Square Donations instead of PayPal?

Continuing the discussion from Owning up - I forgot to pay before I left dms:

I don’t see any mention of Square for payment processing on the wiki (where my search-fu may simply be lacking). Found it on Laser’s page. To me it’s in a weird place, and only mentions using the kiosk, so I think the rest of my questions are largely still applicable…

Is it intended we use Square exclusively now, for Creative Arts and Laser committee payments (or anywhere else, for that matter)?

Apparently the Paypal links/QR codes still work, but should they be supplanted by NEW QR codes for Square payments (CAN that happen?), for example if/when posters are made, etc. ? @Team_Finance

I think I just answered most of my own questions.
https://talk.dallasmakerspace.org/t/new-square-kiosks/18480?u=jast
Still confused, though.
Should we remove the QR codes for Paypal altogether?
Is there (still) no way to route payment to Square other than the kiosk?
What is the expectation if we DO use Paypal in terms of the envelope, cash box, etc.?

This is why I find pay-per-use stuff really annoying. No clear avenue for not pissing people off and/or having to defend my actions. This is very high among my personal reasons for having never used my 3D Printer or Laser training, and why I tend to avoid CA altogether. I have enough trouble processing clear instructions.

It is our intention to get rid of PayPal except for membership dues. The reasoning is we can automate square payments easier than PayPal.

There are a lot of references around either with barcodes or online with PayPal links. @Robert_Davidson is there an equivalent barcode/url for square to do donations?

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The intent is to shutdown the QR codes completely. It’s a gradual move off but the QR codes were removed from the cash box on install of the square.

Best case scenario if you pay cash pay out using the square kiosk and put the receipt with the cash in the envelope.

If you pay by credit card an envelope is not needed.

The reason there is no remote form of payment is people were saying that they paid outside of the cash box when they never did.

The expectation is if you mistakenly forgot to pay is to pay promptly at your next arrival.

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I hate to have to support Square to pay for my usage/materials, but OK.
Will PR, for example, still use a QR code so out-and-out donations can be accepted from people NOT on site, not paying for materials/usage?

Should we add verbiage to the Wiki for the areas accepting Square (3D, Laser, and CA) to always pay on site, as there is no offsite method of payment? Should those QR codes be removed from the Wiki altogether?

I’m confused by this. Probably because i haven’t actually tried to use the Square kiosk, but this is part of why I haven’t tried to use a Square kiosk. So I “pay out using the square kiosk”, which I would assume means I put cash into the Square kiosk and it gives me a receipt for having so done, but then I am to “put the receipt with the cash in the envelope”, so I’m putting cash and a receipt in the envelope… So, I don’t put cash into the Square kiosk? What does it give me a receipt for, if it received nothing? Is it more of an invoice? Do I just put in my $$ amount, to match the cash I’m going to drop into the box?

Square’s web page gives me a massive headache. I don’t see anything that appears to accept cash, so I assume I’m “ringing myself up” for a dollar amount of [time, super glue, what-have-you], so I can print an invoice from the Square kiosk (without actually paying), and then including that invoice along with cash payment, in the envelope, and putting it in the black box?

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Out of curiosity, what issue do you have with Square?

I’m appreciative of the “emergency payment” of paypal. I’m sorry it happened but I’m glad it could be corrected.

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@jast I would recommend you try it and see how it works for you. It’s really not that complicated also there has never been the ability to pay later or “at home” the intention has always been to pay at the point in time that you used the equipment.

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Absolutely everything about the company makes me want to shower compulsively.
Further elaboration on specifics is not really the sort of thing I want to see debated on Talk (or enter a discussion of personally), though some of the points have been brought up in past threads discussing Square.
My personal feelings on the company are not pertinent to this discussion, and I should have left that out.

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I can respect that, thanks. I was curious because I’m ignorant of Square other than occasionally using them as a consumer, mostly at craft fairs and such.

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Any alternative payment scheme other than hard cash has limitations and fees. But since I don’t want to carry around and deposit $60,000 per month we do what we do.

We used Square since they offer a mostly effective way for members to check out. Plus it does not put a crazy burden on finance volunteers to assign payments/reimbursements to committees.

PayPal does not pass through enough information to be able to automate the processing. We could have a separate bank account and use PayPal’s QBO app but the reviews are terrible for it.

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If you want a quick walk-through, stop by CA on a Tues/Thurs evening and I’ll be happy show you. Fairly sure Devin @missydee1206 lives in CA so she could help too :slight_smile:

Since CA has a lot of random consumables, we’ve tried to make the process as painless and clear as possible. It’s pretty quick and easy.

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I think @JAST has a valid point here about the situation being confusing. The further dialog demonstrates his point. Do we have one centralized place where we describe how to pay, or is that information just passed around by cultural knowledge?

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Welcome to Committee Creative Arts…

…you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave…

Sorry, I just had to do that…

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Muahahaha…

••innocent look••

To expand on Ken’s comments from a Finance perspective.

Today when we were processing the cash deposits from the committees, several had the receipt that Square printed showing they had paid: name, amount, date/time, and committee. I too personally like PayPal - but being on Finance committee I’ve come to hate it for our use, it’s a lot of manual work to assign the transactions to the appropriate committee.

Square when imported assigns it directly to the committee within Quickbooks Online - QBO. We have an increasing number of transactions so this becomes even more important. The solution that @Robert_Davidson has “ginned up” works great from the perspective of DMS. I selfishly support it - even though I personally generally pay cash in an envelope.

Myself, I’d take a photo of the receipt just in case a dispute ever arose just so I wouldn’t have to go search through arcane receipts trying to match things up. But that’s me.

I’m not big on electronic payment things in general. When watching the guy being dragged down the aisle on United Airlines I can’t help but visualize that is me and @PearceDunlap dragging me onto Discord. :grin:

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Instead of taking a photo of the receipt. You can have it email you and print a receipt. But ultimately whatever works for you.

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Did know know that - as I said I pay cash (old school, still believe in cash, the ultimate airgap and anti-virus device. :wink:

Then that makes it even easier. Good to know.

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That’s great to know! :smiley:

I’ve been taking pix like David! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: :slight_smile: