Do you need a card reader for a small business?

Short answer: not necessarily. If most of your customers already pay with an app on their phone, they can pay you on that phone, and you can skip the hardware.

When a card reader makes sense

• Lots of tap-to-pay customers who expect to tap a card or watch at a counter.
• Big, fast lines where handing a phone back and forth would slow you down.
• Tips at the register, if that's how your customers like to tip.

When customers paying on their own phone is simpler

• Food trucks, pop-ups and market stalls, where the line can scan a code and order while they wait.
• Barbers, salons and anyone who books ahead, where payment happens before the visit.
• Home bakers, caterers and service jobs, where you send a link and get paid before or after.
• Anywhere you'd rather not carry, charge and update a device.

How it works without hardware

You put a QR code on the counter or send a link. The customer picks what they want, and their payment app opens with the exact amount filled in: Cash App, Venmo or PayPal, or Zelle with your name and the amount to copy. The money goes straight to you, and we take nothing from those payments. If someone only has a card, the same page can take it through your own Stripe or Square account.

Comparing what you pay

• A card reader: the hardware, plus the processor's fee on every card payment.
• A payment page: no hardware. Payment app payments carry no fee from us. Cards are optional, with a small fee: see the numbers.

A middle path

Plenty of businesses use both: keep the reader for walk-ups who tap, and use a payment page and payment links for everything else: orders ahead, deposits, invoices and regulars who'd rather pay in their app.

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