Has anyone ever looked into using Square as a backup for credit card processing? We currently do not have any external credit card processors- everything is ran through Tessitura. So when Tess is out, we don't have a way to process credit cards easily. We are a Vantiv client, and part of my contingency project is looking into acquiring external EMV readers from them, but I'm absolutely dreading the process because of terrible customer service experiences I've had with Vantiv in the past.
I thought of Square and it looks way more appealing to me. From what I understand, we can get 15 of their magstripe card readers for potentially the price of one EMV reader from ingenico or verifone (I'm assuming this is what Vantiv would set up up with, and I've heard that those readers can cost as much as $500+ for one device. This may be incorrect though, I've just been really dragging my feet to try to get a quote from them.) I know Square takes a cut of sales, but I'm almost thinking it would be worth it in the end to be able to do sales EASILY in a moment where we would potentially be doing zero sales.
I'm not concerned about it having any connection into Tessitura- in the event we would actually have to use the Square devices, we would go back into Tessitura once up again and record the sales. It's literally just to get payments- particularly at our GA performances that would absolutely stink to have to turn people away from.
I welcome any feedback! I know there's been posts about Square before, but I don't think any of them discussed it being used in this way.
We use Square quite often and frequently, although not as backup for Tessitura. At this time, there is no ability to use Square with Tess. Hopefully someday. We use Square for on the fly donations at events. I bought a half dozen Samsung Galaxy Tab eLite tablets, and the Square contactless chip reader. I mounted the chip reader on the back of the tablet. Its fast, convenient, and looks professional. Staff love it to take a credit card donation in the lobby or the house on the fly. We still need to input the data later into Tessitura, but that is a quick process back at the office. We get Square reports and can see the amount of donations accepted immediately. This is also huge for our special events where we have auctions, and other special events where we need to accept credit cards without the hassle or time-consuming process of entering data into tessitura at the event. For cards that do not have a chip, we have the standard swipe in the tablet as well. Fast, effective, time efficient. Staff love it. Out patrons love it. For us it was a win-win. I do hope Tessitura will eventually work with Square, or some other technology, to allow this type of secondary payment acceptance. It woud be a huge benefit for both RAMP and non-RAMP customers alike.