

Square has a competitor now - Intuit GoPayment - ramanujam
http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/01/intuits-gopayment-cuts-transaction-fees-pricing-now-more-in-line-with-square/

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thesethings
I haven't used Square or the Intuit payment device, but here is a semi-
relevant bit about Intuit:

I randomly tried TurboTax (owned by Intuit) this year. My friends used it. I
trusted their taste, but only that it was the best of mediocre options. I was
wrong. The app was amazing. One of the best apps of any kind I've ever used.
The UX from the visual progress workflow to the copywriting de-stressing you
out about taxes (but not getting forced-humorous), saving sessions that you
time out (you're gonna time out something as long as your taxes, trust +
believe)... Just everything. I know it sounds crazy, but doing my taxes was
actually fun.

Anyway... I bring this up because they also own Mint, which lots of people
think is pretty nice, too (but its heritage predates Intuit's purchase of it).

All I know is... I have faith in Intuit to make something truly nice. I am
really rooting for Square, because I always root for disruptive upstarts, but
i hope they both make slightly different variations of stuff that will help
customers.

~~~
pitdesi
TurboTax isn't bad (although I prefer the much cheaper TaxACT), but you should
know Intuit has put a good deal of lobbying money towards blocking proposals
to have the federal government send you pre-filled out tax forms that would
make everything much easier.

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9112083>
<http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100723/09055310339.shtml>

They put a million dollars to Republican Tony Stricklands campaign for
California Comptroller because the other guy wanted free e-filing
<http://www.consumercal.org/article.php?id=127>

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thesethings
Thanks for the info on Intuit's unfortunate lobbying activities. That stuff
does matter to me. I'll be reading into it. (Though sheesh, neither pre-filled
out forms, nor free e-filing would be as radical as simpler tax policy. :D)

As for TaxAct, at least the onboarding process wasn't as nice as TurboTax on
the day I was doing my comparison shopping. But I definitely will give it a
try + trust your opinion (i peeped your profile and suspect you know more
about consumer financial services than i do, heh).

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cletus
My respect for Intuit has really gone up reading this.

Square has an awful lot of momentum behind it and is incredibly well-executed.
Distribution through the Apple store is a good example of how well they're
doing.

For a large company like Intuit to launch their own service that, at least in
transaction terms, is doing roughly as well (in pure transaction terms at any
rate) is an achievement (IMHO). Sure they can leverage off their
Quicken/QuickBooks franchises (not to mention Mint) but as Microsoft has
demonstrated time and time again: you can still fail when you have a massive
incumbent advantage.

Plus I like the competition. It's good for us, the consumers.

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pitdesi
This is a marketing ploy by Intuit - in reality you aren't getting flat
pricing on a significant majority of your transactions under their new plan.

For a very small portion of transactions you get a very good rate (1.7%flat)
under the new pricing (if you pay the $13/month), but tiered pricing means
they can charge you the non-qualified rate whenever they want. “Non-qualified”
means whatever the hell they want it to, and ultimately the vast majority of
your transactions/cards will fall under that pricing tier and you’ll pay 3.7%
plus 22 or 37 cents on them. (non-qual rates still have what they call an
authorization fee appended to them – 22 cents or 37 cents based on what plan
you choose). In our experience, typically over 70% of the transactions are
non-qualified. My guess is that Intuit will give you the qualified rate for
debit cards and some standard cards (but these days everyone uses rewards
cards).

To be a little honest, I'm shocked that TC didn't do a little more research
for this article (not to mention the huge number of other errors this article
is riddled with). I just wrote a blogpost explaining this in a bit more
detail: [http://feefighters.com/blog/intuit-drops-per-transaction-
fee...](http://feefighters.com/blog/intuit-drops-per-transaction-fee-sorta-is-
it-now-a-good-deal-hell-no/)

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ignifero
Why are these "card-reader devices" considered revolutionary? They have a
miniscule profit margin, and the ones who really benefit are VISA, AMEX and
other card issuers. I don't see what's the disruption here, unless they plan
to supersede banks and card issuers. Holding my breath for NFC.

~~~
senex
I bought a burger from a mobile restaurant (large truck) the other day. They
swiped my card through a Square reader. I appreciated not having to find an
ATM. I'll eat there again next time it shows up near my office since the
experience was so convenient (and the food was great :)

~~~
Turing_Machine
Exactly. Another example: I know a mechanic who does small jobs for his
friends on the side. He just signed up for Square because that will let him
take credit cards on the spot (customer's house, roadside, wherever). He was
using PayPal for this before -- not nearly as convenient for a mobile
businessperson. So... is it a game-changer in the sense of radically
transforming the economy? Probably not, but this type of service is still a
significant boon for small businesspeople like my friend.

