Spark Payments (formerly DashPay POS)

[kodaxx]

Hello!

I finally have a release for everyone - if you're interested in the challenges this project has faced, please read the DashWatch report here.

TL;DR: This project is an external terminal application for processing DASH payments in brick and mortar stores. The merchant types the sale amount in their local currency (167 currencies supported), the application will generate a QR code sale for the proper amount of Dash for the customer to scan. Then the terminal will provide feedback on the status of the payment (received, partial, InstantSend or regular), and if set up - fiat conversion through uphold.com.

Now, for those of you still with me - we did it! I will continue to work on this project (which has been rewritten from scratch twice), but we finally made it.

Updated 11/21/18
Current release features:

- Support for single addresses or xpub keys
- 167 currency exchange rates
- 12 languages
- Password protected settings page
- QR code scanning for entering address
- CoinText support (tap on QR code after creating a sale)
- Choose to show amounts in Dash or mDash
- Detects partial payments
- Detects whether sent InstantSend or not
- Releases for Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, and web

Website is live @ https://get-spark.com

More work will be done to make this application even better, and easier for merchants to use - but for now, we've finally hit the first step. And apparently I don't know how to attach pictures.

DOWNLOADS:
- Web (https://get-spark.com/app)
- Android (Play Store)
- macOS (dmg)
- Windows (exe)
- Linux (AppImage)

If you'd like to provide feedback or contact me directly regarding this project - message me in the #spark-pos room on Dash Nation discord server or in the #spark room on Dash Talk discord server

 

[kodaxx]

Wanting instant fiat conversion through uphold.com?

In the Dash Nation discord, user @Orion has come up with a guide to connect Spark to Uphold.com for instant fiat conversion. You can get the guide in English or German.

 

[kodaxx]

I also wanted to repeat this post here from our previous thread:

QuickBooks Integration for DashPay?

Currently Spark integrates with existing systems - for example, I use Square Register (which integrates with QuickBooks).

When I accept a DASH payment, I will process the payment on my Spark terminal. Then I will enter the sale amount into the "Other Payment Method" option in Square Register.

What this allows, is Square Register (and by extension, QuickBooks) to keep track of my "Other" payments, which I've allocated to Dash. When I read my QB reports, I understand that all of the transactions labeled "Other" are Dash transactions. This also allows inventory management, etc. I do not have to switch from the system I currently use in order to process Dash payments. I think that's a huge selling point, because merchants do not like to retrain themselves or their employees into a whole new system. Simply adding a payment method is much easier.

------------------------
Edit: Here are some links showing that this is a normal thing in the payments industry and it is widely supported.
The title will link to the specific page discussing these options, but I will QUOTE the relevant sections for tl;dr

ShopKeep

These tenders are used for reporting purposes only and do not represent integrations with ShopKeep. Payment must be processed separately outside of the register for most tenders.

External | Use to record payments run through an external terminal.

Shopify

If you're using Shopify POS for Android and you have an external credit or debit card terminal, then you can enable the External Terminal payment method from the Settings screen of the Shopify POS app.

When you accept payment with an external terminal, Shopify POS records the transaction, but the payment is processed and collected by your external terminal provider.

Square

To keep your payment records in one place, you can use the Square app to track cash, checks, gift cards from third-party services, and other types of payments.

There’s no fee to accept other tender types. When you accept other tender types, Square doesn’t process any funds and functions only as an organizational tool. Money for these transactions are exchanged directly between you and your customer.

Clover

You can choose which tender types are accepted for transactions. This option is useful if you want to accept only a certain type of tender. For example, a restaurant that doesn’t accept checks can remove checks as a form of accepted tender.

You can also add your own tender types.

What we are is an "external terminal" - so as you can see, our solution should integrate well with existing stuff. This way we get the benefits and integrations of the bigger players

 

[strophy]

Hi guys, I'd like to add this to the documentation on how to set up a POS system. Couple of questions:

• Using Uphold for fiat conversion should work with any POS solution (like Anypay) as well, right?
• @Orion can I use your guide in the documentation? Do you have a non-PDF source file you can send me?
• Is integration with Square Register automated? Can you provide more details (or documentation/video) on how Spark interacts with Square during a sale?
• What other register systems offer this sort of integration?

Thanks, sorry if the questions seem a bit redundant. I'm not familiar with POS systems...

