Square VS PayPal: Which Payment Processor Is Better For Your Small Business?
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| Square | VS | PayPal |
|---|---|---|
| ✓ | Products & Services | |
| ✓ | Integrations & Add-Ons | |
| Tie | Fees & Rates | Tie |
| Tie | Contract Length & Cancellation | Tie |
| Tie | Sales & Advertising Transparency | Tie |
| Tie | Customer Service & Technical Support | Tie |
| Tie | User Reviews | Tie |
| Winner 🏆 | Final Verdict | |
| Visit Site Read Review |
Visit Site Read Review |
PayPal and Square are both huge names in the payment processing industry, and they both provide similar core features for the small business — whether that is in-person or eCommerce sales. If you landed here, we can safely assume you’ve narrowed down your choices between the two, so we are going to inspect how each platform compares in the most important categories. After reading this post, you will have a clearer answer to the PayPal vs. Square debate as it pertains to your small business!
Table of Contents
Square VS PayPal: At A Glance
Comparing Square vs. PayPal can be a little tricky. Although they have identical pricing at 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction, you’ll find key differences in the pricing of ancillary services and feature-sets. PayPal supports international growth and makes the most sense for eCommerce, while Square brings a suite of tools you won’t find elsewhere.
Square
Square is a powerhouse when it comes to features, ease of use, and transparent, affordable pricing. While Square is certainly not for every business model — especially high-risk or global businesses — many small business owners will find it’s the perfect fit for their needs.
Square was built for a variety of businesses — the corner coffee shop, mobile contractors, niche creators, you name it. What began as a mobile-processing focus with that little white reader has slowly and methodically become better and more accessible for businesses that are ready to scale and own their niche online, too.
With the free developer tools, an easy website builder, and a growing number of social media integrations, you can sell just about everywhere with Square. Square’s platform is agile and ever-improving, with new tools to help businesses adapt to curbside pickup and online ordering through Square Checkout. Square also takes the guesswork out of payment security by providing a fully secure way to process payments in-person, online, with an invoice, or at your virtual terminal.
Pros
- Impressive feature-set and free add-ons
- All-in-one payments system
- Free eCommerce tools
- Ideal for lower-volume merchants
- Easy to use and set up
Cons
- Not suitable for international sellers
- Not for high-risk industries
- Account stability issues
PayPal
With its highly recognizable payment button popping up everywhere, PayPal has arguable owned the eCommerce payment space for quite some time. Today, shoppers recognize the little yellow PayPal button as the alternative to giving out a credit card to one more site. Sales observably improve if a shop adds the PayPal button to its checkout!
While consumers trust it, the ground is a little shakier on the merchant side, with the most common complaint being poor or inconsistent customer support. That said, PayPal provides incredible value with an all-in-one payment system that makes global selling accessible to more merchants than ever before.
Offering a fully secure payment solution, PayPal has a broad suite of developer tools and solutions built for growth. Whether that’s adding a button anywhere on your site, within an email, or a landing page, invoicing, and recurring billing options, you’ll find what you need. And if you don’t want to use PayPal exclusively, it is still a fantastic option to supplement your checkout flow as well. We’ll get more in-depth on all of PayPal’s features in the following sections.
Pros
- Trusted by consumers
- Predictable pricing
- Enables international selling
- Extensive integrations
- Good developer tools
Cons
- Account stability issues
- Not suitable for high-risk industries
- Inconsistent customer support
Features
Winner: Square
Let’s start by laying the groundwork. As far as your core features are concerned, you can expect very similar functionality when it comes to accepting payments from PayPal and Square. You’ll have the following with both:
- Free mobile point of sale app compatible with nearly all devices
- Acceptance of all types of credit cards
- Keyed transaction support
- Record cash transactions
- Issue full and partial refunds
- Apply discounts
- Item library with product descriptions, images, and variants
- Barcodes and SKUs
- Receipt printing
- Email/SMS receipts
- Cash drawer support
- Invoicing
- Recurring billing
Now, one could argue that things start to diverge when you take a closer look between Square vs. PayPal. You’ve got a good idea of the common features with the list above, but below, I’m going to highlight some of the differences in usability and back-end tools that could profoundly affect your decision and clarify what to expect.
Mobile POS App Functionality
Square Dashboard Features
When you look at the POS app differences between Square vs. PayPal Here, it is a really striking difference. One of the places Square shines is the back-end dashboard, which gives you access to your basics in payments and everything behind the scenes. Two notable areas where Square beats PayPal Here are inventory management and offline mode. Square’s inventory management tools are ready as soon as you sign up, and they allow you to track quantities in the mobile app, set up low-stock alerts, and bulk load your inventory.
Additionally, the customer database allows you to associate a purchase with a specific customer that then links up with Square Loyalty and Square Marketing. While some of the features of each are premium add-ons, Square Marketing comes with several free templates, so you can still email all of your contacts with updates and offers. Square’s customer database also doubles as the spot where you can make notes about customers, track their spending habits with you, and store their card on file.
PayPal Here doesn’t have these features. What we do like, however, is that it offers free sub-user accounts so that you can give every employee, volunteer, or team member a unique login. Square also allows you to do something similar, but you’ll need to pay the monthly fee for employee management.
Square VS PayPal: eCommerce
Screenshot of Square’s Free Online Store Webpage
PayPal began as an online payment processor, and that’s still the core of its business, yet you won’t find many out-of-the-box selling solutions that you can with Square. For instance, PayPal doesn’t offer a free website as Square does, but you will find an extensive list of ready-made third-party integrations that are compatible. PayPal also offers a robust set of tools to create custom and “smart” payment buttons for purchases. You can also create donation buttons to add anywhere online and allow donors to choose whether to make a one-time or recurring donation. We are happy to see that Square recently announced Square Online Checkout, which allows Square users some of the same flexibility in payments and donation management. Square Checkout simplifies your customer’s eCommerce experience down to a simple link or button, making it much easier for anyone to start selling online or taking donations — even if you don’t have a site.
If you need a full site but don’t have the time, money, or expertise to create one, Square offers a very simple way to get started. You can set up your free online Square Store through Weebly, which Square recently acquired. The free version is pretty basic, but you can upgrade to one of the paid plans for more features, and they are very competitively priced. If you don’t like Weebly or want to use your existing site, Square does support many integrations as well as offer developer tools.
