We are excited to announce changes to our guidelines regarding accepting payments for your Troops and Service Units. GSUSA has partnered with First Data to provide a credit card solution for Girl Scout Troops to use. GSACPC has decided to make First Data our preferred credit card reader. Please review the information below regarding First Data and other payment solutions:
Credit Card Readers
First Data – First Data is our Council’s preferred Credit Card Platform. Fees for First Data are 2%+$0.08/transaction. For troops that sign up to use First Data, the GSACPC Leadership Team will partner with Troops to cover the fees for Troops during cookie season (January-March). Any fees associated with using the card reader outside of Girl Scout Cookie season will be the responsibility of the troop. The platform is app-based and no device or swiper is needed. Troops will have the option to purchase a device for $39.95 if they prefer to have one. We will have instructions for how Troops can sign up by September!
Square and other card readers – Troops may choose to use Square or other credit card readers, but they are responsible for any fees associated with using these readers, even during the cookie program. Since GSACPC does not have an established partnership with these companies, we will be unable to support any issues that arise with these readers.
PayAnywhere – Based on our current issues with PayAnywhere, mainly a lack of customer support to the Council,we are encouraging Troop Leaders to discontinue the use of PayAnywhere readers. Troops will need to contact our banking team by emailing banking@girlscoutsaz.org and we’ll support thecancellation of PayAnywhere devices. It’s important towork with GSACPC Customer Care to cancel devices to ensure that account aren’t charged fees for inactivity.
Peer-to-Peer Payment Platforms (Venmo, Cash App, Facebook Payments, etc)
The use of these apps are permitted for receiving funds in to your account only, with the exception of Facebook Payments which may also be used to send money. Paypal and Zelle are not permitted.
Council-Supported Options
In the coming weeks, we’ll provide a form that will allow Troops or Service Units to initiate an ACH transfer from their bank account to that of another Troop or their Service Unit. There will be no fees associated with using this method of transferring funds. We would then ACH any funds received to the Service Units on a weekly basis.
We hope that this makes it easier for Troops and Service Units to collect money for cookies and other activities!