 

[kodaxx]

Hi guys, I'd like to add this to the documentation on how to set up a POS system. Couple of questions:

• Using Uphold for fiat conversion should work with any POS solution (like Anypay) as well, right?
• @Orion can I use your guide in the documentation? Do you have a non-PDF source file you can send me?
• Is integration with Square Register automated? Can you provide more details (or documentation/video) on how Spark interacts with Square during a sale?
• What other register systems offer this sort of integration?

Thanks, sorry if the questions seem a bit redundant. I'm not familiar with POS systems...

- Yes. Uphold will work with any solution provided that you can put in one constant address
- Square integration does not need to be automated per se. This is a standard industry practice. Spark had been designed to be a drop in replacement/additional payment method. The work flow is already something that merchants are used to. I do plan to make some videos because I receive this question a ton. It's a hard concept to grasp for those who are not familiar. I'm just having a bit of trouble tracking down all the devices I'll need to make a video.

- Many many others offer this same type of integration. It is industry standard at this point. 99% offer some form of compatibility with how we operate

 

[bhkien]

Is there any plan for iOS version?

 

[kodaxx]

Is there any plan for iOS version?

Yes. Most likely it will be a PWA (app installed from browser). Mainly because I just don't have the money to pay apple $100/year plus other fees just to have an app in the app store

 

[bhkien]

Yes. Most likely it will be a PWA (app installed from browser). Mainly because I just don't have the money to pay apple $100/year plus other fees just to have an app in the app store

Oh! It must’ve someway to solve that. Because app on App Store makes people feel more confident to install.

 

[kodaxx]

Well those merchants can pool together and pay the developer fee lol. I'm sorry, I cannot personally justify the cost. Apple fully supports PWA, and they stay up to date, etc. If Apple continues to be a difficult platform to work with, they will continue to see developers offer second rate experiences

 

[kodaxx]

Oh! It must’ve someway to solve that. Because app on App Store makes people feel more confident to install.

I'm sorry. There may be some way, but as of now the plan is to offer a PWA for iOS platform. It's possible that I can do .99 cent download on iOS. What do you feel about that?

 

[bhkien]

I'm sorry. There may be some way, but as of now the plan is to offer a PWA for iOS platform. It's possible that I can do .99 cent download on iOS. What do you feel about that?

That's OK.

 

[TaoOfSatoshi]

I'm sorry. There may be some way, but as of now the plan is to offer a PWA for iOS platform. It's possible that I can do .99 cent download on iOS. What do you feel about that?

I will pay your developer fee. I agree, this needs this to be an app, full stop.

 

[kodaxx]

That's OK.

I will pay your developer fee. I agree, this needs this to be an app, full stop.

We may work something out @TaoOfSatoshi . It's not the $100 that I'm concerned about. I dislike that it is a recurring yearly fee for an app that does not produce revenue (and it's not it's goal to do so).

For now, we have PWA for iOS @ https://sparkpayments.github.io

iOS users can add this to their homescreen and it acts as an app

 

[TaoOfSatoshi]

We may work something out @TaoOfSatoshi . It's not the $100 that I'm concerned about. I dislike that it is a recurring yearly fee for an app that does not produce revenue (and it's not it's goal to do so).

For now, we have PWA for iOS @ https://sparkpayments.github.io

iOS users can add this to their homescreen and it acts as an app

I think that although it doesn't generate revenue directly, it is absolutely worth paying the yearly fee to have it in an app form, as @bhkien says, it adds a level of trustworthiness to it. If it works really well, it will see downloads. Let's try it for a year and see how many downloads we get. Making it easier for merchants is key here.

 

[kodaxx]

I think that although it doesn't generate revenue directly, it is absolutely worth paying the yearly fee to have it in an app form, as @bhkien says, it adds a level of trustworthiness to it. If it works really well, it will see downloads. Let's try it for a year and see how many downloads we get. Making it easier for merchants is key here.

Okay. I'm not completely against it. Let me get all the bugs worked out on Android before we deploy to Apple. It's not a huge stretch from there. In the mean time, early adopters do have the PWA option

 

[TradeAGC]

Great.

 

[George Donnelly]

I need Spark POS for my 150+ Dash merchants in Colombia. Please read and consider if it aligns with your own priorities, and if so, please vote. Anyone with a dash balance can vote, 1 vote per dash.

https://www.dashboost.org/proposals/view/230/Spark_Payments_DEVELOPMENT

 

[blockchaintech]

Wanting instant fiat conversion through uphold.com?

In the Dash Nation discord, user @Orion has come up with a guide to connect Spark to Uphold.com for instant fiat conversion. You can get the guide in English or German.

