-Best Low Fee Credit Card Processor-
The combination of Square Payments and Square Point of Sale makes for an exceptional merchant services solution, especially for small business merchants and individual sellers with low-volume transactions. Square offers powerful features that are easy to use while being transparent and affordable.
Small businesses love the predictable costs and the fast setup, but larger businesses might have issues with the lack of stability that sometimes comes with Square’s payment processing.
| POS Apps | Square POS Square Appointments Square for Retail Square for Restaurants |
| Hardware | Card readers, terminal and stand for standard, contactless and/or chip cards. |
| Free Basic Setup? | Square POS + standard Square Reader |
| Type of Processing Fee | Per transaction fee |
| Credit Cards Accepted | Visa Mastercard American Express Discover JCB UnionPay |
| Chargebacks | Square’s protection program will cover the costs of eligible chargebacks for up to $250/month. Even if you don’t win the claim. |
| Contract | Month-to-month |
| Early Termination Fee | No ETF |
Square Features
For a free mobile processing system, Square is at the top of the market with free POS and back-office features that perform much better than the competition. The merchant services company also offers upgraded POS systems designed for retail and restaurant with eCommerce features.
POS Processing
Square has four separate point of sale apps – Square Register, Square Appointments, Square for Retail and Square for Restaurants. You can also integrate with another POS system if you want to.
Probably the most powerful POS app you can get for free, the Square Point of Sale app is very user-friendly and rich with features that give you flexibility and power to run things the way you want to. Set tips and discounts, record cash and check transactions, handle split tenders and much more.
Cost: Free.
Previously a scheduling add-on, Square decided to turn it into a POS system that links to your calendar, appointment booking and payments. Currently, it’s only available for iOS, but Square will also make it Android-compatible in the near future.
Cost: No monthly fee for individuals, 2.75% per transaction.
A more advanced POS for retail businesses with big inventories. It’s only compatible with iPads and features a user-interface that is designed for searching and scanning.
Cost: $60/month/location, $20/month for additional register, 2.5% + $0.10 per transaction.
In 2018, Square unveiled its newest specialized POS system with a focus on full-service businesses. It’s got a completely different user interface than Square for Retail with extremely customizable features and much more hands-on support.
Cost: $60/month/location, $40/month for additional register, 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction.
Square Fees
Square’s claim-to-fame is its great hardware and the pricing that goes along with it. If you have your own device, you are welcome to use it, as long as it’s compatible with Square of course. You also have the option to buy iPads and other POS hardware from Square which guarantees compatibility.
Nowadays, Square offers a variety of readers, packages and accessories:
| Hardware | Cost | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Square Reader | Free | Swipes all major credit cards. All accounts come with a reader. |
| Square Reader for chip cards | $35 | Accepts credit & debit cards. |
| Square Reader for contactless & chip cards | $49 | Accepts EMV chip cards and NFC payments. |
| Square Terminal | $399 or $37/mo for 12 months | Takes payments and prints or emails receipts with an all-in-one device. |
| Square Stand for contactless & chip cards | $169 | Complete your countertop with this stylish and secure iPad POS stand. |
Square’s pricing is quite simple. All you have to pay attention to is its basic processing fees. You don’t have to worry about interchange-plus pricing or pricing tiers.
| Transaction Type | Per Transaction Fee |
|---|---|
| Square Point of Sale | 2.75% |
| Square Terminal | 2.6% + $0.10 |
| Square Register | 2.5% + $0.10 |
| Square for Restaurants | 2.6% + $0.10 |
| Square for Retail | 2.5% + $0.10 |
| Keyed-in card payments | 3.5% + $0.15 |
Next day deposits is included. If you want instant deposit, you’ll need to pay a 1% fee.
Square currently offers the following paid services:
- Square Appointments
- Square Payroll
- Square Marketing
- Square Loyalty
- Subscription-based integrations
- Employee Management
- Square for Retail
Try any of Square’s subscription services (except Square Payroll) free for 30 days. You can unsubscribe from a Square Subscription at any time during your free trial. After the trial ends, you’ll have the option to continue or discontinue the service.
Important Details
As you can see in the above section, Square is super transparent when it comes to fees and rates. What’s more, the merchant services company has great information online, posts helpful content, and knows how to use social media to interact with its customers.
You’ll find the answers to most of your questions in the online user manual. If you need more help, you can try searching or posting in the Square Seller Community. You’ll also want to bookmark www.issquareup.com. It’s a useful site which will tell you if any of Square’s services is having technical issues.
The most common issue customers have with Square has to do with account stability and funding holds. The merchant services company has pretty aggressive fraud prevention measures. When a business has been flagged, which can happen for any number of reasons, the merchant won’t be able to access its income. A big part of the issue here is that Square does not thoroughly explain the risks involved in third-party processing.
Due to the nature of Square’s agreements with its processors, the company cannot disclose why it terminates accounts in specific detail. Based on BBB complaints, when your account is suspended, you’ll get a notification that a payment has violated the terms of service and that your business model is high-risk or unsupported. Your account may be reactivated if you can submit the required documents, but that doesn’t always happen. You can receive a termination notice, even after providing verification information. This notice is final, and Square will withhold funds for up to six months to cover any chargebacks before releasing the money to you.
My Impressions
Square makes credit card payments accessible to the average Joe. It’s an affordable solution that offers a wide range of features to help merchants with their growing business. If you process payments every once in a while, or if you have a low volume of transactions every month, Square is a great solution.
Mid-sized to large businesses can also benefit from using Square, however, these merchants might want to consider a direct processor like Chase Payment Solutions to negotiate better pricing for your needs. See our Square Vs. Chase Payment Solutions review.
If your business offers “high-risk” products or services, which Square prohibits, then you should go with another merchant services provider instead.
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