It’s time for a reboot!
If Hollywood can reboot a series that just got a reboot, then we can too. (We’re looking at you Spiderman)
We’re revisiting our most frequented blog about Square Vs Phone Swipe, 2.0.
Round two! Winner take all!
It’s been a few years since the blog first was published (wasn’t the world supposed to end?), and since 2016 is looming around the corner, we at BNG Holdings wanted to take another look to see if Phone Swipe is still the better option for merchants over Square.
In the first blog, we explained that it’s largely an apples to apples comparison.
On the surface both appear to offer the same services.
Over the years, it seems like they still maintain the same services with a few changes.
Previously with Square you could only receive support via email or Twitter.
Square has changed their website and now offers a number to call, but it’s only Monday through Friday 6am to 6pm Pacific Time.
Chances are, there’s a lot of businesses that operate outside of those hours.
Phone Swipe is always linked to a Gateway processor, and they usually will have 24/7 support.
This gives you more freedom to shop around for a provider of Phone Swipe who will grant the support you need.
Rates for Square are still 2.75% but for key entered transactions it spikes to 3.5% + $0.15.
Phone Swipe’s rates are 2.69% and 3.49% + $0.19 when keyed in. There’s not much difference in price, but Phone Swipe’s rates are a bit lower.
The key is how often you have to use the keyed in feature. Any time your card reader breaks, you’ll have to key enter in all transactions.
Phone Swipe has gotten less complaints from deceives breaking and their card readers are more durable, making it less likely you’ll be charged the keyed in transaction fee.
Chances are your provider of Phone Swipe will be able to get you a new card reader quickier than Square.
One of the biggest complaints we originally had with Square was they did not give merchants their own merchants account, which is sadly, still the case.
Having a merchant account means you have an account in your company’s name, so whatever funds are in the account are yours alone. A merchant account gives the owner agency and control over their own funds.
Square still doesn’t offer ownership, but gives it’s users access to an aggregated account, which is in Square’s name, not yours.
What does that mean?
You could read the long explanation in the original blog, but it basically means one thing.
Even though by all rights it should be your money, in an aggregated account, Square has ownership over the funds until they are transferred into your bank.
Square doesn’t even technically own the account, since they offer it out to a processor, who will hold financial responsibility on the account. You’ll have to wait for Square and the processor to clear the funds before they can be deposited into your bank account.
So if you made $4,000 over the weekend, you’ll have to wait a 24-48 hour period before your transaction is initiated, and then another 3-7 days for those funds to appear, and if it’s over a weekend, then you’ll have to wait for the first business day to start that timer.
Unless you’re running a business that can afford to wait that long for money, this is an alarming feature if your business is considering using Square?
Good news!
Phone swipe works with a payment processor as a partner rather than an awkward middleman like Square, and processes rates like a normal processor, so you will have the money in your account in 1-2 days.
Since you create a merchant's account, you own those funds, and Phone Swipe doesn’t hold card not present transactions.
Square can hold your funds up for 30 days for trailing transactions, if you process over $2,000 in a week.
So if you produce a lot of transactions, you may not want to use Square, especially if your weekly transactions are over that $2,000 threshold.
Phone Swipe ultimately is the better choice if you are taking in larger transactions (we'd like to mention, if you average over thousands of dollars every month, you’re probably better off operating off of a credit card terminal rather than your phone or iPad).
Phone Swipe!
We’ll stand by our original choice instead of Square.
Square has made some positive changes in how to handles customer service since they do provide a number, where maybe you’ll get ahold of a person.
However, since they do not give merchants a personal account, they are not a good service to choose for your business.
Take a look at our services, and see what others have said.
If you’d like to learn more about what our company can do for your business, or would like a free consultation, contact us here.
