An article posted yesterday at TechCrunch details some recent developments at mobile card acceptance provider Square. The “disruptive” mobile payment acceptance player has an updated and redesigned website and has made improvements to the app that purport to speed up transactions and eliminate inefficiencies. Terms and conditions have changed to explicitly allow card acceptors to waive signature requirements for transactions under $25 (as indicated in card brand operating rules). “Card Case” has also been more closely integrated with the payment app so that a returning customer can pay just by giving his or her name to the merchant, who has payment information stored in Square’s cloud for use in future transactions.
The company also has enabled the recently launched, ‘pay with your name’ feature to all merchants, so anyone can opt-in to the directory listing and can add a ‘card case’ to make payments quicker and easier for their customers.
As we wrote in May, Square debuted a virtual card case that consumers fill with ‘cards’ of all the merchants they visit and buy from who accept Square. These mobile cards include locations, merchant contact info, coupons, order and purchase history and more. One of the more interesting features was the ability to ‘pay with your name.’ In a merchant’s card within the case, you can press a “use tab” button which allows the frequent customer to essentially put a purchase on their virtual tab with Square at the merchant.
So once you press that button within two blocks of the merchant, you’ll be able to tell the cashier your name and your card will be charged on the merchant’s backend Square register. Because you are a repeat customer, Square already has your payment information. The purchaser will then receive a push notification when the merchant processes the payment.
Another update in the new version of the app is a new and improved the tipping interface for transactions, which is sure to make merchants in some service industries happy. Merchants can also add $0.00 items in transactions. This is particularly useful for added items like extra mayo or a pickle, where a merchant wants to keep track of what’s being added but isn’t charging for the item.
Read full article: http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/22/squ…8TechCrunch%29
