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Square Online Store Review: Fees, Complaints & Lawsuits

  • March 11, 2022
  • By Payments Industry Analyst, Phillip Parker
  • 11 User Reviews
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Rating

 3.8/5
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1 (855) 700-6000

Most Recent Comment

  • Richard Dickey: says:
    April 29, 2021
    "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..." Read More
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Rating:
 3.8/5

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Most Recent Comment

  • Richard Dickey: says:
    April 29, 2021
    "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..." Read More
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Square’s Turnkey E-Commerce Option

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.

Square Online Store Location and Ownership

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

Square Online Store Review Table of Contents

  • Costs & Contract: Square Online Store charges rates between 2.6% to 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction.
  • Complaints & Service: Square Online Store has received more than 2,000 public complaints.
  • BBB Rating: Square Online Store (as Square) has an “A+” rating with the Better Business Bureau and has received 5,414 complaints and 461 reviews in the past 3 years. It has been accredited with the BBB since 2021.
  • Sales & Marketing: Square Online Store does not hire independent sales agents and clearly discloses its pricing and terms of use.

Should You Trust Square Online Store?

Lawsuits, Reviews & Complaints

See Who Makes The Cut >>>

Complaint 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 provides a no-frills approach to e-commerce for many small businesses. The service is free and easy to set up and has a low, flat transaction fee that is similar to the average seller fees of all of its competitors, including eBay, Etsy, and Amazon. As an additional perk, Square Online Store is built so that its product listings can be easily linked to through Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. This means that social media-savvy business owners can utilize free social websites to promote sales or new items and provide direct links to their products for customers. For a merchant willing to invest the time and energy to cultivate an active social media presence, the leap to e-commerce can come at virtually no cost thanks to Square Online Store. Square merchants who are satisfied with the company’s service have very little to lose by opening a store in the Square Online Store.

Some Feature Shortcomings

Square Online Store does come with limitations, however. Each product listing is restricted to only one product image, and the layout of the online store is very basic in appearance. Additionally, a merchant’s Square Online Store site must be hosted within the Square directory and can’t be easily integrated into a preexisting domain that a merchant might own. Merchants who are seeking a high degree of customization or a specific domain name might find Square Online Store lacking.

Square Online Store Lawsuits and Fees

n 2018, Square settled a class-action lawsuit filed against its food delivery service “Caviar”. The company was alleged to have withheld money from delivery workers left by customers as gratuities from 2012 to 2015 and agreed to pay $2.2 million dollars under the settlement.

We have found evidence of multiple other lawsuits from the last few years. In 2019 Square was accused of mishandling the way it dealt with information concerning payments for medical procedures. The suit was dismissed with prejudice later that year.

In early 2020 Square Inc faced another class-action lawsuit accusing the company of sending unauthorized texts to users through its SquareUp loyalty program. This case is ongoing.

In another class-action suit, Square faces charges of holding large amounts of funds from merchants that it deemed high risk. Square has received numerous complaints relating to these charges over the years, and this case is ongoing.

A 2021 class-action suit has been brought against Square and other major credit card processing companies over what the complainants call price-fixing over the use of the interchange fee.

A potentially major suit was brought against Square CEO Jack Dorsey in 2021, in which a Twitter shareholder claims that Twitter gives “broad access” to user data to advertisers and that Square, Dorsey’s other company, has “benefitted wildly from this disregard for privacy.” The suit has wide-ranging implications for Square if it succeeds, as it seeks to remove Dorsey from Twitter and force both companies to undergo major reforms.

Square Online Store Customer Service Options

The other major drawback to the Square Online Store is the issue that plagues all of Square’s services: the lack of live customer support offered by the company. Square prefers to conduct its customer service almost exclusively through email and social media, although it does offer phone support to merchants who have active accounts (see: How to Contact Square). Hundreds of merchants have posted online about receiving responses from the company far too late or not at all, and the company has been very slow to adapt its customer support strategy to address this need. The possibility that a merchant might have issues with the Square Online Store and be unable to contact a customer support representative in a timely fashion makes it difficult to recommend Square Online Store and Square as an overall company.

Is the BBB Rating for Square Online Store Accurate?

Better Business Bureau Profile

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BBB 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.

How Expensive is Square Online Store?

