First time posting, so go easy me... :-)
I made a tool you can use when you try to onboard a Square merchant. I struck out this week onboarding two guys at the coffee shop - the owner and the main barista - who I know by name, who I've been talking to since Nov. No go.
I decided that the next time I try to onboard a merchant I needed to be able to quickly show them the savings if they turn on the bitcoin option.
It shows them what they save in fees on your purchase, and what that adds up to over a year if you come in monthly, weekly, 2x/week, or daily.
If they’re interested after they see the math, you toggle to a QR code they can scan to learn more.
App - https://orangedaddocs.github.io/square-bitcoin-savings-calculator/
Please offer any advice on how to make it better, or fork it on GitHub and make a better version
https://github.com/orangedaddocs/square-bitcoin-savings-calculator
With 0% transaction fees I am surprised that more merchants are not pushing customers towards bitcoin. Especially if they can just convert it straight to USD.
How hard are Square communicating this to their customer base? As the incentives from their perspective are broken.
I think there's more of a stigma than you might expect.
I'm almost positive that the hipster coffee shop I was trying to onboard, the owner who's behind the counter (who I know by name and have a great relationship with), doesn't want to be known as the Bitcoin coffee shop. All the 25- to 35-year-olds in the coffee shop think it's a Trump scam.
I could be wrong, but I really think that's part of what's going on. In the city I'm in, some people are having better luck onboarding small business owners in the suburbs. I am forced to live closer to downtown, where it's deeper blue, and younger, so I do think that's some of what's going on.
Great first post! Keep 'em coming.
Thanks! Glad to be here!
Have you been lurking or did you just find Stacker News?
I'm active on nostr - orangedad85@happytavern.co - and I follow Stacker News there, and click on a post most days. I hope it was okay to post this. I think it's useful - it works - and I think it's harder than Square makes it sound to onboard people.
Thanks for saying hi!
And yeah, I didn't know what Stacker News was a few months ago. Still relatively new to bitcion. Tomorrow is my "satsbirthday" - bought my first sats June 2024.
Calculations are very realistic.
Another great marketing tool to educate SMBs. Most of them take card fees for granted, they don't know there's an alternative. I'll use this myself, thank you 🙏
Adding this to my bookmarks for our upcoming TM7's ~AGORA Marketplace update
Alright! So glad you're going to use this!
sorry but that is converting a merchant in a even more ferocious fiat maxi....
How many times we have to say it?!
BITCOIN IS TO FUCK BANKS AND GOVS, NOT TO GET RICH IN FIAT.
Point taken.
As a small business owner I calculate what I pay in credit card fees in January for the previous year, and I get pissed off. That, coupled with being pissed every time I have to send a wire, is part of my pleb journey. Every wire I've sent since I've run a node has made me angry - it's a scam.
So I think a farmers market stand merchant - most of whom use Square - or a coffee shop owner behind the counter, are a bit closer to where you are than it might first appear because they feel like they're being taken advantage of.
But yes, maybe my energy is misguided - I'm open to your critique.
Bitcoin is money. I feed my kids with beef I bought with sats, I cut veggies for that meal on a cutting board I bought with sats. Now I want to enjoy an overpriced coffee and burrito I buy with stats.
And yes, I reject the idea that bitcoin is for everyone.
A farmer stand market don't even need to use Square. That is misleading them.
They just need a fucking LN wallet, that's all.
Nice 🙂
Thank you!