Online Payments
Like Square, PayPal doesn’t offer customization in the checkout process — unless you opt for the PayPal Payments Pro plan, which costs $30 a month. It includes hosted checkout pages as well as the virtual terminal but will require a developer to implement.
You can also implement PayPal in addition to your existing payment processor using PayPal Checkout. Again, you’ll need a developer to implement this option, but Checkout uses contextual information to display to customers the opportunity to checkout with PayPal, Venmo, or even PayPal Credit, without you having to lift a finger after setting it up. Square offers a plethora of developer tools at no charge, enabling lots of versatility as long as you have a developer’s expertise at hand. For more information about Square’s website and online selling options, check out our article, Everything You Need To Know About Using Square Online Payment Processing For Your Business.
PayPal VS Square: Virtual Terminals
Square’s Free Virtual Terminal Feature
While I consider this part of the mPOS app, it’s worth taking a look at this one on its own. Here is another aspect where PayPal has me scratching my head. While we do see some merchant accounts adding extra fees for a virtual terminal, Paypal’s added fee of $30/month for its Payment Pro plan to take card-not-present sales is pretty steep! Square and Shopify both include their virtual terminal at the dashboard for free. So if you ever accept payments over the phone, you’ll want to consider the extra fees on the PayPal side. For more on PayPal’s fees, check out our article, The Complete Guide To PayPal’s Fees, Rates, & Pricing.
PayPal VS Square: Reporting
PayPal may be inching closer to Square in regards to reporting. PayPal Here now has enhanced reporting features that can summarize your sales by a specified timeframe, salesperson, payment type, or items purchased. You can also get your reports from any PayPal Here compatible device. Square has similar reporting features to show sales per employee, tips, and average sale size. However, with Square, you can also view more specific trends, such as the most-used modifiers to orders. And if you use Square gift cards, you can track everything related to this activity as well from your Square Dashboard.
PayPal VS Square: International Sales
Especially if you have an eCommerce business, being unable to process international sales may be a deal-breaker. At this time, Square does not support international sellers, so PayPal is the obvious choice if you’re comparing them head-to-head. However, if you have plans to scale with a global eCommerce focus, we also recommend Shopify as another fantastic option for its ease of use and overall functionality. You can immediately activate your PayPal button at the back end of your Shopify dashboard as well.
Developer Tools
I’ve mentioned this at least a few times already in the post, but it’s worth saying again — Square and PayPal both offer a suite of developer tools to create custom online payment integrations for businesses. However, you can do a lot more than just that. Both platforms have opened their mobile POS apps up with SDKs (software development kits) so that you can power your branded mobile apps with a trusted, reliable, ready-made solution. That includes mobile card readers, too. Square also offers APIs (application programming interface) for its inventory tools, reporting and analytics, and back-office management as well as online and in-app payments.
PayPal’s additional developer tools include invoicing and subscription management and an easy mass-payout tool. All of this is pretty powerful, but it’s still not quite at the same level as the most developer-friendly platforms out there (such as Stripe or even the PayPal subsidiary Braintree).
Pricing
Winner: Tie
Square and PayPal offer similar prices for credit card processing when using their free apps. Neither service charges any regular fees beyond those incurred per transaction, though with both, you can opt for add-on services.
As you’ll see below, the lack of a flat per-transaction fee for PayPal makes it favorable to low-volume businesses and small-ticket merchants. The $0.10 per-transaction charge recently introduced by Square has not been well-received by smaller-ticket sellers, as it can really add up when you’re dealing with smaller transactions. For most merchants, however, the difference in price between PayPal and Square for swiped transactions is marginal. PayPal ends up being a bit better for low-ticket merchants due to the lack of a per-transaction fee, and Square is slightly better for higher-volume merchants due to the slightly lower percentage rate. It’s also a good idea to keep in mind the value of the features that come along with both accounts when you make your final decision. The question of whether PayPal is cheaper than Square comes down to crunching the numbers based on your average transaction. Take a look at Square and PayPal fees below.
PayPal VS Square Fees
Square and PayPal have a very similar pricing structure:
- Swiped/Dipped/Tapped: 2.7% for PayPal and 2.6% + $0.10 for Square
- Online & Invoiced Transactions: 2.9% + $0.30
- Virtual Terminal Keyed Entry Or Card On File: 3.5% + $0.15 for Square — PayPal costs 3.1% + $0.30 plus $30/month for virtual terminal use.
Additional PayPal Costs
- Hosted Payment Page & Virtual Terminal: $30/month
- Micropayments Plan: 5% + $0.05 or a fixed fee based on currency
- Mass Payouts: 2%
- Nonprofit Discount Rate: 2.2% + $0.30 for online transactions
- Recurring Subscription: 2.9% + $0.30
- Chargeback Fee: $20
Additional Square Costs
- Virtual Terminal: No monthly fee
- Recurring Invoice/Card On File: 3.5% + $0.15 per transaction
- Chargeback Fee: None
If you want a more in-depth discussion of each company’s pricing, check out our articles, How Much Does Square Charge, and The Complete Guide to PayPal’s Fees, Rates, & Pricing.
I do want to point out that PayPal’s micropayments option is really good for merchants who sell digital goods valued at less than $10, and Square has no comparable alternative. (Square, in general, isn’t a particularly flexible option for digital merchants.) Also, PayPal charges $30/month for its virtual terminal and another $10/month for recurring billing, which is a hefty price tag considering Square offers a free virtual terminal and no monthly fee to use its recurring invoice function.
One other compelling feature to note: Square charges no fee at all for chargebacks and even offers merchants up to $250/month in chargeback protection for qualifying purchases. I haven’t seen this kind of feature implemented anywhere else, but I do like it because chargebacks are awful, and everyone knows that. Chargebacks can undoubtedly put your accounts with both PayPal and Square at risk, so be sure to understand how to keep them down as much as possible. Check out The Small Business Owner’s Guide To Preventing Chargebacks & (12 Tips For Fighting Chargebacks).
Also, whereas PayPal focuses on its integrations with POS apps, Square has developed niche-specific advanced POS systems with their own subscription costs and different processing rates:
- Square For Retail: $60/month per register per location; additional registers $20/month, 2.5% + $0.10 per transaction
- Square For Restaurants: $60/month, per location; additional registers $40/month, 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction
- Square Appointments: Individual plans $0/month, 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction; two to five employees $50/month, 2.5% + $0.10 per transaction; six to ten employees $90/month, 2.5% + $0.10 per transaction
All of these options work with the rest of the Square suite of products, too, which is a big advantage.