Rates, Fees, and Contract Terms

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Cost 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 offers simple, straightforward pricing between its 4 different plans. The Free, Professional, and Performance Plans each assess a fee of 2.9% plus $0.30 for each transaction while the Premium Plan charges 2.6% plus $0.30.

Each plan is free of long-term contracts, and early termination fees. However, the Professional Plan charges a fee of $144 per year, the Performance Plan charges $302 per year, and the Premium Plan charges $864 per year. Somewhat deceptively, these annual fees are advertised as “$X/mo – billed annually” on the company’s website, which gives some impression that the fees are charged on a monthly rather than an annual basis. It also has a number of additional software modules that can be integrated with Square’s processing service at varying costs. In general, it is hard to find cheaper merchant account providers than Square’s online store.

Frozen Funds a Concern

Although Square’s pricing may be attractive to a number of business owners, the company has one major contractual drawback that appears to be responsible for many of its online complaints: Square’s easy signup is made possible by omitting a thorough underwriting process. This means that Square’s primary means of protecting itself against fraud is to place sudden fund-holds on large or suspicious transactions, often without providing any advance notice to merchants. This policy, which is the topic of hundreds of public complaints, is, unfortunately, part of the processing service that comes bundled with the Square Online Store.

Though Square remains a decent option for some, we always encourage merchants to check out our list of the providers of the best merchant accounts.

Does Square Online Store Use Deceptive Marketing?

Advertising & Sales Strategy

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Key Points

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.

Does Square Online Store Deserve Your Business?

Review Summary & Our 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.

5-Star Rated Square Online Store Competitors

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About The Author

Phillip Parker is a Payments Industry Analyst and creator of this blog, CardPaymentOptions.com. Phillip is passionate about researching merchant service providers and payment industry trends. He is often quoted as an expert source in national publications such as INC Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, Entrepreneur, and many others.

“I started this blog because I was disgusted by the business practices of the merchant services industry. I wanted to empower business owners by providing insight on how to avoid shady merchant account providers and costly credit card processing mistakes.” 

Phillip’s Processor Comparisons

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What Others Are Saying About Square Online Store

Customer & Employee Reviews

11 Responses

  1. Richard Dickey says:
    April 29, 2021 at 7:34 am

    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.

    Reply
  2. Terrie Kaufman says:
    November 30, 2019 at 8:02 pm

    I have used Square over the last few years after having an issue with PayPal. I love square and have not had one problem in all the time I have used it.

    Reply
  3. iido says:
    December 18, 2017 at 8:35 pm

    Stay away form these guys and their bullshit tactics..

    They lure you in with low transaction fees, free card swiper and “How to Set Up a Free Square Online Store in 8 Simple Steps” crap.

    For one (this is my experience based on the Account Setup in Canda) the free online store does not exist – they basically directed me to a page with a choice of three third party website builders, two paid and one free (that actually costs $79 wtf?) and the square site editor for their own free store was nowhere to be found.

    And most people may be thinking, oh – ok let me just deactivate the account since this is useless (they make it really easy to sign up and deactivate btw)

    but guess what, they now have access to your personal info and sensitive bank details that you are required to provide at the time of signing up – I am kicking myself for not reading up reviews on these bozos prior to signing up.

    Just pay the extra transaction fees and go with already established big players who not only provide great customer service, but also include merchant protection.

    Reply
  4. Diogo vieira says:
    November 28, 2017 at 12:01 pm

    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

    Reply
  5. Nik says:
    June 30, 2017 at 12:15 pm

    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.

    Reply
  6. Heather Pace says:
    March 6, 2017 at 3:18 pm

    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.

    Reply
  7. Richard Speer says:
    February 20, 2017 at 7:43 pm

    I have no business with square…leave me alone! stop sending me emails!

    Reply
  8. Reuben Zadeh says:
    August 31, 2016 at 10:08 am

    Square is stupid. Their website does not allow for you to customize the online payment method so a customer who is paying a bill has no way of being able to pay a custom amount.

    Reply
  9. Massimo says:
    August 6, 2016 at 10:03 am

    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!!

    Reply
  10. Samantha says:
    May 5, 2016 at 4:32 pm

    Im having issues getting my store to show up when I enter the addy.

    Reply
  11. Sabrina says:
    May 22, 2014 at 2:13 pm

    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.

    Reply

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