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Pro tip: Stop treating your payment processor like it's 2010
I was at a small vendor fair in Portland last fall and watched three different sellers lose sales because they only took cash or cards with a clunky Square reader (the old ones). One guy even said 'Venmo is for kids' right as a customer with a phone in hand walked away. When did you last update how you actually take payments from people?
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patricia2621mo ago
Right, because nothing says "I know how to run a business in 2025" like treating a payment method like it's some sort of moral failing. I watched a lady at a craft fair last month pull out her phone to pay for a $45 scarf and the vendor actually said "I don't do that tap stuff" and just stared at her until she put her wallet away. Congrats man, you just taught a customer that their convenience is less important than your principles about... plastic rectangles with chips in them?
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emeryj661mo ago
My little brother still pays for gas with a crumpled $20 bill and gets annoyed when the pump asks if he wants a receipt. It's honestly impressive how many ways there are to make buying something feel like a chore. I'm with you @patricia262, that vendor basically told that lady "your money isn't welcome here" without saying it. My mom tried to use her phone to pay at a garage sale last weekend and the guy just kind of squinted at her like she was trying to pay with invisible beans. She ended up digging for exact change and I just stood there thinking "congrats, you made a paying customer do homework." Maybe these people are running little social experiments on us and we're the test subjects.
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The 'Venmo is for kids' guy sounds exactly like my friend's uncle who runs a booth at the Ren faire. He lost a $60 sale last summer because he wouldn't take Apple Pay and the customer just shrugged and walked off.
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