The pricing for Square and PayPal’s core features — the mPOS and eCommerce suites — are virtually identical, and pricing for supplemental services only matters if you intend to use them. There are so many variables and possible combinations of services that it’s hard to say which one would be less expensive. So if you plan to go for any of the add-on services, run the numbers for yourself and make sure you’re getting the best value.
Contract Length & Cancellation
Winner: Tie
Neither Square nor PayPal makes you sign any contracts — if you find you don’t care for either service, just stop using it and find another payments service to use. And no contract means no termination fees, as there is no contract to terminate!
Additionally, neither company imposes any monthly fees for payment processing. It’s not a bad deal at all.
Ease Of Use
Winner: Square
All in all, Square and PayPal are both simple for someone to start using. Their core platforms rest on being easy to use for the average small business owner. Most find their features adequate, and integrations can supplement any gaps you might find in either based on your business needs.
The Square POS software comes with more powerful features out of the box, including better inventory tracking, customer insights, free basic email marketing, a free virtual terminal, and employee management tools. Square’s all-inclusive payment processing system makes it easier to do more from the get-go. With Square, you can navigate to all of your existing features and easily set up additional integrations and add-on premium features all from a very organized and UI-friendly dashboard, including setting up your eCommerce shop or syncing with and selling on social media.
To pull in some of the features you may need from PayPal’s payment button, specifically inventory tracking features, you’ll need to play around a bit with the developer tools in the back end. And while this shouldn’t necessarily be a deal-breaker, Square is leagues ahead as far as user experience, dashboard accessibility, and finding additional tools when you’re ready for them.
Customer Service & Support
Winner: Tie
Of all the categories we are comparing for PayPal and Square, customer service and support is equally the weakest for both. Neither of them is known for having top-notch customer support and can be described as spotty at best as far as reaching a person quickly.
Square’s Support Options
- Help Center: Square has an online knowledgebase that’s comprehensive and covers just about any detail you’ll need.
- Social Media: Square’s support Twitter feed is active, and its YouTube channel is full of instructional videos.
- Phone & Email Support: Available by code, you can reach Square’s customer support team by phone. Unfortunately, some users who have had terminated accounts report issues with reaching customer service.
- Seller Community Forum: Here, you can pull advice or instruction from other Square users, and Square staff is very active as well.
PayPal Here’s Support Options
- PayPal Hub Home: PayPal’s help center is organized by topic, so you can search the FAQs for answers to your most pressing questions.
- Social Media: PayPal is responsive to both Facebook and Twitter.
- Phone & Email Support: The consensus is that phone support is inconsistent, so we recommend searching the online FAQ or email help desk support first.
- PayPal Community Forums: Similar to Square, you can search for or ask your question in the PayPal Community Forum. We did take note that PayPal’s forum isn’t quite as comprehensive or helpful, however.
We can’t call a clear winner here because each company has different strengths. Overall, the answers to most of your technical issues are pretty easy to come by for both without ever having to talk to someone. And since live support is a bit spotty for both, that’s a good thing!
Reviews, Complaints & Criticisms
Square and PayPal have different strengths but are very much the same type of platform, and the vast majority of users seem to reflect they are neck and neck. Here is a snapshot of common customer review platforms:
Capterra:
- PayPal Here: 4.7/5 stars
- Square: 4.7/5 stars
G2:
- Square: 4.6/5 stars
- PayPal Here: 4.5/5 stars
Google Play:
- Square POS: 4.3/5 stars
- PayPal Here: 4.5/5 stars
What a majority of complaints boil down to is the processing model of both companies — that is, they are third-party processors. That means you, as a merchant, are always going to have some inherent risk in terms of account stability. For the majority of users, you’ll have absolutely no issues. The few who do are understandably very frustrated at having funds frozen for a time or their account terminated without warning.
If you have a business that doesn’t process enough to warrant a traditional merchant account, however, you don’t have a lot of options. Square, PayPal, Shopify, and Stripe are all third-party processors that have democratized the payments industry so that more people can start accepting payments. We recommend learning how to prevent any account holds and freezes in the first place, as that will go a long way.
Always read the fine print in your contract, and understand that when you sign up for an account, you’ve agreed to the inherent risks as well. Keep in mind that the majority of users are happy with PayPal and Square — but be educated on how to prevent common issues and stay alert.
Integrations
Winner: Square
Both PayPal and Square offer a wide array of add-ons and integrations. PayPal seems to have opted to partner with many other companies rather than develop software solutions of its own, which means apart from the virtual terminal and recurring billing, you can’t get add-on products directly from PayPal.
| Webstore | Integrations | Developers |
|---|---|---|
Build Your Webstore Quickly & Easily | Integrate With Popular eCommerce Software | Developer-Friendly Tools For Customization |
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Highlights:
| Integrate with:
| Highlights:
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Instant Account Setup Fast Funding 2.90% + $0.30 for online sales | Instant Account Setup Fast Funding 2.90% + $0.30 for online sales | Instant Account Setup Fast Funding 2.90% + $0.30 for online sales |
PayPal’s list of supported integrations includes a variety of eCommerce providers, from shopping cart software to self-hosted solutions as well as POS and accounting integrations. You’ll also find form builders and other business-focused integrations, plus event management, email marketing, and invoicing/billing.
In contrast, Square offers several premium add-on options for merchants who want a seamless experience, starting with employee management, payroll, marketing, and loyalty. Gift cards are available for the cost of purchasing the card stock (starting around $2/card for small orders) and any processing fees at the time of purchase.
Square also has a huge library of integrations from POS, eCommerce, marketing, shipping, and accounting as well as solutions for invoicing, time-keeping, inventory management, and industry-specific solutions for healthcare, event management, and restaurants.
In all, while Square’s list of supported integrations isn’t as extensive as some other options out there (here’s looking at you, Stripe), it is more varied than PayPal’s. I don’t think that PayPal is limited. I would call it “carefully curated,” if anything. You have a robust suite of tools at your disposal with PayPal. Square is more open and flexible in its partnerships and allows more centralized control for different aspects of your business beyond payment processing.
Which Is Best For My Payment Needs?
We’ve explored each category in the post, but how can you answer the question: Is Square or PayPal better?
