of 2.2% to 2.6% overall cost/service fee
.10 cents per transaction fee
$18.00 month base fee

renegotiable service fee after 6 months.

ReUse Emporium has/had the ipad CC swipper... check with them what brand they use.

I just got a hold of a local option for the same sort of service, and here's what they offer:

$10.00 set-up fee
Average of 2.2% to 2.6% overall cost/service fee
.10 cents per transaction fee
$18.00 month base fee

renegotiable service fee after 6 months.

I looked into local options a while ago and one thing I found was a big disparity with the time it takes for the transaction to make it into your bank account. Wise to ask that as it's not always mentioned in the small print and some of them have a processing delay of a week or more which is a wait a small operator can't always afford.