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Monero POS System - Like Square

I created an account to share this idea (and a few mockups). This is something that even Bitcoin has failed to do very well. Let me explain:

So many Point-Of-Sale Systems cost thousands of dollars. Have you guys ever heard of Square? Do you know why so many people don't mind paying a higher percentage for credit card processing? I mean, why pay more right? To them, Square is better value. Square offers a complete POS system - for free. What I mean by that, is - you can process cash, check, AND credit cards (using square). Square figured something out - they spend money to create this great product (for free) so that people use it! When people use it, they also use square. Even if your business only ever processes 1 credit card transaction a year, you did that ONE transaction with them.

What Monero needs (and hear me out here) is a POS system that is designed as greatly as it's currency - and is as functional as any other POS system out there. Yes, it needs to be able to process Monero payments, but that wont be the draw to the average person. But here's how you make Monero grow - imagine this scenario.

Monero's development team creates a great, functional, user-friendly POS system. It processes cash, check, credit card, and XMR. Many merchants will pick this software up because it is functional and user-friendly, and free. They will use this to process cash, check, and credit card payments mostly. Likely, they won't even care that it processes XMR transactions. But here's the kicker - now you have TONS of merchants that are ABLE to process Monero. It's like the trojan horse from history guys! The more merchants you have that can process XMR, the more people will buy and spend it. The stronger the network will become! This is really what is stopping any cryptocurrency from getting big.

BitPay started to do it with Bitcoin. They really have a nice POS, but it ONLY processes Bitcoin. People that aren't interested in Bitcoin can't use it. You need to make a POS system that people will use - even if they don't give a shit about Monero. Then, once it has a big place in the market, you start telling all those merchants how they can avoid processing fees by using Monero (And they don't even have to change a thing!) and then you've got their ear, and they're seriously listening.

Some companies have made it easy to use Bitcoin - and that WORKS for people that are interested in accepting it. What I'm proposing, is making it easy for people to use normal payment method and include Monero. The all-in-one, plug-n-play. Who could resist?

Sidenote: I believe square has an API you can tap into to make this new POS process credit cards. Cash and check are fairly simple - it's basically a records keeper at that point. But you really need to add some great features to this. I know that Monero needs a GUI wallet first. I know that it will be a huge undertaking and take precious time away from the development of the currency - but I guarantee that the first cryptocurrency to do this right, will skyrocket into the mainstream.

Here are the mockups (I'm not a professional designer) I spent probably 10 minutes on the first screen - then less time on 2nd, and even less time on 3rd. You get the point. If you give the average business person every reason to use this POS system (It's free, fully functional, runs on cheap Android tablets, easy to use) then they will use it! The trick is that it comes pre-bundled with the ability to process XMR payments. Let's say you get 1000 users on this POS system...that's 1000 merchants that are able to accept XMR and they didn't take any convincing.

Monero POS Screen 1

Monero POS Screen 2

Monero POS Screen 3

http://imgur.com/a/SCHGO

Replies: 7
Drhiggins posted 8 years ago Replies: 1 | Weight: 0 | Link [ - ]

I have been looking through all the development ideas and this one stands out. I realize the bulk of development right now is going to making the coins functionality better and cleaning up code, ring CT etc..

You are exactly right the first coin to do this correctly is going to benefit exponentially. I'm no expert in the banking and payment processing world but I have had my own business and had to use credit card processors before. I hate them like many business owners do. They hit you two fold.

First is that each transaction is hit with a gateway fee. Usually .08¢ - .45¢ per transaction. The buying customer never sees this fee and often never knows. Have you ever seen a store that says they charge a fee to process a credit card or we add 3% to all credit card translations, and the most famous is $5.00 minimum for credit card payment. This is why a merchant losses a little money each time they accept a CC transaction but the businesses that put those signs out are trying to recover that cost at the buyers expense. In some ways its tacky to announce this to customers but I can understand why merchants do it.

