I was the only glass artist participating this year, although there were some fused beads and things. I did quite well, selling about 18-20 pieces. The attendance was pretty good, but a lot of "lookie-loos" and "be-backs". Everybody loved the pieces, but not as many actually plunked down cold hard cash for them. Or should I say "cold hard plastic"? I signed up for a Square account and got their free card reader. I have a nice iPhone and it really came in handy. Very few people carry cash anymore, and even fewer have checkbooks. I can't recall the last time I wrote a check but its at least 3 years ago!
I had one person pay with cash, three wrote checks, and the rest used credit/debit cards. I have my money in my hands this morning - and my bank didn't even put a hold on it. Square promised to deposit my money on Sunday night and it was there. I still have a hold on the checks, so this was worth the small fees they charge. One thing of note that I didn't realize on the first transaction was that the reader plugs into the headphone jack. The little thingie wasn't pushed all the way into the hole and wouldn't read the card. In the heat of the moment, I just typed in the card number and it worked great. It ended up costing me about 39 cents more but had a happy customer.
