The Square Register Make Merch Sales Easy

One of the major developments in the last year or so in the world of merch sales is Square. If you've been following this blog or have read my Music 3.0 book, you know that Square is a way to do credit card transactions on an iPhone or iPad very cheaply and easily. It caught on in a big way because it's way better than using a bank in terms of their transaction costs and the cost of a traditional credit card reader.

Now Square has done it again with a new iPad application called Square Register that's designed to let merchants ring up and track sales and just like a traditional cash register.

Register works with Square's existing card reader that plugs into the iPad's headphone jack, and also with Card Case, which is a mobile app for both iPhone and Android that lets you pay retailers without even removing the phone from your wallet. And if shoppers want to, they can even pay with cash (what a concept)!

The Square card reader is free, and you pay 2.75% of each transaction to Square, which is cheaper than just about any bank for a credit card transaction. Square Register lets the seller display all of the products offered for sale, so the person selling just has to tap to make the sale. The sale is tied to a dashboard app that lets you track inventory, taxes and other relavent sales info. Plus, you don't have to worry about the person on the merch table making a mistake or pocketing any of the profits.

Here's a way that makes merch sales so very easy that's it's no wonder it's taken the touring business by storm, yet it's cheap enough that any band can get in on it. Check out this short movie, then check Square Register out.

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