Went into a local coffee shop here in Boulder, CO. I noticed the swivel terminal post and asked the owner if it was SQUARE. He said yes and I mentioned that I am a recent investor.
He commented that he receives at least 3 calls a day from folks looking to process his payments and he ignores them all because SQ is so much cheaper.
He then says that he would no longer buy shares in SQ because he saw the new dual terminal post with its new fees. “If a product you sell is over $20 - the fees are still good, but for coffee shops and sandwich shops - the new fees are higher!” And he goes on to say that he’s sure with these higher fees - someone will soon come in and undercut SQUARE.
Wondering out loud. Anyone aware of fee changes and shifts with the SQ products?
It seems that square is introducing a more full fledged Point-of-Sale system called Square REgister, not just an iPad or iPhone. For this new POS system, the fee is 2.5% + $0.10 per transaction instead of the 2.75% fee on the iPad/iPhone.
So for smaller ASP, the 10 cent is a significant cost. For larger ASP, it might be a better deal.
Interesting that you should post this anecdote. I was recently in Louisiana and noticed a small business merchant using Square. I started talking to him about it and asked about his experience. He told me that at first, it was far less expensive than the existing processors and he and other business owners he knows were quite enthusiastic about it. Recently, he told me that fees were going up and he and the others were becoming less enthusiastic.
I don’t know enough about Square to understand whether this has any importance, but I thought I’d post in case it helps further the discussion.