Services let you swipe credit cards from smart phones

GoPayment comes with a free card scanner for smart phones

Intuit, which makes Quicken and Quickbooks has a service called GoPayment which includes apps for the BlackBerry, Android and iPhones and a small credit card reader that plugs into the audio port of a smart phone or connects via BlueTooth.   The service is aimed at small businesses including people who are mobile such as gardeners, plumbers and street merchants.  The App is free and there is even a small card reader that’s free but merchants pay a transaction fee to process credit card charges that starts at about 2.7%.  The service can also be used without a smart phone but there is a higher transaction fee if you don’t swipe the buyer’s credit card.

A somewhat similar service, called Square can be used by almost anyone.  Like GoPayments there is also a way to use it if you don’t have a smart phone but if you do, they too will send you a small reader that works with Android and iPhones.

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