Square Being Embraced By Squares

by Jason Collazo

The electronic mobile payment service Square has gone disturbingly mainstream. A nationwide map of usage on the website theatlantic.com shows that every major city across America is rife with Square users and that there are many scattered throughout the less densely populated areas in between. The company was the recent recipient of a $100 million venture investment.

So it would seem that Square has moves from beyond the hands of the hip. Shortly after it debut in early 2010, Square could only be seen in use by savvy tech geeks. Now things have changed, and the handy, easy to use mobile payment service has is now a handy payment accepting tool for a multitude of different types of people. Compatible with iPhones, iPod Touchs, iPads or Android based mobile phones, Squares card reader or “dongle” plugs right into a users audio jack. That and the downloadable application are both free via Square’s website. In turn, Square takes 2.75% of every transaction it’s used to facilitate as a fee.

The Atlantic senior editor, Alexis Madrigal, contacted several individuals that are currently using Square as a means of accepting payment to find out how they feel about the mobile payment device. Here is what two of said

Kais Davis of Eugene said he used Square for "rent, settling debts with roommates, poker tournaments, selling collectables, craigslist."

Cincinnati cabbie, Aziz Mabyae said that his entire cab fleet converted to Square at the request of the company's owner. After four months of use, he loves the device. "It's a lot quicker and easier," Mabyae said. He also noted that relative to their old way of accepting credit cards, it seems more secure for passengers."

The classic POS credit card terminal set up tends to come with a lot of fees up-front, but on the bank end the per-transaction fee percentages are typically smaller than Square’s 2.75% cut. That may lead to big business balking at overhauling their current set up in favor of implementing Square.

As Square tells it, however, conventional credit card processors often have hidden costs attached to them that may or may not be disclosed to customers. They claim that on average, merchants would find their costs to be lower, on average, than the costs associated with conventional credit card processors.

Although being brought on board by big businesses wouldn’t be a bad thing, courting larger companies doesn’t exactly seem to be what Square is all about. It’s practically non-existent costs combined with its awesome mobility and inexpensive per-transaction fee, Square sets up individuals and small merchants to be able to accept plastic for payments who may have, before now, never dreamed of the day they’d be credit card compatible. Crafters, cat sitters, cupcake makers, cleaning ladies…with Square, the possibilities are now endless.

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