Financial startup Square revamped the way we do commerce by offering users a way to do transactions directly on their smartphones. Now, everyone from entrepreneurs to craft-makers to cab drivers could handle their transactions without paying for a complex credit card scanner.
Square has introduced a new system for processing payments in order to more effectively serve artists and entrepreneurs. The system is an extension of Square Cash, which lets users transfer funds back and forth by sending users a link to their debit card. Now, the service will handle business transactions via Square Cash and will provide users with an outlet for providing payments.
Here's how it'll work:
Users can log onto https://cash.me to create a Square Cash account. That account will provide a "Cashtag," which users can provide others with in order to simplify the payment process. Users can provide others access to their account by sending them https://cash.me/(insert cashtag here). Once the user has clicked on the link, they can input any amount he or she wants to pay toward the account. Then he or she inserts the debit card information, clicks send, and voila!, the payment is finished.
So, if you need someone to pay you, send them to https://cash.me/cashtag, which they can then use to send you a payment. Need a donation? Post your cashtag to Twitter and see what you get!
"The idea is that small-business service providers such as contractors, wedding photographers or musical instructors could have customers pay quickly at their Cash.me page instead of relying on cash or check payments," Re/Code reports.
Square currently charges 1.5 percent of each transaction, which is significantly lower than Square's current rate of 2.75.
While this isn't the first app to simplify payment methods via another interface, it is the first to remove the need for having the same app. The fact that users only need to know your cashtag will significantly simplify the payment system for others.
The new Square Cash Service comes out less than a week after Facebook announced its new Messenger transaction system.
