Square Online Store Reviews & Complaints

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Company Overview

Formerly known as Square Market, Square Online Store is an e-commerce merchant account offered by Square. The service, which is free to set up, is available both to merchants who already use Square credit card processing at their retail locations and to merchants who simply wish to create an e-commerce website for selling their goods.

Square Online Store Payment Gateway

Similar to Etsy or eBay, Square Online Store allows a business owner to create a basic website for his or her store complete with pictures, pricing, and product information. Customers can browse the site, order products with an online shopping cart, and securely pay their totals at checkout. This is essentially Square's e-commerce platform, offering the feature of payment gateways/virtual terminals.

Location & Ownership

Jack Dorsey is the founder and current CEO of Square Inc. It is headquartered at 1455 Market St #600 San Francisco, CA 94103.

Pros & Cons
Pros: Cons:
Customizable online store. Potentially slow customer service.
Easy setup and use. Higher transaction fees.
No monthly fees. Limited advanced features.
Integrated with Square ecosystem. Basic design options.
Real-time sales data. Dependent on internet connection.

Square Online Store Customer Reviews

Here's What Their Clients Say

Customer Reviews Summary
Total Online Complaints 2,000+
Live Customer Support Active Merchants Only
Most Common Complaint Fund Holds

Positive Aspects of Square Online Store

Square Online Store offers a streamlined e-commerce solution for many small businesses. This service is free to set up, featuring a low, flat transaction fee competitive with other major platforms like eBay, Etsy, and Amazon. An added advantage of Square Online Store is its seamless integration with social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, enabling tech-savvy business owners to effectively promote sales or new items through direct product links. For merchants active in social media marketing, Square Online Store presents a cost-effective entry into e-commerce.

Some Feature Shortcomings

However, Square Online Store does have limitations. Product listings are limited to a single image, and the store layout is relatively basic. Additionally, a Square Online Store must reside within the Square directory, limiting integration with a merchant’s existing domain. For those seeking extensive customization or a specific domain, Square Online Store may fall short.

Square Online Store Lawsuits and Fees

In 2018, Square settled a lawsuit regarding its food delivery service “Caviar,” where it was alleged to have withheld gratuities from delivery workers between 2012 and 2015, resulting in a $2.2 million settlement.

Multiple lawsuits in recent years include a 2019 accusation of mishandling medical payment information, which was later dismissed, and an ongoing 2020 class-action lawsuit regarding unauthorized texts through the SquareUp loyalty program.

Square also faces an ongoing lawsuit for withholding funds from merchants deemed high-risk. Additionally, a 2021 class-action suit alleges price-fixing of interchange fees by Square and other credit card processors.

Furthermore, a 2021 suit against Square CEO Jack Dorsey, if successful, could lead to major changes for Square, alleging broad access given to Twitter user data and benefiting Square.

Square Online Store Customer Service Options

Square Online Store, like all Square services, suffers from a notable lack of live customer support. While the company offers email and social media support, along with phone support for active accounts (see: How to Contact Square), there are numerous merchant complaints about delayed or absent responses. This shortfall in customer support makes recommending Square Online Store and Square more broadly challenging.

Square Online Store Online Ratings

Here's How They Rate Online

Online Ratings Summary
Product & Service Complaints 3,885
Billing & Collection Complaints 1,208
Advertising & Sales Complaints 113
Guarantee & Warranty Complaints 26
Delivery Complaints 182

Note: We have adjusted this company’s BBB rating according to our own standards. To better understand why we adjust BBB ratings, please see our Rating Criteria.

Square’s BBB Complaints on the Rise

Square is accredited with the BBB since 2021. As of this update, the Better Business Bureau is reporting an “A+” rating for Square despite 5,414 complaints filed in the last 36 months. This is a drastic improvement over our last update where Square Inc scored an “F”. Square maintains this deluge of complaints is due to the recent popularity of its CashApp service. 3,885 of the complaints were due to a problem with a product or service, 1,208 were billing or collections issues, 113 were due to advertising or sales problems, 26 were issues with a guarantee or warranty, and 182 were issues with delivery. Only 1,222 of these 5,414 complaints were resolved by the company to the satisfaction of the merchant. The remaining 4,192 were resolved to the dissatisfaction of the merchant or received no final response.

