Square: Credit card reader for your smartphone
by Beth on June 24, 2011
in Beth Favorite, Free, Low-Cost, Smartphone, Worth Paying For
Credit card machines for small businesses can be expensive and a hassle, and often you have to enter into a contract with a company for the equipment and the service. But if you’re a small business like me, a super-easy credit card reader like Square may be just the ticket.
Square is a tiny little card reader that slips into the audio port of your Android phone, iPhone or iPad. You set up a free account, get a free reader and can start swiping cards immediately. The system is linked to your bank account, and the money transfers in the next day. They charge no setup or maintenance fees, and take just 2.75% out of every transaction. They’ll even help you calculate and keep track of sales tax.
I’ve been practicing with the reader by charging the price of my book on my husband’s credit card. He doesn’t know it yet, but he is going to have plenty of copies to give away for Christmas.
See the full review here:
Minutes.io: Easy, shared meeting minutes
Ever have to transcribe handwritten notes from a meeting then spend half an hour sending them out to everyone? What a pain.
Minutes.io lets you quickly and easily take live notes of a meeting then distribute them to a group of people with a click of a button.
I love that they don’t make you register for the site even though you have access to the archive.
Oh, and I also love that it’s completely free.
Watch my full review here: YouTube – Minutes.io.
ChipIn: Collect Money Online
One of my dear friends has cancer and is going through very painful and challenging radiation and chemo. I wanted to raise a little money to help her family, and I discovered ChipIn, a simple little widget that allows you to ask your network to… well… ChipIn!
ChipIn doesn’t charge you anything for the service, but the money is routed through PayPal (you need a free account), and they take out 2.9% plus $.30 per transaction.
ChipIn is great for raising money for friends like Rebecca, but it would also work if you’re asking staffers to pitch in for a Christmas party or the like. It’s important to note that ChipIn donations are not necessarily tax deductible, unless, I guess, they’ve been set up by the charity.
Wanna see how it works? ChipIn a couple of bucks for Rebecca to find out!
