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# The Square = More Mechandise Sales
- URL: https://www.hypebot.com/the-square-more-mechandise-sales/
- Published: 2009-12-10T07:22:34.000Z
- Updated: 2009-12-10T07:22:34.000Z
- Description: This guest post is from Christopher Joel, an independent musician from Nashville, TN who plays with The Intrepid Travelers and is the author of Your Band Blog: How to Use. Continue reading [https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2009/12/the-square-more-mechandise-sales.html]
- Author: Bruce Houghton
- Tags: DIY Advice & Tips, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-01-21 11:03

*This guest post is from *[Christopher Joel,](http://christopherjoel.com./?ref=hypebot.com)* an independent musician from Nashville, TN who plays with The *[Intrepid Travelers](http://theintrepidtravelers.com/?ref=hypebot.com)* and is the author of *[Your Band Blog: How to Use WordPress As Your Band's Website](http://christopherjoel.com/book/?ref=hypebot.com)*.*

I just read about a new product coming out early next year that will be a massive help to performing musicians running into an age-old problem. You have an excited fan who really wants to buy your CD, t-shirt, sticker, whatever, but they only have a credit/debit card. For most of us, this means a lost sale. However, this new product, called the Square will remedy this nicely!

[![image from farm3.static.flickr.com](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e20128763feae3970c-300wi)](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e20128763feae3970c-popup?ref=hypebot.com)

  
The [Square](http://www.squareup.com/?ref=hypebot.com) is a card-swiper that connects to your [iPhone](http://www.apple.com/iphone?ref=hypebot.com) that reads credit and debit cards. It’s from the guy who started [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/?ref=hypebot.com), [Jack Dorsey](http://www.twitter.com/Jack?ref=hypebot.com). You don’t have an iPhone? The best part is, this can be used with just about any phone (iPhone and [Android](http://www.android.com/?ref=hypebot.com) phones right now). The [website](http://squareup.com/?ref=hypebot.com) says it can be used with any device with an audio jack.

I doubt your 80’s [Walkman](http://notallbits.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/walkman-vs-ipod-view-from-a-teen/?ref=hypebot.com) will help you much. Even better: one penny from every transaction goes to a charity of your choice, so you can help improve the world and make more merch sales at the same time! So now, your excited fan can swipe their card, confirm the transaction, and head home with piles of your merch!

Supposedly, they will be giving away the Square for free, you’ll just sign up for service. There aren’t many details out there right now, but they say there are no contracts and monthly fees and your customers get an emailed receipt. Many [news sources](http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/ptech/12/09/twitter.dorsey.credit.card/index.html?ref=hypebot.com) are saying it will work like [Paypal](http://www.paypal.com/?ref=hypebot.com), with a per transaction fee. As a touring artist who’s getting ready to print up physical CD’s, this solves a problem before I’ve even had it!

**What tricks and tech do you use to sell more merch?**