What Merchants Say

Square has also received 461  informal reviews to its BBB profile, only 7 of which were positive on tone, with 454 being negative. The most recent review describes an issue with held funds and bad customer support:

This company should be CLOSED by BBB and OUT of BUSINESS!!! It a SCAM. I do not recommend this for small businesses. It’s seems to be a good and easy company to with with and have in your business. But wait until you have the first problem.PLEASE save your time and aggravation, DO NOT DO BUSINESS with this C*** SQUARE company.They deactivate your account and frozen with my balance, I tried many diferent ways to get my money deposited, I even sent a registered letter to their brunch in **********, they do not release my money. I gave one STAR, because there is no other option. They do not reserve ***** hope an good attorney read this reviews and set a big law suit to this company. My Name is ********* and my contact is

It’s unclear what this user’s specific problem was, but all Square Cash users are advised to watch out for Square Cash app customer support scams.

Pattern of Complaint

The BBB previously prefaced its profile with a warning regarding the pattern of complaints filed by merchants:

Pattern of Complaint

Square, Inc. came to BBB’s attention in December 2010. A review of the company’s complaints on file was done in October 2019. Based on BBB files this company has a pattern of complaints. Complaints on file state a lack of customer service specifically; a lack of timely response to urgent issues, assistance, and communication.

BBB reached out to the company so that they may respond to the complaints currently on file and explain the process of handling support tickets. To date, the company has not responded.

An “C” Performance

In light of the company’s rising complaint total and consistent reports of customer service issues, and taking into account the previous BBB score, we have adjusted the BBB’s rating to a “C” for our purposes.

Square Online Store Fees, Rates & Costs

A Closer Look at The Contract

Cost & Fees Summary
Free Plan Rate 2.9% + $0.30
Professional Plan Rate 2.9% + $0.30
Performance Plan Rate 2.9% + $0.30
Premium Plan Rate 2.6% + $0.30
Professional Plan Fee $144 Per Year
Performance Plan Fee $302 Per Year
Premium Plan Fee $864 Per Year
Early Termination Fee $0
Monthly Minimum $0

Choice of 4 Plans

Square Online Store provides four distinct plans with clear pricing. The Free, Professional, and Performance Plans have a transaction fee of 2.9% plus $0.30, whereas the Premium Plan offers a slightly lower rate of 2.6% plus $0.30.

All plans are devoid of long-term contracts and early termination fees. The Professional Plan incurs an annual fee of $144, the Performance Plan $302, and the Premium Plan $864. These fees are presented on Square’s website as “$X/mo – billed annually,” which may lead some to believe the billing is monthly instead of yearly. Square also offers a range of additional software modules for integration at various prices, making it a competitively priced option among online merchant account providers.

Frozen Funds a Concern

While Square’s pricing structure is appealing, a significant contractual issue contributing to numerous complaints is its policy on fund holds. To facilitate easy signup, Square bypasses a comprehensive underwriting process, relying instead on the ability to freeze funds for large or unusual transactions as a fraud protection measure, often without prior notification to the merchant. This practice has led to a significant volume of public grievances. Despite this, Square may still suit certain businesses well.

For those considering broader options, we recommend reviewing our list of the top merchant account providers.

Square Online Store Employee Reviews & Sales Tacitcs

Should You Work For Them?

Jobs & Marketing Summary
Employs Independent Resellers No
Advertises Deceptive Rates No
Discloses All Important Terms No

Transparent Pricing

Square Online Store is advertised in the same way that Square’s credit card processing is advertised. The company is exceptionally transparent when it comes to its transaction fees, contract terms, equipment costs, and add-on services. Square Online Store has a very simple pricing structure and does not bury hidden costs in a complicated contract. Its quoted pricing for additional software modules is clear.

This compares favorably to our list of best credit card processors.

Problems Below the Surface

However, all Square products do have two major shortcomings: their lack of live customer support and the company’s fund-holding policies. These two aspects of Square’s service are not fully addressed in its promotional materials, and thousands of merchants have reported that they were blindsided by problems related to these two specific issues. This can be described as either a marketing issue or a service issue. Since customer support and fund-holds are generally unrelated to the Square Online Store product itself, they will not count against the company in this review.

