Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a credit card processing service for smartphones (see article below), an authoring system for creating multimedia demand letters, an online backup and file sharing service, a Gmail add-on, and a clipboard manager for iPhone. Don't miss the next issue.
Make it Cool for Clients to Pay You
If you invented blogs and then sold your invention to Google, would you retire? Or would you invent Twitter instead? And if you invented Twitter, would you stop there? Or would try to reinvent credit card processing? Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Blogger and Twitter, is clearly not a man who rests on his laurels. If your law firm accepts credit cards, his latest invention may help you far more than his previous two.
Square … in One Sentence
Square offers credit card processing via smartphone with simplified processing fees.
The Killer Feature
Why start a credit card processing company? Who knows, but it seems likely that Jack Dorsey once opened a merchant account and was mortified by all the nickeling and diming on each month's statement.
Square offers a simpler fee structure. If you swipe a card in person, you pay 2.75% of the amount charged plus 15 cents. If you key in the card number (card not present), you pay 3.5% plus 15 cents.
You do not need a merchant account. There's no contract, setup fees, monthly fees, or monthly minimum. Square gives you a free mobile card reader.
Other Notable Features
The Square card reader plugs into the headphone jack on your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Android smartphone (Square plans to support other devices in the future). You can also manually enter credit card numbers in the free Square app.
Square emails you a receipt of each transaction. You can log into your account using a Web browser to review transactions and create reports.
Your clients can also sign up for a Square account, enabling them to monitor their bills and payments. You can create offers to generate repeat business though these rewards probably work better for retailers (e.g., buy 10 cups of coffee and get your next one free).
What Else Should You Know?
Square processes transactions using bank-grade security, including PCI Level 1 and PA-DSS. Learn more about Square.
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So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
