How to Accept Credit Cards at Cookie Booths

How to Accept Credit Cards at Cookie Booths

GSMISTS is offering to partner with troops this year to have credit/debit cards be a form of payment for cookies purchased at cookie booths or expos.  GSMISTS has selected Square as the vendor for credit card processing.

1)      In order to use the credit card reading device at cookie booths an iPhone, iPad, or Android device is required.

2)      Go to www.squareup.com , enter your email address and create a password.

3)      Click “continue” and fill in the rest of the information as prompted.  Please note that you will be asked to give a mailing address to ship the credit card reader to, your date of birth, and your social security number.   

4)      Select to sign up as a business and enter our EIN of 38-1366924 when prompted.  Type your business name as: GSMISTS-Troop (your troop number).  This is what will show up on the customer’s credit card statements.

5)      You will also need the account information for your troop bank account, such as routing number and account number, so that deposits can be made to the bank account.

6)      Upon completing registration, make sure to download the Square app on your mobile device.  Feel free to spend a few minutes browsing the help information on the website and/or app to familiarize yourself on how to accept credit/debit cards.

7)      Your Square credit card reader should be shipped within a few days!

***IMPORTANT REMINDERS***

1)      Credit/debit cards can only be accepted at cookie booths or expos.  The idea behind accepting credit cards is to increase payment options for people who are walking by your cookie booth who otherwise might not have stopped to purchase cookies.  Feel free to advertise the fact that your troop can accept credit cards at the booth so people who are walking by can see.

2)      There is a 2.75% fee charged by Square for credit card sales.  Council will be reimbursing these fees to the troops for transactions occurring at booths and expos.  In order for your fees to be reimbursed, you will need to submit a detail of your credit card sales and fees to council within three days of the completion of your cookie booth.  This information will be cross referenced with the sales information in ebuddie.  To access this detail, login to your account on squareup.com, choose the tab that says “deposits,” then click “download spreadsheet” to download to Excel.  Please return this report to your retail/product sales manager by email, fax, or by dropping it off at your service center.

If you have any questions regarding the above process contact Justin by email at jglover@gsmists.org or by phone at 616-784-3341 ext. 125.