Our Square Online Store Review Summary

Our Final Thoughts

A Decent Option for Small or New E-Commerce Businesses

Square Online Store provides merchants with a no-frills, easy-to-use online store for a very low price. The marketplace’s processing fee is highly competitive for the service provided, and it shows a lot of potential from a social-media marketing perspective. The primary drawbacks to the Square Online Store are its limited customization options and the fact that Square provides virtually zero customer service. Square Online Store is recommended as an additional sales channel for merchants who already use Square in their stores or who already have a thriving retail presence, but merchants relying on it as their only e-commerce option may desire something more robust with better customer support.

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Which is Most Important for You?

If you had to pick one, which quality would you say will be the most important with your next credit card processor? Tap or click your selection to register your vote:

  1. Low Transaction Fees
  2. No Monthly Fees
  3. No Contract
  4. Reliable Customer Support
  5. Quick Signup

Testimonials & Complaints

How Did Square Online Store Treat You?

10 User Reviews

  • Richard Dickey

    Square has been holding $3000.00 from a sales transaction that was done over 2 weeks ago. the customer did not dispute transaction square has been holding it for some bull crap verification. We have had this account since last year and no problem with verification till now. Give us our money. You know something is wrong when you call square and all you get is a recorded message. Never can speak to an actual person. Going to the bank and demand they do something.

  • Diogo vieira

    Just the most worst company ever
    , they are able to do what they want with your linked account, they keep your money , I did a job for a costumer and tha lt costummer toke advantage on me , resquesting he’s money back after the job complete done and square just old money from other costumes just because I got a issue with a different costummer so if you got a dispute going on don’t make any transaction if you do you will lose that money intel they decide what to do .
    Obs : I just found this after 4 attempts to Faulk with some one and every Time was a different story . They will never call you saying : hey you got a problem let’s solved, they just block your money .

    Pice of garbeg it’s what they are

  • Nik

    Terrible customer service. Spent 20 mins (after waiting on hold for 20 mins to even speak with an account rep) on the phone speaking with a rep who obviously couldn’t fix my problem. When I asked to speak with a supervisor he immediately refused and claimed that since I wasn’t the account owner, he couldn’t let me speak to a supervisor. The “account owner” they have listed is our web/graphic designer (who technically isn’t even employed by our company) because he had initially set up the account. When I placed Van on hold to go get the “account owner” he decided to hang up.

    Spent another 20 mins on hold, only to speak with another rep who was much nicer, albeit just as unable to help as the first rep. She explained that the only way to get the name of the “account owner” changed is to set up an entirely new account, rebuild our entire store and start from square one.

    Orders refunding themselves without notification, the sloppy and, at-times obnoxious, back end navigation and their lack of customer service have all lead us to seek a new platform.

    The fact that they will let someone not even associated with the checking account linked to the processor open an account and list themselves as the account manager is absurd. All of the sales we have processed for this year have been recorded to the incorrect business tax ID and they have absolutely no way of fixing it. Obviously mistakes were made on our end, but as a paying customer we expect our vendors to be able to provide solutions. Instead of solutions, we received no help whatsoever. the second rep even acknowledged that we were not the first people to run into this issue, yet Square refuses to adapt its procedures to appropriately accommodate their customers.

  • Heather Pace

    As a new business owner finding the right credit processor was stressful. After trying out a different company our first 7 months we were not pleased at the charges and % we were paying per transaction. It was a lot more than promised. We switched to Square 4 months ago and are very pleased. We pay exactly what they tell us we will be charged with no hidden fees at all. We also receive nothing but great customer service when we call with questions. We did not get that with Shopkeep. Thanks Square for saving us 100’s a month.

  • Massimo

    By far the worst yet. Do not use this company.
    I have been accepting cards through my merchant services for a long time.
    After giving square a shot they totally screwed me and my customer.
    I accepted a $2200 payment (this is normal for my business as a contractor) 2 days later I get a Questionaire from square with privacy questions about myself and my customer. Long story short they claim they are holding the deposit from my customer until further review not giving a crap that the just put the customers job on hold. Gave me a bad rep with my customer and will definitely never use them again.
    All who need their money available for production should not use them, you can expect many surprises once they have the money, they have no customer service (like all others have 7 day a week calling).
    THE WORST!!

  • Sabrina

    I have also had issues with customers who go into the square market from their mobile device and can’t get their shopping cart to go through. All of my customers have had to use a PC to process their orders. I don’t know why mobile devices have trouble placing orders.

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