Square Online Review

Formerly known as Square Market, Square Online Store is an e-commercemerchant 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 Products and Services

Payment Gateway

Similar to Etsy or eBay, Square Online Store enables business owners to create a basic website for their store, including pictures, pricing, and product information. Customers can browse the site, order products using an online shopping cart, and securely complete their payments at checkout. This platform essentially serves as Square’s e-commerce solution, featuring payment gateways and virtual terminals.

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.

PaymentPop Rating for Square Online

Negative Feedback

There are no negative reviews published about SquareOnline on the PaymentPop website.

Square Online Store BBB Rating

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.

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:

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.

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

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.

Choice of 4 Plans

SquareOnline 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 thetop merchant account providers.

Transparent Pricing

SquareOnline 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 ofbest 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.

Square Online Store provides merchants with a no-frills, easy-to-use online store for a very low price. Its simplicity and affordability make it an attractive option for those looking to expand their online presence without incurring significant costs. The marketplace’s processing fee is highly competitive for the service provided, making it an economical choice for small to medium-sized businesses. Additionally, Square Online Store shows great potential from a social-media marketing perspective, offering tools that can help merchants effectively promote their products on various platforms. This potential can be particularly beneficial for businesses aiming to increase their online visibility and engage with a broader audience.

However, the primary drawbacks to the Square Online Store are its limited customization options and the fact that Square provides virtually zero customer service. The lack of customization can be a significant limitation for merchants seeking to create a unique and personalized online shopping experience for their customers. The minimal customer service support can be a challenge, especially for those who may need assistance with technical issues or troubleshooting. Therefore, while Square Online Store is recommended as an additional sales channel for merchants who already use Square in their physical stores or have a thriving retail presence, those relying on it as their sole e-commerce solution may find it lacking. For these merchants, a more robust platform with better customer support and greater customization capabilities may be necessary to meet their e-commerce needs effectively.