Accepting Credit Cards Onsite – PayPal Here vs. Square

Guest Post by Craig Lloyd:
Not too long ago, going through the process of being able to accept credit card payments for small computer businesses was probably a daunting task for most. You would have to set up a merchant account and then buy expensive processing equipment. However, with the introduction of Square in 2009, the days of easy credit card payments are finally here, and PayPal just recently launched their own version, called PayPal Here, to take on Square. These services allow computer businesses to easily accept credit card payments through iOS and Android devices.

Both Square and PayPal Here have their own separate advantages, but are also so similar that it can be difficult to decide which one is best for your computer business. Let’s have a look at the two services and see which one would be ideal for you.

First off, Square and PayPal Here both charge a transaction fee for credit card swipes. Square charges a 2.75% fee, while PayPal Here charges a slightly lower 2.70% fee. The difference is very minute at first, but it can add up over time if you plan on bringing in a lot of transactions.

If, for any reason, you must manually enter in credit card transactions (if you don’t have the card reader for instance), both Square and PayPal charge a 3.5% + $0.15 fee per transaction. There’s also a $1,000 weekly deposit limit with manual entries. If you go over $1,000 for any given 7-day period, anything over the $1,000 will be held for 30 days before they’re released to your bank account.

However, there will be very few instances where you would manually enter in credit card details. Both Square and PayPal Here offer their readers for free with free shipping, and the accompanying app is free as well.

Customer service is obviously a huge factor when it comes to choosing a product or service. PayPal Here is promising to have both phone and online support 24/7, but since the service is just launching, it will be a little while before we find out just how good that support will be. As for Square, it hasn’t fared so well in the customer service department. Many Square customers have complained about the lack of live and easy-to-reach support. Only time will tell to see if PayPal eithers suffers the same fate or rises above.

Both Square and PayPal Here are great services and there’s nothing about either that would be an extreme deal breaker (unless you’re using Android, for which PayPal Here doesn’t support just yet). However, if you’ve been a loyal PayPal user for some time, choosing PayPal Here would be a good bet, since you’ll already have a wealth of features at your disposal. Plus, PayPal Here offers the ability to accept paper checks using your camera as a scanner of sorts.

If you’re going into it as a complete mobile-payment virgin, Square’s simple user interface makes the product really easy to use and they even have a separate app for the iPad that turns it into a full-fledged, easy-to-use register.

Whatever you choose, may your business flourish with the greatness of mobile-payment technology and let us know how it works out for you when you finally take the dive into the mobile payment pool.

Guest post by Craig Lloyd. Craig has been tinkering with computers for over eight years and is CompTIA A+ certified. For the past three years, he’s been writing about and sharing his love of technology at various websites across the internet.