Hello kodaxx, great job your POS solution.

I have seen your connection to Uphold as a payment processor to avoid business volatality by converting dash to fiat, at a 1.25% fee cost.

I do not know if you know it, but for Latin America there is another exchange similar to uphold that is cryptobuyer.io they also have the feature of converting to fiat (I do not know the fee).
look at the video:

I was wondering if you could connect with them (with API?), And have 2 connections:
a) uphold (International)
b) cryptobuyer (Latam)

So that people can have more options. Would this be possible?

 

[George Donnelly]

Interesting idea altho it appears the option is only available in Panama and Venezuela so far. https://cryptobuyer.io/es/merchants/

 

[blockchaintech]

Interesting idea altho it appears the option is only available in Panama and Venezuela so far. https://cryptobuyer.io/es/merchants/

George, I think they support several Latin American countries, and have agreements with the POS system of blockpay (payger.com), therefore, I think they could easily connect to spark system.
https://blog.cryptobuyer.io/en/cryptobuyer-y-blockpay-announce-cooperacion-en-suramerica/

About blockpay + dash
https://cointelegraph.com/news/dash-accepted-here-blockpay-pos-system-integrates-with-dash
https://steemit.com/blockpay/@chris4210/ann-blockpay-point-of-sale-accept-any-crypto-at-zero-cost

A blockpay, it had a rebranding now they are:
https://payger.com/

 

[George Donnelly]

George, I think they support several Latin American countries, and have agreements with the POS system of blockpay (payger.com), therefore, I think they could easily connect to spark system.
https://blog.cryptobuyer.io/en/cryptobuyer-y-blockpay-announce-cooperacion-en-suramerica/

Sadly this is a 404.

About blockpay + dash
https://cointelegraph.com/news/dash-accepted-here-blockpay-pos-system-integrates-with-dash
https://steemit.com/blockpay/@chris4210/ann-blockpay-point-of-sale-accept-any-crypto-at-zero-cost

A blockpay, it had a rebranding now they are:
https://payger.com/

I wrote them for more information, thanks.

 

[blockchaintech]

Sadly this is a 404.



I wrote them for more information, thanks.

https://blog.cryptobuyer.io/es/cryptobuyer-y-blockpay-anuncian-cooperacion-en-suramerica/

 

[George Donnelly]

https://blog.cryptobuyer.io/es/cryptobuyer-y-blockpay-anuncian-cooperacion-en-suramerica/

Ah ok, tho even here they say only in Venezuela, Brasil, Argentina, Panamá y USA. And I'm in Colombia.

And that machine looks expensive. I have already looked the PundiX machines here and they are too expensive. SparkPOS enables me to use stock android devices off the shelf and lease them to my merchants at minimal cost. Nothing fancy needed.

 

[Unstoppable]

What languages are available in SparkPOS?

 

[George Donnelly]

What languages are available in SparkPOS?

Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese and Slovak. See attached screenshot.

 

[Unstoppable]

Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese and Slovak. See attached screenshot.

Wow, thats quite a few. Maybe we could ask for Persian and Thai in support of some new projects.

 

[strophy]

Contact me in PM or Discord for contact to Persian and Thai translators

 

[blockchaintech]

Ah ok, tho even here they say only in Venezuela, Brasil, Argentina, Panamá y USA. And I'm in Colombia.

And that machine looks expensive. I have already looked the PundiX machines here and they are too expensive. SparkPOS enables me to use stock android devices off the shelf and lease them to my merchants at minimal cost. Nothing fancy needed.

I agree, with a Windows / Android + POS software system as that SparkPOS software has more versatility of use and a fast implementation curve, in addition is more cheaper cost of management, maintenance and support.
It is the line to follow, a merchant wants easy things with technology.

 

[kodaxx]

Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese and Slovak. See attached screenshot.

Wow! Thanks @George Donnelly for answering all these questions for me! There are actually 11 languages now since we've also added Chinese

Contact me in PM or Discord for contact to Persian and Thai translators

I will be contacting you!

I agree, with a Windows / Android + POS software system as that SparkPOS software has more versatility of use and a fast implementation curve, in addition is more cheaper cost of management, maintenance and support.
It is the line to follow, a merchant wants easy things with technology.

Thank you - yes that is definitely a goal of mine!

 

[Antti Kaikkonen]

The POS looks great but I'm wondering why it was decided to use single address instead of xpub? Good job!