Square is a credit card processing service that offers a variety of solutions for merchants. To find out if Square could benefit you, continue reading the review below.
Square Payments and Square Point of Sale are combined together and their focus is on small businesses with a low transaction volume.
They offer a variety of services and options and has transparent, affordable pricing.
Square Quick Facts
POS Apps | Square:
|
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
Square is a free mobile processing system that are known for their POS and back-office features.
They also offer upgraded POS for eCommerce features that attracts people.
POS Processing
Square has four different point of sale apps and down below are details about each one of them.
This is the standard POS app, but it’s considered the strongest one, and it is completely free!
The Square POS app is user-friendly and comes with exclusive features that offer flexibility.
You can do pretty much anything that a merchant would need to do.
This is more like an additional app for scheduling purposes. You can link your calendar app and even payments.
There are also no monthly fees for individuals!
There is however a 2.75% charge per transaction to consider.
This feature is for retail businesses and has a built-in interface that can search and scan.
However, it is currently only available on the iPad.
Some costs to consider are:
- locations – $60/month
- additional register – $20/month
- 2.5% + $0.10 per transaction
The newest POS feature that strictly focuses on restaurants or similar full-service businesses.
They have a different interface and more customization.
Costs:
- locations – $60/month
- additional register – $40/month
- 2.5% + $0.10 per transaction
Square Fees
Each service comes with a standard card reader, but they also have other hardware available for additional costs.
You can also use your own devices as long as they are compatible.
HARDWARE | COST | DETAILS |
---|---|---|
Square Reader | Free | A complimentary card reader that swipes all eligible credit cards. |
Square Reader for chip cards |
$35 | Swipes credit & debit cards. |
Square Reader for contactless & chip cards |
$49 | Accepts EMV chip cards and NFC payments. |
Square Terminal | $399 or $37/month for 12 months |
Takes payments and prints or emails receipts with an all-in-one device. |
Square Stand for contactless & chip cards |
$169 | This is an iPad POS stand that is for countertops in which customers can easily use. |
Square only has the standard processing fees, there is no interchange-plus pricing or pricing tears.
TRANSACTION TYPE | PER TRANSACTION FEE |
---|---|
Square POS | 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 |
Aside from the 4 POS apps, they also offer:
- Square Payroll*
- Square Marketing
- Subscription-based integrations
- Square Loyalty
- Employee Management
You can try any of their subscription services (*excluding Square Payroll) for 30-days, free of charge. During those 30 days, you can unsubscribe anytime.
Other Important Details
Square’s customer service is known to be pretty supportive and helpful. They are shown to also be transparent in their fees and rates.
You can also visit this page for any concerns about technical issues. They will regularly update if they come across any.
Square isn’t the best when it comes to funding and account stability at times.
They also don’t really explain the risks when engaging in third-party processing, it’s more like something you should find out beforehand on your own.
If your account happens to be terminated, the company cannot tell you why due to Square’s agreements with their processors.
If your account gets suspended, you will only get a notification stating that a payment has violated the terms of service.
Of course, there are ways to reactive your account, you will just need to submit the require documents.
Conclusion
Based on this Square review, this card processor is unique with its services and flexible rates. They have pretty affordable solutions to could benefit merchants of all kinds.
If you normally have low transaction volume, then Square is the perfect solution. Just be careful of third party processors and the risks that come with them. It is advised you do research before choosing a credit card processor.
If you tend to have larger transaction volumes, then consider Chase Merchant Services instead, a direct processor that provides more security.
If you are interested in finding out more information about card processor, then check out our Best Credit Card Processing Services to learn about all kinds of different card processors!