Choose Square if…
- You want omnichannel features and tools in one platform (e.g., loyalty, email marketing support, inventory reporting)
- You don’t have a site and want to get one up quickly
- You want the potential to scale premium add-ons and integrations easily
Choose PayPal if…
- You want to sell globally
- You want the brand recognition of the PayPal name
- You deal in low-ticket sales, in which case PayPal’s micropayments plan would be best
Comparing PayPal & Square: The Final Verdict
Winner: Square
While we are a little hesitant in proclaiming Square as the unequivocal winner, its robust and ever-improving feature-set just can’t be denied. Over the last few years, we’ve observed that Square’s features and services have noticeably expanded and improved, and that speaks volumes to the overall quality of the platform. You just can’t find the set of features, freebies, and business-scaling tools with PayPal. However, if you need support for international selling and want the flexibility of one of the most recognized names in payments, PayPal probably has a pretty strong draw to satisfy your business needs.
Both platforms offer flexibility not only in services and features but also the freedom to change processors without being bogged down by a binding contract — and that can be an invaluable asset on the hunt for the right processor. If you’re still weighing your options between the two, check out our full Square review and PayPal review. We also have many reviews and resources to help you get on board with a traditional merchant account, if that is applicable, so be sure to check out our merchant account reviews page. And if you have an opinion or piece of advice regarding PayPal or Square, we’d like to hear from you in the comments!
Emily Hale
Emily is a writer, strategist, and freelance consultant based in Indianapolis. She is driven to create content that empowers her readers and her clients to make better choices in their business and their lives. When she's not in the thick of researching and developing blogs for Merchant Maverick, she likes to cook from scratch for her family or escape outdoors and meander through nature with her rescue pup.
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I have a question, I found this article very informative so I pined it to Pinterest so that I could easily find it from any of my devices and to also share this article with other people. I then received a notice from Pinterest stating that this was a copyright violation and that my pin was removed. Here is what I do not understand, the pin linked directly to this article and proper credit was given. So where is the violation? I use Pinterest a lot to keep track of information I find useful to my business and I did have a number of pins linking to Merchant Maverick. Due to the threat of deleting my Pinterest account I deleted all of my pins connected to Merchant Maverick. I would appreciate someone explaining to me what I did wrong. Until then I will avoid Merchant Maverick and the author of this article.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
Hi Donald,
Thanks for letting us know! So sorry for the confusion, but we haven’t been notified of copyright issues. Perhaps if the pin was re-pinned, a different image was used? Pinterest may be able to provide an explanation, but we have no knowledge of any copyright violations on our part.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
daughter is starting a photography business. I had told her to go with paypal because cheaper swipe and you get instant access to your funds and the cashback is a nice feature. I had origically had square probably 7 years ago or so and switched to paypal. I was wondering as times have changed since then best to go with. she is going to be taking money for photography is all so no online sales really or products. I didn’t see where square money was available instantly or any cash back. Your opinion on this?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
Hi Crystal!
Both Square and PayPal now offer instant access to your funds with a debit card. Right now PayPal does offer a free chip card reader and the swipe rate is cheaper, especially for very small transactions. (For transactions larger than about $75 the difference is negligible.) And both platforms have pretty similar invoicing features, though I think Square’s is slightly more advanced at this point. You can itemize the invoice, attach files, and include job costing, etc.
If nothing else, I strongly suggest she check out the free contract templates that Square now offers so that when she does photography jobs she is at least somewhat protected! Hope that helps!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
The presenter gave opinions clearly and honestly it seems.
It is a shame he used some jargon in places (e.g. SDK and API) without explaining them, plus another category of online business I never have heard of, so I have no idea what he said in those components of his presentation.
I have been using mobile Square for years. It is wonderful, but if you get lost you might as well take the client’s info by pen and paper and enter it later. Very difficult to recover quickly.
I provided service to an American firm not knowing how, or even if, they intended to pay. I chose PayPal as I did not know my Square account would work for their method so I chose the more obviously “American” PayPal.
PayPal has been a nightmare with whom to register our business, but since we haven’t done any transactions yet I don’t have an opinion so far on that.
Considering the presentation and my experience so far with Square and PayPal, we will be shifting totally to Square.
Thanks to the Merchant Maverick!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
We are a non-profit organization and accept payment via credit card. Currently using PayPal for online payment. Can we open an account with Square or PayPal for card-swipe payment ? Does PayPal have the offline service like Square ? Does either one have lower service charges/rates for non-profit organizations ?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
Hi there Alex,
For in-person payments, there’s no discount with either Square or PayPal. PayPal offers a discount for online payments, but Square doesn’t. If you’re already using PayPal, I would recommend sticking with PayPal Here just to keep everything unified. However, that said, PayPal doesn’t have an offline mode like Square. PayPal is fractionally cheaper than Square, but you’d have to be processing several thousand dollars a month in person to see any sort of substantial saving.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
Hi, I use square now, but I do not like the fact that you will receive a 1099 if you have 200 transactions in a single year. Does Paypal Here have a single year transaction limit? I do agree on the IRS reporting limits, just not the transactions limit. My business sells a lot of small items sales.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
Hi Luz,
If you are processing 200 transactions AND at least $20k in sales per year, you should expect to get a 1099-k from either Square or Paypal. It appears to be pretty standard across the board, with the exception of Massachusetts and Vermont, who have a lower reporting threshold. That said, if you process 200 transactions, and don’t hit the $20k mark, you shouldn’t be receiving the 1099-k.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
I use square as my POS and paypal pro for online reservations for my tourism based company. I am thinking of switching to Square now for the online reservations to save myself the $30 a month from Paypal, however my question is does Square allow for pre-authorizing credit cards from online reservations without charging like Paypal? And if they do is there any fees?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
Hi Tonya!
Interesting question! It looks the closest thing Square supports is pre-payment with Square Appointments. We don’t often say this, but you might actually be able to do this with Clover. You may want to look at getting Payment Depot or National Processing and get a Clover Flex or the Clover Mini and you could probably benefit from interchange-plus pricing.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
I’m And independent hairstylist. So essentially I rent a chair in the salon, And run on business. I have been using PayPal since already had it set up from doing business on eBay. But my question is i more specific Regarding my industry and fees.
Thank you
This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
Hi Boris,
Thanks so much for reaching out! If you want to send us an email with your specific question, we’ll do our best to answer it! You can reach us at service@merchantmaverick.com.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
I’m a Independent Consultant for Pink Zebra. I’m currently using PayPal business. I’m not happy with the company. Was wondering should I switch to Square?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
I have a brick and mortar but would like to sell thru facebook using the email address. I am small so only using Square point of sale right now. Would my best option on facebook be to use paypal or square as payment. I know that in Square I can build my future website plus send free invoices but cannot pay with paypal. So thinking ahead but as for FACEBOOK which is my best option for the customer paypal or square using email ? Thank you.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
Hi Cynthia!
