I sell face to face with a card reader. Does bernard replace it?
You take cards at a fair, a market stall, a pop-up or your studio, with a small reader from SumUp, Square or Zettle. That’s the right tool for the job, and bernard doesn’t try to replace it. The two work side by side: the reader takes the money in person, and your bernard site does everything around it.
The prompt
“I sell in person at [fairs, markets, my studio] using [SumUp, Square, Zettle]. Help my website work alongside it: [mark what sold at the weekend / add a sign-up form people can reach from my stall].”
Signed in, Get my prompt fills in your site for you. Otherwise press Copy and fill in the [bracketed] parts. First time? Connect your AI to bernard once: Use your own AI (opens in a new tab).
Who does what
Your card reader takes payment face to face. Tap, chip or phone, and the money goes into your account with that company, less its fee. Some also do quick payment links or a simple till.
Your bernard site is where people find you before and after. It’s your website on your own address, found on Google and in AI answers, with an online shop that sells while you’re packing up the stall (Can I take card payments on my bernard website?). Online sales go through your own Stripe account, and bernard takes nothing from them.
Making the two work together
- Send people from the stall to the site. Put your web address on your table sign, cards and bags, so someone who walked past can buy next week. Ask Bernard to make the address easy to find and to show your best pieces first.
- Keep the online stock honest after a fair. Your card reader doesn’t tell bernard what sold, so tell Bernard yourself: “the blue jug and two small prints sold at the weekend”. It updates the shop, or marks one-off pieces as sold (Mark a piece as sold, Sell something in sizes or colours - and keep the stock honest). Nothing changes until you approve it.
- Keep the people, not just the sale. A card reader records a payment, not a person you can write to. Put a sign-up form on your site and point people to it from the stall, so they hear about your next fair or new work.
What it doesn’t do yet
bernard doesn’t connect to SumUp, Square or Zettle, so in-person sales don’t appear in your sales figures or count down your online stock by themselves. If that would make a real difference to you, tell Bernard: requests like this are how we choose what to build next.
Questions people ask
- Can bernard take payments in person?
- No. bernard has no card reader and no till. Keep the one you use, such as SumUp, Square or Zettle. They are built for taking a card across a table, and bernard is built for the website and the online shop.
- Do I have to choose between my card reader and a bernard shop?
- No. They do different jobs, so most people who sell face to face use both. The card reader takes the money on the day, and your bernard site is where people find you, see your work and buy when you’re not there.
- Does bernard connect to SumUp, Square or Zettle?
- Not today. A sale on your card reader doesn’t reach bernard by itself, so your online stock doesn’t know about it. After a fair, tell Bernard what sold and it updates the shop, as a draft you approve before it goes live.
- Does my online shop use the same payment account as my card reader?
- No. Online sales on a bernard site go through your own Stripe account, and bernard takes 0% of them. Your card reader keeps its own account and its own fees. You get paid by both, into your own bank.