Should I use Square or get a merchant account?

You might be in a position right now where you are looking for credit card processing for your new or existing business. In looking I am sure you came across Square merchant services. They offer credit card processing at a wholesale rate (one flat rate for all card types). This can be appealing for a new business owner looking for credit card processing for the first time. Let's see if Square merchant services is right for your business. If the following statements fit your situation, then a credit card processing service such as Square is right for you.

• I am just starting and I do not know how may credit cards I will process, if any at all.

• My sales are on the low end as I never process much more than $1,000 a month.

• My average credit card sale is very small, often less than a few dollars.

If any of these statements fit your current situation, you should set up with Square merchant services or a similar program. Let’s look at why.

The first statement explains a situation where a new or existing business is just starting to think about credit card processing and may not be sure if they will process at all. In this case processing your credit cards with a wholesale processor like what Square has to offer would be best until you gauge how many cards you will be processing.  

In the next situation your processing is very low. With having your own merchant account to handle the processing of credit cards you would incur a monthly cost. What it comes down to, is if the savings is outweighed by the monthly costs, you would be better off with a solution like Square merchant services. 

The final statement I put forth looks at the size of the transaction. If you average sale is very small, then the per items fees would be substantial. In this case using Square could actually cost them money since processors all pay the same costs to Visa, MasterCard and Discover. For example, a debit card cost is $0.22 per transaction. At a $5 sale the $0.22 would equate to a 4.4% by itself.

Okay, now if you are currently processing credit cards or  looking to add credit as a payment option and none of the situations mentioned above apply in your case, then you would be best off with your own merchant account to handle your credit card sales.

Total Merchant Services offers a solution similar to Square without the high overall percentage called Payment Jack. We also offer several other wireless options that include receipt printing. Total Merchant Services offers the best wireless processing terminal free to your business simply due to wanting to earn and keep your business.

For more information on this or any of the other free credit card terminal programs we offer contact Chris at 800.51.TOTAL / 800.518.6825.