Thanks for your question. In order to manage a shop on Facebook you would have to choose either PayPal or Stripe — the alternative might be to use Facebook Messenger to send invoices for orders that are paid for in Square, but that would be difficult to manage logistically.
PayPal would probably be a workable option if you’d like to centralize things by selling online through Facebook and also sending invoices — but there’s a third option that perhaps you haven’t considered: Shopify.
With the Shopify Lite plan ($9/month), you get access to the mPOS, plus a Facebook shop and the ability to create “buy” buttons for a website, as well as send invoices. The only shortcoming would be that to work with barcode scanners, receipt printers, or cash drawers, you’d also have to pay for the Retail Package ($49/month). Otherwise you can send receipts via email or SMS, and just use a manual cash drawer. The good news is that if the online channel does take off and do well, upgrading to a full fledged Shopify plan will make selling online super easy. And, you can set Shopify up to accept PayPal payments as a secondary option to Shopify Payments. This would be our recommendation. Good luck!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this post and may be outdated.
Starting a new side business where we will have sporadic transactions throughout the year however sometimes the transactions will be large orders (over 10k on one transaction for example). I’m looking for a processor, I fear our funds will be put on hold etc. since we’d be sporadic and at times, large amounts.
Is the best I can do is contact the merchant before the transaction occurs to let them know it is a legitimate charge? I was looking into merchant accounts (not aggregators) but didn’t want a lot of fee’s but am open to one that will go smoother for us all around. Thanks.
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Hi, Ree!
Based on the criteria you’ve given me, I would suggest CDGcommerce or Payline Data as a merchant account provider for you. That’s absolutely the way to go to reduce your chance of a funding hold. I would also suggest looking at invoicing for the largest transactions rather than just swiping a card. You can check what invoicing services work with CDG and Payline when you talk to the sales team. They’ll also be able to advise you on the best ways to mitigate your risk given your situation.
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I’m just starting off as a book seller and plan to sell to both individuals and schools (both on my online website store and in person). I’ve seen concerns regarding funds held by both Square & PayPal for unusual volume. Would Square or PayPal – or a merchant account be best to avoid “a hold” on my funds as a startup business?
Also – which ecommerce tool is best for selling to nonprofits (i.e., schools)?
Thank you for such an informative article and great comment page!
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Hi, Josie!
Generally speaking, merchant account are always going to be more secure than a third-party processor such as Square or PayPal. However, it’s a matter of trade-offs: merchant accounts are more secure but they are usually only cost effective when you’re dealing with about $10k per month in credit card transactions. Below that and PayPal and Square tend to be more affordable, and some merchant accounts won’t approve you at all. You also have to jump through fewer hoops to get an account set up with PayPal or Square. And for context: PayPal has 17 million merchants and Square has well over 2 million. So the complaints about holds are valid, but I don’t think account issues happen as frequently as people imagine them to, just based on complaint volume. You have to look at the overall user base, too.
I think that using invoices would help protect you for large orders. Square actually has some really cool tools for uploading contracts to your invoices. However, that’s not a perfect solution. One of the reasons transactions get flagged and held is a very sudden, very large sudden spike in business. Steady growth over time will actually help off set this, but if you’re selling 10 books a month and suddenly you get a single order for 1,000 books, that might signal that something is wrong and lead your processor to hold funds.
As for ecommerce tools: it doesn’t really matter who you’re selling to. So there really aren’t any tools or services that are designed to help you sell to nonprofits and schools. Just make sure you have a well designed site with all of the relevant details and information. You might put up a notice and tell them that bulk orders are available by invoice or something. (It’s hard to be specific without any other details about your business.)
So it really comes down to priorities. Can you afford monthly fees for a merchant account? If you can get a merchant account, are the costs comparable to Square or PayPal, or will you pay more? Is that acceptable to you? Do you want tools like Square, which offers a free website and built-in invoicing plus a mobile POS? Or would you rather pick a merchant account and then pick your website provider and your invoicing tool? (Also worth noting, some merchant accounts offer a unified platform like Square’s with all the tools built in).
I know it’s not a definitive answer, but I do hope this helps you get started!
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Hello
I’m starting my credit repair business and I planning on having a website. I would like your input on which merchant service would be the best. I will have a monthly recurring fee. Thank you!
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Hi Steven,
It looks like you may need a high risk merchant account, actually. Square bans credit repair businesses and Paypal bans “certain types” of credit repair businesses. Stripe isn’t an option either. I’d suggest reading through this post on high risk providers to find some suitable options. You can also give our filtering tool a try for a more tailored recommendation. I know this probably isn’t the news you were hoping for, but I hope you find it to be helpful. Best of luck to you!
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Hi Melissa
I am a crafter and sell my wares at various craft shows. People have asked me to start taking credit cards and I would like to do that. A friend advise me that PayPal gives direct funding immediately and the square takes a couple days. I prefer the PayPal but I’m not really sure how to go about doing this. I don’t have a PayPal credit card but I do have a PayPal account with my credit card linked to it. How does this work?
Joan
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Hi, Joan!
Honestly, either solution will work for you, though in my experience more artists seem to prefer Square. Square also has slightly more inventory management and invoicing features that you might find useful as a crafter!
PayPal offers “immediate” funding in that it’s available in your PayPal balance almost right away. It’s not in your bank account. However, if you have the PayPal for Business debit card, you can spend your PayPal balance anywhere that accepts MasterCard/debit cards. In addition, you can instantly transfer your balance from your PayPal account to your bank account for $0.25 per transfer.
Square generally takes 1-2 business days depending on the time of day when the transaction is processed (there’s a cutoff time, which is fairly standard for most businesses). If you want your money right away, you can initiate an instant deposit for 1% of the transaction value. However, there are limits (minimum and maximum amount and more stringent limits for new sellers).
If you go the PayPal route, you’ll need to make sure you get a Business account to use PayPal here, not just a personal account. Upgrading is easy, but you should make sure you upgrade and get everything with PayPal Here squared away well ahead of your next show. Likewise, make sure you apply for a Square account up front and early, too!
Also, when you start accepting credit cards, please make sure you opt for an EMV/chip card reader! It’s really important that every merchant be able to accept chip cards to protect themselves against fraudulent transactions.
