Is Square worth the transaction fees?

This remains a difficult economy for the people who own small businesses. It’s tough to bring in customers, to convince them to buy your offerings, in an environment in which unemployment continues to be nearly 8 percent. The good news? Small business entrepreneurs do, thanks to improving technology, have a greater amount of tools to help them acquire and retain customers. One such tool? Square. This credit-card processing service allows companies to easily close credit-card sales using their smart phones or tablets and the tiny Square credit-card reader. But Square doesn’t come with just benefits. You will also have to pay an extra fee with every sale that you make with it. You’ll have to determine if the benefits of Square outweigh these extra costs.

How it works

The Square reader connects to the audio port on your smart phone or tablet. When a customer wants to buy a product or service using a credit card, you simply swipe the card through the reader. Or, you can manually enter in the credit-card number on your own. The app that powers this, Square Register, is free. You can get it from the App Store or from the Google Play shop. Once you do, you’re set to start accepting credit-card payments.

The Biggest Positive of Square

Square is incredibly simple to operate. That’s why it’s perfect for overworked small business owners. There is no lengthy instruction book to pore through. There are no complicated installations. This is why Square has grown to become so popular among business owners. A recent story in USA Today reported that more than 800,000 customers are using Square today. The system is also straightforward for consumers. Using it, the smallest of business proprietors can accept credit-card transactions. You won’t have to send your customers to the corner ATM for cash.

The Downside to Square

There are fees, though. Every time customers swipe their credit cards through your Square Reader, you will have to pay 2.75 percent for the transaction cost. If you need to manually enter your customer’s credit-card number, you’ll have to pay Square, Inc. 3.5 percent of the transaction. Entrepreneur Magazine in a recent writeup on the system also stated that human customer support is shaky at best for the product. Still, despite having these cons, it’s hard to deny that Square can dramatically boost the efficiency of small businesses.</p