What A Square Receipt Actually Looks Like

squarereceiptWe’ve already had a number of posts about Square, the new mobile payment platform launched by Twitter creator Jack Dorsey today, but we’re going to keep posting on it, because it’s just that good. Most of the earlier stories covering the launch of Square included a screenshot of an example receipt that is displayed on Square’s site right now. The actual receipt doesn’t quite look like that, but it’s close.

I know this because I actually used Square today to buy myself and Dorsey coffee at Sightglass, which is already using the payment system. I made the purchase at 8:47 this morning and the receipt was immediately emailed to me in the form of a link to a Square page. On this page is a receipt featuring the logo of the vendor, their email address, and their Twitter handle. Below that, it shows the amount and the exact time of purchase. And below that is a Google Map of where the transaction was made and your signature.

Other real-world places such as Apple stores have been doing email receipts for a while, but this absolutely should be the way of the future. Not only can I see what I bought, I can easily see and remember where I bought it, and it shows exactly how it will be displayed on my credit card receipt.

It’s also humorous how bad my signature is when done with my finger on an iPod touch screen. Naturally, it doesn’t look nearly as good as the example screenshot. Speaking of that shot, Dorsey did note that in the future they plan to acknowledge how many times you’ve been to a certain place, and could even offer up deals from the vendors — not unlike the Foursquare coupon model, which Dorsey is also an investor in.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, there is also a plan to offer instant SMS receipts as an option in the future.