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Mobile Phone Based Credit Card Reader for Village Hall

DRD

DRD

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5Years
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Oct 26, 2014
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Any suggestions please ?

Looking for a cost effective, simple to use, mobile phone/ card reader for our bar. This technology will just sit in the bar for use 1/2/3/4 days a month or so.

Is there a good basic phone to buy ?

A good card reader service ?

Thank you
 
Square, charges 1.75% on transactions but the basic card reader itself was only about £20. Needs to be paired with a smartphone via Bluetooth and an app and you could set it up on a basic standalone phone. You can punch the amount into the app (or can set up products e.g. pint of bitter so it totals for you) and then it pushes the total to the card reader for tapping.
 
I want to create a totally standalone backup. We have a BT broadband, WiFi etc linked to our till.

But it has a nasty habit of going down.

So I plan to buy this as a totally firewalled backup
 
DRD said:
I want to create a totally standalone backup. We have a BT broadband, WiFi etc linked to our till.

But it has a nasty habit of going down.

So I plan to buy this as a totally firewalled backup
Click to expand...
It just relies on having phone signal and/or WiFi for the attached smartphone, so as long as you have that Square should work (and likely other similar services too)
 
DRD said:
I want to create a totally standalone backup. We have a BT broadband, WiFi etc linked to our till.

But it has a nasty habit of going down.

So I plan to buy this as a totally firewalled backup
Click to expand...

Square, SumUp and Zettle readers all work via connection to a mobile phone - so as long as you have either wifi or 4G / 5G signal they’ll be fine.

I have experience with all three and have found SumUp the most reliable but they’re all very similar. If you want a foolproof backup solution you’ll need to buy two of the readers in case one is broken etc.

You could even get one each of two of the readers - ie one Sumup and one Zettle - in case one of them has service issues which is rare but does happen on occasion.
 
I have zettle now. Dropped the proper card machine that charged me £40 a month before I started. Oh and fine you for not doing compliance things when they have your wrong email address.... long story.
After covid I moved to zettle and are happy - it is run via paypal.
The fees are okay - just not as good as the proper machine but at the end of the day - no monthly fees if it sits there.

I would if there is anything in the small print for whomever you use about minimum transactions. I just say its a minimum of a tenner. Saves people messing about trying to pay me for a fuse on a credit card.
 
For more modern phones, you can with SumUp use your phone as a terminal. Worth downloading the app and having a play. I’ve found SumUp to be excellent with good customer service
 
Thanks for the suggestions.

WiFi and technology in a Village Hall context is deeply frustrating. Many of the users/ volunteers are quite old. Standby/ reset/ reboot ... not in their lexicon.

So when we installed aircon it just created a nightmare as they don't know how to use it/ leave it on/ change the modes/ put into cooling then put it up to 28 degrees.

So we tried to limit manual intervention and ran the AC off an app. Then the wifi fails or the Mitsubishi app fails. You get pensioners walking into a freezing cold room and moaning.

Tell one member of a group/ club to turn up an hour earlier to check that the heating is on and they moan.

We bought a new oven and that created complaints as it has a digital control panel.

Kettles are fine. More complex than that and you invite chaos in a village hall.

The card reader is another example of the above. We have a wedding this weekend so I called the bride and told her ask her guests to bring cash.
 
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