Using an iPad as a cash register sounds nifty, but businesses will still need additional gear to swipe credit cards and print receipts. Square, the payments start-up company, said on Wednesday that it was bundling all the components a business needs for accepting payments into one package.
The bundle, called Business in a Box, includes two Square credit-card readers, a stand to prop up the iPad and a cash drawer for $300; another option, which includes a receipt printer, will cost $600. Jesse Dorogusker, vice president of Square Register, the company’s cash register app for businesses, said that in the past, Square listed equipment that was compatible with its software for merchants to buy separately. So the bundle should make life easier for people looking to start using the iPad in their businesses, like cafe owners or farmers market merchants. The iPad, however, is still sold separately.
GoPago, another payments start-up, offers a simiar package to merchants. It includes an Android tablet, Verizon data connection, cash box and receipt printer. Its package is “free†â€" but GoPago charges a 2.85 percent fee per transaction, divided among itself, the credit card company and Chase Paymentech, which is the processor. In contrast, Square’s package costs money but it charges a 2.75 percent fee per swipe.
Mr. Dorogusker said accepting payments was just one element of Square’s package. He said merchants enjoyed the analytic services embedded in Square’s software, which allow them to monitor inventory and the busiest and slowest times of the week for their business. The Square Register software is also capable of receiving payments from smartphone owners using the Square Wallet app (previously called Pay With Square). The Register app detects when a person with the wallet app is in the store and shows a portrait of the user, so all he has to do to pay f! or a coffee is say his name.
