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Square intros flat-rate payment option at $275 per month, hits small business sweet spot

Square is most often pitched as heaven for small businesses, but that 2.75 percent cut per transaction is sometimes a problem for stores that are too successful. Enter a new flat rate option. Shops that don't take more than $250,000 a year in Square payments, or charge more than $400 in a given sale, can instead pay a flat $275 per month regardless of how many swipes they take. The deal makes the most sense for businesses handling more than $120,000 a year through the reader, establishing a definite limit to its usefulness; this isn't exactly for a budding jeweler (or Starbucks). Even so, the simplicity of the rate might be very alluring for companies that aren't keen on surprise costs or working out the math, and it's a contrast to the half-steps towards flat rates taken by VeriFone and other, more traditional outlets going mobile.


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Square Introduces One Monthly Price for Small Businesses

Mobile Payments Leader Offers First-of-its-Kind Pricing Option

SAN FRANCISCO – August 16, 2012 – Square is leveling the playing field with first-of-its-kind simple pricing designed for small businesses. Square first redefined mobile payments by enabling anyone to accept credit and debit cards with a flat 2.75% fee per swipe. Today Square expands its simple pricing for card processing with a monthly price for small businesses which includes 0% processing fee and one flat $275 monthly price, no additional fees, and no contract.

One monthly fee and 0% processing is the first pricing option that gives small businesses a lower processing fee than bigger merchants. Square is committed to offering prices that eliminate uncertainty and are lower than those traditionally only available for big businesses. In an industry that until now has only offered a per transaction fee, now merchants who process up to $250,000 per year can pay one flat $275 fee per month with no fee per swipe.

"For 62 years, merchants have suffered complicated, expensive processing fees. Square is the first company to rethink electronic payment pricing with the merchant in mind. We are giving merchants affordable, predictable pricing, " said Square CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey. "With one monthly price, merchants know that the sales they've processed in a day is the same amount deposited in the bank."