Square Register, Pay With Square Aim To Change How You Pay [HANDS-ON]

After launching in 2009, Square has set the standard for small merchants who want to accept credit cards.

Square's signature white card reader plugs into the headphone jack of iPhones and Android devices and allows anyone from businesses with a full retail store set up, to artists who are setting up a small booth at a local craft fair to accept credit card payments charging those merchants just 2.75% per swipe.

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The company is now processing an astounding $5 billion in payments annually, increasing its payment volume by 25% since March of this year with more than 1 million using the service to accept payments. Funds from sales made before 5pm are also now available in the merchant's bank account the very next day -– much quicker than the several days or week or processing required by other payment processors.

In March the company took mobile payments a step further and launched Square Register. The full point-of-sale system for businesses not only allows merchants to accept payments, but also tracks store inventory and allows customers to share information such as their menu with customers via Square's mobile app.

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SEE ALSO: Square App Turns Your iPad Into a Cash Register

Customers can open a tab on their mobile phone wherever they want –- or have a tab auto-open when they arrive at merchants they frequent -– and merchants can tap that person's photo and name on the checkout screen in order to charge a purchase.

We recently went around San Francisco with Square to check out Square Register and Pay With Square in action. In the city where Square is based, the service is already being used by a wide array of merchants.

While difficult at times to actually open a tab –- we needed to turn on the Wi-Fi on our iPhone in order the phone to be able to tell we were actually close enough to a merchant to check in -– the actual purchase aspect of Pay With Square worked seamlessly.

We used it to buy doughnuts from a local merchant, pick up lunch on a local food truck, and to buy some soap at a local artisan soap store.

“I always like to check out who's coming thought the line,” said one Humphry Slocombe employee. At the local ice cream shop he looks to pay attention who has already opened a tab at the store –- which often has a line wrapped around the block -- and then use his or her name when they finally make it to the front of the line to make a purchase.

Check out the gallery below for a look at Pay With Square in action. How do you think the service stacks up to some of the other options out there? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Taking Inventory

Square Register helps merchants keep track of their inventory,allowing them to gain insight on what's selling well and when.

This doughnut shop, for instance, keeps track of each individual type of doughnut it sells using the service.

Click here to view this gallery.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source & Image : Yahoo