I hope this helps!
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Hi,
We are planning our 30 year class reunion this year. I would like to know which option Square or PayPal, would be best for people to pay online? I’ve researched both, and to me Square would be the BEST choice, but would love your input. Thanks in advance.
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Hi, Glenda!
I think in your case, both PayPal and Square would be really good options. As far as online payment options, they’re pretty evenly matched. It really depends on how you want to set things up. Do you already have a website? Do you need to build one? (Square has a free website that you could use, though the design options are pretty limited. With PayPal, you’d have to set up your own site, which is pretty easy with software like Weebly.) Would you rather direct people to something informal such as paypal.me or cash.me to send their money, or do you need something that’s a bit more structured where they purchase official tickets? Do you want people to be able to make donations in addition to buying tickets? (PayPal might be the better option for donations because creating donate buttons is very easy.) In both cases you can get a card reader to accept card payments at the door, too.
I know this isn’t much of an answer, but there are so many variables that it’s hard to say definitively without knowing all the details!
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Hi there, I am starting a dress hire business and at this stage I don’t have any clue when it comes to payment processing. I’ve just download your free email course to get me started. Thank you.
I will have 2 options where the customer can view and try on and pay and also and an online hire service where customer will view the garment via Instagram and direct message me with their inquiries and if happy to proceed I send the garment via postage. Can you please reccomend your preference please in this situation. Also I need to take a copy of credit card details just in case the garment is late or damaged. What is the best way to do this?
Thank you in advance 😉
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Hi, Rachael!
I’m sorry to say I don’t have an easy answer for you because the type of business you’re describing faces several kinds of risks. In an ideal world, a processor that supports pre-authorization and capture would work. But most processors, including PayPal, have a limited time frame for those pre-auths and place limits on how much you can increase the transaction size beyond the initial amount. Square does offer invoicing and card on file capabilities, which could work — but generally speaking, charging customers for additional amounts without their authorization can get your account terminated. So you’d be facing possible lost income. Square doesn’t support pre-authorizations for anything except its Appointments software, either.
This is one of those cases where I think your best bet is to talk to a few processors directly and see what they recommend and whether they’ll support your business model. Square, obviously, would be a good start. Helcim and CDGCommerce are also worth looking into!
At the very least, I also recommend having an actual webstore, not just Instagram. This will help you with appearing legitimate, both to customers and to processors. There’s nothing that says you can’t also post to Instagram to attract customers! You’ll also want to make sure you have a very strong contract prepared that outlines the costs and fees and penalties, and make sure your customers read and sign it when you complete a transaction.
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Thankyou Melissa, you have given me much to think about. ;-)))
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Not really a review but more of questions!
I am in DS. Usually all of my online sales are thru PayPal by invoicing. I however have 2 customers that buy from me that don’t have an email so I take their card info and manually type it into square. I don’t mind the wait to be put into my account usually 24 hours! I just recently learned about PayPal having a free reader. Since I really don’t use it I was thinking about switching to the PayPal reader that way it is just put on my business card. But since I plan to start doing events to get my business out there now I’m not so sure if I should stay with square or go with paypal. Right now my card reader does not do even close to $500. Because like I said most of my sales are thru PayPal invoicing. So guess my question is which would be better for me?
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Hi there!
I think it would be smart to condense your payment processing into one service. Both Square and PayPal offer invoicing and a free card reader (but you should get an EMV reader; it’s worth the extra cost). The one thing to consider is that if you’re going to continue relying on a virtual terminal for customers who don’t have emails, Square is actually a better option. Its virtual terminal is free. PayPal has one, but it costs $30/month, which is absolutely not worth it for you. Square gives you Card on File and recurring invoicing options and no additional charge, which I think would be to your benefit!
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My wife and I own a vacation rental business in the Caribbean and we typically use Paypal for invoicing and taking credit cards for guests. Recently we started also taking reservations and transactions for cabs, cooking services, etc… a whole host of additional services which we offer as part of the whole experience. Our guests want to pay at the time the services are provided… which means on the Caribbean island while they are there. We do allow then to establish a line of credit before hand to be settled at the time of their stay, but it is more convenient to be able to take credit card transactions on the island. Getting this to work has been very problematic as the local banks in the Caribbean wont even talk to us unless we provide some minimum amount of business. Our experience is that Paypal and Square do not work outside of the USA… so where to go from here?
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Hi Bill,
Unfortunately there is no quick and easy fix that we are aware of. We agree that the way you are currently handling payments is probably the best method for your situation. Best of luck to you!
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Question: we are a small company, using credit card payments from customers only 1 or 2x a month (the rest we receive by checks).
I was told we could just process Square inbound payments using a computer–no other hardware needed. Is that true? I have gone directly to Square to ask but via phone their system only allows existing customers with codes!
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Hi Debbie,
I think what you are looking for is Square’s virtual terminal. You may also want to check out their invoice feature as well. I hope that helps!
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I’m in a service field and really there’s just a couple of people every month who forget their checkbook or cash so I wouldn’t really be using a credit card reader for much maybe 500 a month do you think Square is still the best for me
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Hi Ariella,
Yes, it sounds like Square would be a great option for you!
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Melissa,
Thanks very much for sharing your time and insights!
Divine Blessings,
Linette
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I had a Square but terrible customer support. After using Square for a year it one day would not allow me to log on. Said email address was wrong. Tried contacting customer support but support is not available without email address, which I had not changed but Square did not recognize. Tried ordering replacement but got message that my email was already linked to a device. Catch 22. There is no support!
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Excellent write-up Melissa, yet I still find myself on the fence in knowing what is the “best combination” of applications to support my needs; i.e. mPOS paired with best accounting/book keeping SW plug-ins.
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Thanks for the helpful and thorough review!
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Square’s register function does not have a calculator function, ie. I want to sell 2.5 yards of fabric at 12.99 per yard. I have to do the calculation separately then enter it. Paypal allows me to do the calculation in the register. Is there any workaround to the Square register to allow me to do this? Customer support for the last 1 1/2 years has said, “this is a good idea, and we’ll look at it,” and of course, they haven’t.
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Hi, Brian!
