Square VS PayPal For Small Business: Which Is Better? And Why?
Square | PayPal | |
---|---|---|
Monthly Fee | $0/month; $60/month for specialty POS packages | $0/month; $30/month for Payments Pro |
Card-Present Transactions | 2.6% + $0.10 per swipe/dip/tap | 2.7% per swipe/dip/tap |
Online & Invoiced Transactions | 2.9% + $0.30 | 2.9% + $0.30 |
Virtual Terminal Keyed Entry | Free; 3.5% + $0.15 per transaction | $30/month; 3.1% + $0.30 per transaction |
Recurring Invoice (Subscription) Billing | Free; 3.5% + $0.15 per invoice | $10/month; 2.9% + $0.30 per invoice |
QR Code Payments | 2.9% + $0.30 | 2.70% |
Chargeback Fee | None | $20 |
There are many benefits to choosing PayPal for all of your business financial needs over Square. Although Square does have a much larger user base, PayPal has many more advantages. For example, it has more payment options, including a real time processing service. Furthermore, PayPal also has a much larger number of merchants accepting their cards, which gives its users access to a much broader list of merchants. Additionally, Square does not allow intercurrency payments. Therefore, if your company accepts currencies other than the one you do, you will want to make sure you are using Square – they provide the best cross-commerce tools available on the web.
When comparing Square VS PayPal, you need to reach their payment-processing platform and their features. PayPal is free to use. However, it limits your ability to accept all forms of credit and debit. On the other hand, Square’s platform allows you to accept all major cards and requires no minimum balance or monthly subscription fees.
Fees are one of the first things you should look at when comparing Square or PayPal. PayPal charges a transaction fee every time a merchant’s credit or debit card is used to make a purchase. The rate varies by bank account and transaction volume but usually averages about four or five dollars per month. Although the rate is much higher than most other online payment processors, it is well worth it if you plan to make many sales.
PayPal does not charge a transaction fee when processing international payments but only charges a flat fee for a monthly membership. Therefore, if you expect to make a lot of international payments, or if you are planning to process payments from foreign countries, then it is best to join Square instead of PayPal. Square also allows you to set up multiple bank accounts, which can be helpful for those who process a variety of currencies.
Also, when comparing the two, you must compare their payment-processing fees. Both companies have different methods for calculating their fees, but the way they figure it can differ dramatically. PayPal charges a per-transaction fee, while Square tends to group its costs into two categories: a base transaction fee and an annual fee. Each has a reason to be significantly higher than the other, and the combination of both makes it hard to make a cost comparison between the two. You can compare their base fees and annual fees in their pricing section.
As you may have guessed, debit cards are generally less expensive to process than credit cards. The differences in the fees they charge is partially due to the different types of payments being processed – debit card payments are typically less costly because they are processed directly by the network itself and do not need to go through the payment processing company (like PayPal does). If you are considering using a debit card to process online transactions, you may want to look at how much you would save by processing with Square instead of PayPal – the discount on your merchant account may very well make up the difference!
There are some situations where the differences between square Vs PayPal may be noticeable: if you are interested in offline payments processing and do not currently accept credit card payments. Both companies allow you to set up mobile payment processing right from your website, so your customers do not even need to come to your site. Square’s offline processing fees tend to be a bit more, though. However, you may be able to save quite a bit of money by switching to the magstripe reader instead!
Another advantage of using the contactless method is that there are no additional fees for membership. Square’s card readers are available in stores or for download from their site. PayPal on the other hand only accepts memberships through their site, which costs a monthly fee. If you are interested in both methods, you should contact each company and find out what they require in order to accept your card. Both companies should be willing to work with you to provide you with the most suitable payment processor.
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