Thursday, February 26, 2015

Accepting payments using your phone or tablet

This discussion on going on in one of my Facebook groups and there are a lot of options and opinions so I thought I would take a minute and try and document 3 different payment systems and their features and fees.

Currently I use Square.

Vendor Square
(www.squareup.com)
PayPal
(www.paypal.com)
Amazon
(www.amazon.com)
Fees with card present2.75%2.70%2.50%
Fees without card present3.5% + $0.153.5% + $0.152.75%
Fess for getting a card readerFree if you order online.
$10.00 if you purchase the reader in a store but you get a $10.00 credit to your account. Up to 10 days to receive in via DHL.
Free when ordered online. You can get a reader at Staples. It costs $15.00 but they credit your account for that amount once you register online. The Secure Card Reader costs $10.
Order online.
They credit your first $10 in processing fees.
Includes free two-day shipping.
Getting your moneySquare will transfer your money to your checking account in a couple of different ways.

Standard Option - based on the time of day that the transaction occurred.

Sunday 5 p.m. PT to Monday 5 p.m. PT.
Money transferred on Tuesday morning

Monday 5 p.m. PT to Tuesday 5 p.m. PT
Money transferred on Wednesday morning

Tuesday 5 p.m. PT to Wednesday 5 p.m. PT Money transferred on Thursday morning

Wednesday 5 p.m. PT to Thursday 5 p.m. PT
Money transferred on Friday morning

Thursday 5 p.m PT to Friday 1 p.m. PT
Money transferred on Monday morning

Friday 1 p.m. PT to Sunday 5 p.m. PT
Money transferred on Monday morning

You can also setup a payment schedule based on your "Close of Day".

Does not have Daily Deposit limits.
PayPal will transfer money to your checking account when you initiate the request. The transfer can take 3 - 5- days.

With swiped cards and PayPal Payments you can use your PayPal debit card for immediate access to your money.
In order to ensure that funds are deposited to your bank account on the next business day for swiped transactions, you must set up automatic daily transfers or manually transfer the funds from your Amazon Payments account to your bank account by 4 pm local time (4 pm Pacific for AK and HI).

Up to $1000.00 per day for manually swiped transaction are available for next-day deposits. Amounts over this have a 7-day clearing period.
Devices supportediPhones, iPads, Android 4.0 and higheriPhone and iPad running iOS 6.0 and later.
Android 4.0 on phones. Samsung tablets are supported.
iPhone 4 and higher. Android phone - Samsung Galaxy S3, S4, S5.
iPad tablets and select Fire tablets.


All of these vendors have accessories like stands and registers and printers (check Android printing requirements per vendor).

There is a lot more information available on the respective vendor sites as they have store options and inventory options and reporting options, etc., etc.

My focus in this blog was to highlight the card readers themselves and their fees.  I do not endorse anyone in particular even though I use a Square.  You have to decide what is best for you.

Remember, if you are going to use one of these at a craft show or some other event you will need access to wi-fi or some sort of hotspot for real time transaction processing.

Mark

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Walnut Business Card Holder Desk Clock

(2-21-15)

I made this Business Card Holder Desk Clock today.  It is Walnut, finished with satin poly.






I love it!

I love it when you are working on a project and you think it is going to turn out looking pretty good, then once you apply the finish and stand back and look at it and say "Holy shit, that turned out nice!"

Kind of makes my day.

Getting ready for the craft show

I am heading out to Diamond IL tomorrow for a Craft Show and built this display rack for my wall clocks. I think it will work out just fine.



Thursday, February 19, 2015

Any Pool Sharks out there?

(2-19-15)

This is a new clock I made with a Pool Table theme.  I hope you like it.



Timing chain clock

(2-19-15)

I know this isn't a "wood working" project but I thought it was a cool idea anyway.

I had this old timing chain set lying around and turned it into a clock.

Mark


Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Contemporary Mantle Clock

(2-17-15)

This is a clock that I designed and made.  I was looking at Classic Mantle Clocks, which I like and will make one soon, but I thought why not make something a little different?

So I took a paper and pencil and starting sketching ideas and this is what I can up with.

It is made out of Oak and has Walnut braces in the corners to make sure the joints stay nice and tight over time.  It is finished with a satin poly.



Saturday, February 14, 2015

Desk clock/Business Card holder

A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine asked me if I ever made a business card holder and I told him "No, but it is on my list", and now I have one.

Oak with a clear satin poly finish.

Approximately 12 inches wide.  The clock is about 5 inches tall.

I think it turned out quite nicely.

Mark




Sunday, February 8, 2015

I picked up a piece of Walnut today

(2-8-15)

Menards had this 4 ft long 1x6 Walnut board on clearance for quite a while and it kept calling my name and today it got the best of me :)

I see a clock in it's future.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Basketball Clock Update

(2-5-15)
I made a basketball themed clock a couple of weeks ago but am considering 'enhancing the look'. What do you think?

No logo


With logo




looks like a good day

I have some interest in a couple of my clocks so it looks like I will need to make some replacements in my inventory.

I am cool with that.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Snow, Snow, Snow

I was out in the shop working on a new clock all afternoon I opened the door to come in the house and I was surprised.  The #ChicagoBlizzard is in full force.

Snow drifting and blowing everywhere and 2 of my neighbors have lost tree branches.  I had to go through a 2 foot drift  just do get out of my shop door.

When I was working I could hear the wind but didn't think too much of it.  I was "in the zone".

Hopefully everyone is home safely and not driving in this mess.