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by dvcc 3385 days ago
Being down for an hour as a payment processor is crazy. Going off some old figures [0], and assuming 0 offline transactions (and a bunch of other assumptions too), I think it is around ~$3,500,000 in unprocessed transactions?

Must be stressful trying to bring it back online.

[0] https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/13/putting-squares-5b-valuati...

1 comments

From the page:

> While we continue working to resolve the issue, we recommend that all sellers switch to offline mode, which will enable you to continue taking payments via swiping. Offline mode instructions are available at: squ.re/offlinemode

Though there are some big caveats:

> - Your current swiping rate will be applied to offline transactions, so you’ll see no difference in fees.

> - When operating in Offline Mode, there is additional risk with any payments you accept. Square is not responsible for any loss due to declined cards or expired payments taken while offline or for chargebacks.

> - Square can not contact any customers on your behalf should a payment be declined or expire when taken in Offline Mode.

So if Square is somehow down for 73 hours, a lot of businesses lose a lot of money.

I guess as a business owner one should now consider having a backup credit card reader through a different service.

I was at a cafe when this went down and they said they couldn't switch to offline mode because this outage logged them out and apparently you need to be logged in to switch. They don't accept cash and ended up closing shop for the duration of the outage.
>don't accept cash

What is their reasoning for not accepting cash payments? I have never been somewhere that did not accept cash and can't see how that would benefit customers?