"Square Cash" payment sytem
Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 7:10 pm
I just read about this today in the Wall Street Journal, and it sounds promising. I'll copy a bit of the article here, but not all, for copyright reasons. I don't know if the link will work for all, but you could probably search "square cash" on the internet and see how it works. Right now unfortunately, it seems to be for the U.S. only, but the article made mention of "paid premium service" in the future, to allow larger and international transactions.
FROM WSJ:
"...starting Tuesday, you can just email cash, free of charge, directly from your debit card to anyone else's, regardless of what bank each party uses. There's no login or password to remember and no special software or hardware required—you just use email. It works on both ends using any email service or program on any email-capable device, whether a computer, a smartphone or a tablet.
This new service, called Square Cash, comes from Square Inc., best known for equipping small brick-and-mortar merchants with smartphone-swiping devices that allow them to accept credit cards, and with tablets that act as sophisticated cash registers.
Square Cash permits you to send up to $2,500 a week in several transactions or all at once. At launch, it works only in the U.S., and with debit cards carrying either the Visa or MasterCard logo. It isn't meant for buying things from merchants, online or off, only for person-to-person cash transfers.
There are other services that allow you to send money from one person to another digitally. You can do it via PayPal, or via a newer service called Venmo, which PayPal is in the process of acquiring. But I believe Square is simpler and more private. For instance, PayPal places received money in a PayPal account and you must transfer it to your bank in a separate step. Venmo has a strong social component that encourages users to post when payments are made.
I tested Square Cash, sending and receiving money in amounts ranging from $10 to over $1,000, with eight people, and it worked rapidly and flawlessly. I can recommend it for anyone who needs to pay a small debt, give a cash gift, split a bill, or send cash quickly and easily."
The rest is at the link:
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 2381777756
Alan
FROM WSJ:
"...starting Tuesday, you can just email cash, free of charge, directly from your debit card to anyone else's, regardless of what bank each party uses. There's no login or password to remember and no special software or hardware required—you just use email. It works on both ends using any email service or program on any email-capable device, whether a computer, a smartphone or a tablet.
This new service, called Square Cash, comes from Square Inc., best known for equipping small brick-and-mortar merchants with smartphone-swiping devices that allow them to accept credit cards, and with tablets that act as sophisticated cash registers.
Square Cash permits you to send up to $2,500 a week in several transactions or all at once. At launch, it works only in the U.S., and with debit cards carrying either the Visa or MasterCard logo. It isn't meant for buying things from merchants, online or off, only for person-to-person cash transfers.
There are other services that allow you to send money from one person to another digitally. You can do it via PayPal, or via a newer service called Venmo, which PayPal is in the process of acquiring. But I believe Square is simpler and more private. For instance, PayPal places received money in a PayPal account and you must transfer it to your bank in a separate step. Venmo has a strong social component that encourages users to post when payments are made.
I tested Square Cash, sending and receiving money in amounts ranging from $10 to over $1,000, with eight people, and it worked rapidly and flawlessly. I can recommend it for anyone who needs to pay a small debt, give a cash gift, split a bill, or send cash quickly and easily."
The rest is at the link:
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 2381777756
Alan