I’ve got a couple of suggestions. This is a topic that’s actually come up in Square’s community seller forum, and something other users suggested is price points: you can pre-program the costs for particular lengths (1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1) and then just plug in the quantities until you get the right measurement.
https://www.sellercommunity.com/t5/Using-Square/I-sell-fabric-is-there-a-way-after-scanning-bolt-to-choose-1-2/m-p/13158
Square also has variable price points — which might work if you’re looking to keep sales records and don’t mind plugging in the cost manually still.
https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/5328-item-variants-or-price-points
I hope that helps! IT would be nice to see Square add pricing by weight or yard in the future though, for certain.
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I’ve been using paypal for several months and was really happy until PayPal started holding over $500 in “Rolling Reserve.” My business is small, and new. $500, right now, can make or break a month for me. Does the Square do anything like that: hold your money, that clients have already paid, in a reserve for 30, 60, or 90 days?
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Hi Courtney,
You might want to check out the “Account stability issues/funding holds” section in our review of Square. Unfortunately Square has been known to put holds on funds as well. If you want to shop around, we have compared a handful of top rated mobile payment companies here with links to each of their reviews for further reading.
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I have the card reader from square and never got the one from paypal however is like to go through paypal. Can I use the square reader with the paypal app?
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Hi Charlie,
Unfortunately the card readers are not interchangeable, so you won’t be able to use the Square reader with Paypal Here.
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Up until today I’ve been very happy with Square. I use Square for on-site purchases when customers come to my studio and also for custom orders, I send out a Square invoice. My website uses PayPal and I have never had an issue. My biggest frustration with Square was this morning when my password didn’t work – the same password that I’ve had for three years. I finally requested a reset and the verification code they sent didn’t work. And yes, I began to freak out because there is literally NO WAY to contact Square if you can’t access your account. They require that you ‘log in’ to contact them – well how do you log in if your password isn’t working??? The fact that Square’s customer service can’t be accessed if your account goes down is just plain bad business. I spent most of the morning trying to resolve this and finally after the third verification code I was able to access my account. But this has caused me serious concern over continuing to use Square.
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I just signed up for Square, im still hesitating with Square and paypal.
When I received Square payment does it go directly to my bank account?
For Paypal. If I invoice my clients I can accumulate it thru paypal and transfer the balance to my bank account?
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Hi Ivy,
Great questions. Yes, when you sign up with Square, you will have the opportunity to sync your bank account. For PayPal, yes, you can transfer the balance to your bank account once your clients pay you. I hope this helps.
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Hey so, with “square,” am I able to capture payment remotely? I’m working in e-commerce, and can go door to door for my marketing services today, but I would like to be able to live anywhere in the world and travel, so is it possible to type in payment through square, if they send their information?
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Hi Michael,
Yes, you will be able to accept card-not-present transactions but the transaction fee is going to be higher. I hope this helps and if you have further questions please let me know.
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I was told that customers cannot securely key in their own credit card information using Square. I want to be able to email my customers an invoice and allow them to pay online….and then receive an email when the payment has been made. This can be done using PayPal but can it be done using Square?
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Hi Kim,
You can send invoices with Square. Here is more information on how to do that. I hope this helps and if you have further questions please let me know.
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After what I just went through in the last couple of days with Pay Pal I will forever discourage people to get PayPal and go with square. I run my own PC repair/support business…I was approved, having already been with PayPal almost ten years I thought it the best way to go…well listen up…. My first three transactions were with typing in the credit card, since I usually work from home, and of course, their cc reader hadn’t arrived… What was that for???!! , after your first $500 PayPal actually holds the amount for 30 days or more. I called the representative and I was like “well I’ve had PayPal for years so what’s the problem” they proceeded to tell me “that’s how it works until you develop better selling habits??” I run a computer help and repair, where I remote into my clients servers, or PCs and fix the problem, so accepting a credit card payment over the phone shouldn’t be a biggy?? Right?? Wring! So basically I did two days or about $1,500 worth of of work, they gave me the first $500 and the other $1,000 is in there or in my pending balance for the next 30 days, just because I typed in the credit card. Mind you I sent them the receipts for the transactions. This is incredible, and a joke. I think it’s horrible 30 days?? This day and age maybe 2 or 3 days for it to clear, I can even do seven for it to clear with the bank but really 30 days???smfh Square took me through a two day process and after sending them my ID and a copy of my receipts everything went smoothly. It goes into my bank account after a day or so, or I can choose to have it immediately sent to my account for a 1% fee. The choice is clear. Hope you don’t babe l make same mistake.
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I just went through the same thing Jorge, and was looking for feedback about switching from PayPal to Square. Does anyone know if Square does the same thing? I had no idea PayPal would hold my funds for 30 days from a $500 transaction. The other issue I’ve had with PayPal, that I’m hoping Square doesn’t do, is the ONE time I did the manual key in, it held my funds then too.
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Keira, you’re very likely to see similar behavior from Square. They are both third-party processing services, meaning that instead of you having your own unique merchant account (which is what traditional processors used), all accounts are lumped (or aggregated) into one large account shared by everyone.
On the plus side, it means you don’t have to do much to create an account and start processing. However, because the fraud/underwriting departments don’t do much research or assessment if you or your business model, they’re a lot more finicky about holding funds for transactions. We unfortunately don’t have any information about exactly what criteria either company uses to identify problematic transactions, but manually entering large transactions is usually enough to create a red flag. Likewise, sudden large transactions can raise suspicions — particularly when you’ve got very little processing history or you’ve only processed small transactions until that point.
Depending on what industry you work in, sometimes it’s better to get a high-risk merchant account. And no matter what industry, use invoices or the virtual terminal features instead of keying transactions into the mPOS app if you can.
Hope this helps!
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Excellent review for Square vs. Paypal! One thing u left out. U didn’t explain if the device used such as the little square reader can be used for either or. I’m looking to purchase a physical square reader but if I use the app for PayPal will it still work even if I’m using the square device and the app. Is there such a thing?
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found your article, thanks for the info. however i don’t know when this changed but the paypal reader is no longer free. The reader is 14.99 and they also have a chip card reader for a whopping 149.00
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NOT happy with PayPal. If I sell over $500.00 in a given week, they hold my funds for 30 days. I called and they said they couldn’t do anything about it. Has anyone else had an issue with this? I’m thinking of changing to Square.
