Originally, I started processing credit card payments with a full fledged merchant account. Once that got too expensive, due to PCI fees and all sorts of other add-on fees that seemed to grow and grow, I made the switch to Pro Pay because they offered a low annual fee and affordable transaction/processing fees. Pro Pay is still a good option, but I wanted to switch to something even more affordable, and that’s why I chose Square Up.

Square Up doesn’t charge an annual fee, so that’s a big savings right there. They offer reasonable transaction rates, which you can read about in my previous post (see link above). You get the cheapest rates for using the smartphone card swiper, which they provide for free. But all my transactions are online, so they are not card-present transactions, which means the rates are just a wee bit higher. However, since there is no annual fee as with Pro Pay, it’s still a cheaper service to use.

I’ve used Square Up for a little over a month now and it’s been great. Very easy to use, and the money transfers quickly into my bank account. I have had no problems at all. The card swiper is only for smartphones, but even if you only sell online and never handle credit cards, you can still use Square Up. Just do all your transactions manually! It’s as easy as pushing the buttons on your keypad.

With the high cost of running a business, even online, finding affordable alternatives to must have options like credit card processing is very important to our bottom line.  And Square Up helps you do just that.

Square is primarily a credit card payment processing service that you complete via your iPhone, iPad, or Android. They provide you with a free reader that plugs into your phone, which allows you to swipe credit cards and process payments from your customers. There are no contracts, no annual fees, no minimums, no termination fees. All swiped transactions have a fee of 2.75%. And if you need to do manual payments (for online or phone orders), those fees are 3.5% + .15 cents per transaction.

These rates are very reasonable, especially considering you have no annual feels like ProPay has. If you already have a merchant account and are getting much lower fees, that’s great. But if you’re new to business, or not able to justify the expense of a full merchant account, Square Up may be the best option for you. And if you do craft shows or any other events where you need to process payments on the spot, this would be ideal if you have a smartphone or an iPad.

I think I’ll be switching to Square when my ProPay term ends in June. I don’t see that I have anything to lose. Most of my payments are processed online for my various businesses, but the free reader will be handy should I need it. Heck, I could have a garage sale and accept credit card payments on my iPhone if I wanted to! That’s just all kinds of cool.

I will say that I like Pay Pal and I feel very secure with their services when I use them, or when my customers use them. But in my experience, people want to use a direct credit card payment to to pay for their purchases. So while I do offer Pay Pal, I have a separate merchant account for credit card payments, and that is how over 90% of my sales are paid for.