The Second is the fees that come out of the total sale amount that goes to visa, mastercard, AMEX, Discover and on and on. For example if a item is $100, visa or bank representing visa might get 1.5% to 3% of the total amount. AMEX is even higher on the fees. This is how the CC companies give out rewards so easy to their users. The loser is the business. Each time a payment is charged you are extorted a little by these banks. Its an organized mafia in a way.

So the big problem is how do you beat the gateway fee and how do you get past the bank fees. I'm sure there is a way, but somewhere you have to pay someone for access to the network at least with some forms of fiat transactions. I love the idea of free because I don't believe a business should be punished for doing the one thing they are in business for and that is the selling of an item or service. You have worked hard to bring goods or services to the market, and you have paid the cost of doing business already so why be punished at the very end when you make a sale by being extorted. I understand that business has operating cost but this should not be one of them.

I really like your mock up and design work. Simple and easy to understand and looks intuitively easy to make a payment. The embedded idea of monero is also a winner, and I think it could be a selling point for some from the beginning. However those not interested in the monero aspect in the beginning would still want to use it because its free, and in the future the trojan horse embedding will win over some merchants.

Ultimately free is best for all but to get this rolling is a major undertaking but hey I like thinking big. There might have to be a small fee for transaction to have enough money to pay for software development and for fixing bugs, this may require a network that needs to be employed. Just the minimum needed to pay people a living wage for the work they do. So on fiat currency transaction maybe a ½¢ to .01¢ fee. Not sure how else to ease some of the start up cost this kind of project would or could cost. Maybe a one time fee for joining then all transactions are free.

I wish i was a genius code writer and developer. In this lifetime its not my gift. I do support the idea here in full though. If someone in the know could take this on I'd love to be on board and help anyway i could, hell I'd even be a field agent to turn merchants onto the software just because I think disclosure, transparency, open source and decentralization is the way of the future. Perhaps this POS would have a governing board (un paid) to make sure the charter is followed and costs are kept as low as possible. I do want free overall but right now realistically I'm not sure how it could be pulled off. Like you said which ever coin gets this right and markets it to its fullest capability is going to see a bright future for their coin especially if its monero.

My last thoughts on this for the moment is perhaps there could be an exploratory group of people that could look at this idea from an experts point of view and bring real ideas to the table, but at lest one of the core developers should be on board.

Reply to: Drhiggins
Gingeropolous posted 8 years ago Replies: 2 | Weight: 0 | Link [ - ]

so this seems like something that could easily be worked into the GUI (or core) as a plugin. throw the whole thing on an ipad connected to a small server running a node instance in the local network and their yah go.

Reply to: Gingeropolous Drhiggins
Drhiggins posted 8 years ago Weight: 0 | Link [ - ]

Well if someone would take on the idea and propose a bounty I'd donate.

Reply to: Gingeropolous Drhiggins
Drhiggins posted 8 years ago Weight: 0 | Link [ - ]

That is a good idea in adding at as a plug in to the GUI. I wish I had the skills.

kodaxx posted 8 years ago Weight: 0 | Link [ - ]

I don't think we can get credit card processing for free, obviously - but I do think that if you give someone an entire system to use (yes via iPad or whatever) they will use it. Just like they use square. The added benefit would be the embedded monero integration. I still believe this is worth looking into.

Lloydimiller4 posted 8 years ago Weight: -51 | Link [ - ]

That sounds sweet as hell. Granted, I'm not a developer, so I don't know what kind of obstacles you will face, but I'm all for anything that furthers the use of Monero.

Are you going to develop this yourself? Do you need help with funding or coding? I think the idea is definitely great, and I agree that offering a free Point of Sale for Merchants has a lot of potential to get Monero used more. I have seen Square in action, a food delivery service in my city uses it successfully.

kodaxx posted 8 years ago Weight: -51 | Link [ - ]

I'm not smart enough to program these kinds of things lol. I'm just throwing ideas out there! If there is a developer that would like to pick this up, I can help with the design - but as I've said, I'm no professional.