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I have used Paypal for years now and have been fairly happy with them until recently. Paypal does have easy to reach customer service which is nice but the problem is the person your reaching isn’t much help. The Paypal staff seems to be very clueless and confused about their own pollicies. With my experience with Paypal I’ve learned its more of a company for Buyers not Sellers. There are many strange policies Paypal go by. For instance just recently I sold an item on Etsy. It was a custom made custom ordered item specificly built just for this customer. On the Etsy listing we quote 3 weeks for delivery. We did our part we built the item, shipped it, and had good comunication with the customer all within the quoted time frame. For some reason at the very last minute as the item was still in transit the customer chose to cancel the item. Which of course we don’t offer cancelations on custom built items. The customer filed a claim on Paypal because they did not want it anymore. When the item arrived the customer refused delivery. By doing so it basicly is like the customer never recieved the item and we never shipped it in the eyes of Paypal. Even though we had proof it was there but customer said they did’nt want it. Because of that refusal to accept the package Paypal sides with the customer and refunds their money. We’re out time to build the item, money for materials, and shipping fee to ship the item…. Now stuck with a custom built sign with a long unusual last name carved into it that we will Never get rid of. Paypal customer service Rep called it a loop hole in their system. I have encountered many strange situations similar to this from Paypal. Now I dont know what Square would do in that situation but I would hope they would not allow a last second cancelation like this to happen to their seller becuase of a loop hole in the system. Paypal just is more of Buyer favored site.
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David,
I could not agree with you more. A customer of mine also filed a chargeback under the false claim that he never authorized my company to charge his card. I sent the proof to PayPal as requested. (Email correspondence between the client and I who give his authorization and permission) The representative at PayPal informed me that I had nothing to worry about because I had the correct documents as proof. About 3 days ago, I saw the money withdrawn from my PayPal balance! When I called customer service they informed me that the client’s bank decided to issue him a refund so they had to deduct the money from me.
I was so angry because I have to suffer for this. Even though I provided all documents requested – PayPal refused to cover my loss. They don’t care about small businesses! It’s such a shame that I’ve given them so much money to be treated like this! Not to mention they even threw on a $20 chargeback fee on my account as well.
I have moved to Sqaure. I do hope it will be better with this Merchant.
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Indeed a great article. I have been using Paypal for years, and I find the company easy to use and available on the phone when needed. My only complaint is actually their card readers. The little triangle stinks! I have to swipe several times some times, which is useless. I usually bring 2 or 3 to my sales. I’ve seen people use the square reader and it seems like a breeze. The delay in depositing is not so good, but I plan for it.
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I have been using PayPal Here for several months and wanted to switch to Square for a more robust POS. I called to sign up with Square and when I said my average transaction would be less than $10, they said transaction fees would be 2.75% + $0.15 per transaction. Is this the same for every quick-serv merchant that has smaller transactions?
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Hi, Alex!
Unfortunately, yes. as far as mobile/pay-as-you-go options are concerned, PayPal is the only one that offers a micro-transaction pricing option. 2.7%-2.9% is pretty much standard across the board. A few places might have marginally lower rates (check out Intuit GoPayment or Spark Pay, for example) but they aren’t as robust as far as the app goes.
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Thanks for the prompt reply. Square’s biggest draw is that 2.75% flat fee and I can’t find anywhere that outlines the additional .15 per transaction other than what the sales rep said. If you sign up online do they freeze your account or change pricing once they see what your sales transactions are?
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My mom is going to start a website and Facebook page for her crafts. She sells homemade crafts (such as these cute trendy banners for weddings, showers, parties, home decor, etc.) mostly to local people and meets them and they pay with cash. However, she is looking to expand her business to having it online and having people purchase her products with a debit/credit card. She wants to know which is most safe for her to use? Thanks, if you can help!
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Hi Megan,
I would recommend taking a look at Square.
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I’ve used PayPal for years and have recommended it to several entrepreneurs. Paypal does have a debit card which , merchants can use to access money immediately. The card is accepted by most companies that accept Mastercard, although I have run across some companies who don’t accept it. However I have now decided to use square for two reasons. Reason one the new Emv reader and lower cost, reason two direct deposit to my bank. Since I haven’t used square long I can’t say whether I prefer it or not.But for right now I’m going to continue to have paypal on my website and use square for in person sales.
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With Square can customers purchase online from my website?
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Hi Sharon,
Yes, your customers should be able to purchase online. Here is more information on how you can integrate online purchasing with Square.
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Not sure if you mentioned it, but I have the PayPal Here with the (free) debit card, and not only is their swipe rat a tiny bit lower than square’s, but they give you 1% back on what you spend each month, too. 🙂 So, in reality, your swipe rate lowers.
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Only Paypal has a Windows Phone app (as of early 2016). Yes, some of us still use Windows Phones. I don’t want to carry a separate phone just to swipe credit cards.
If Square had a Windows Phone app I would use them over Paypal. I don’t like having to “manually” transfer funds from Paypal to my bank. (Square deposits directly into my bank automatically). But no Windows Phone app. Nothing is ever perfect, is it?
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I’m pretty sure you can link your PayPal account to your bank account and/or debit… Although, the easiest thing to do is just have PayPal send you a debit card. It is definitely worth it. 😉
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What about a security comparison? Square boast PCI Compliance, whereas PayPal Here is silent on the issue.
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I will be moving to square. Two big points with square is the ability to track inventory with their system and the automatic transfer to your bank account. I am sure their customer support will become better as more people start using them.
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Thank you so much for the comparison. It’s very helpful.
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Thank you for sharing the insight! I was just wondering which credit card reader to get, to get ready for my upcoming sales events at major dance studios! The last thing I want is hearing potential customers saying ‘ oops I don’t have any cash’, and watching them walk away…
Personally I think that, if you’re just starting out, have a small transaction volume, then you really can’t lose choosing one over another.
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Great article. Very helpful. So if I’m reading it write; the only real downside to Paypal is the $25 chargeback fee.
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I’ve been using PayPal for almost 10 years, and frankly I’m delighted to move to Square. PayPal is painful to deal with. They withhold funds if the wind changes direction, and are quick to take take funds from your account. The biggest drawback that hasn’t even been mentioned in this review is that PayPal is effectively its own bank. If you want to use your funds, you might have to move them to your bank, which takes up to 4 days. Square deposits money directly to your bank account, which I find way more convenient.
I’m thrilled to have a realistic contract-free alternative to PayPal!
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This was a great article. I’m just starting my first retail business and am trying to figure out which way to go.
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This is a great article and it helped me narrow down my decision of which credit card reader to use for my organic bodycare biz, small biz since we just started a couple months ago.! Thank you for posting 🙂
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Anytime Holly! Glad to help. 🙂
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