Square’s Game-Changer: Mobile Credit Card Processing With One Monthly Fee

There’s an interesting race happening right now in the mobile payments space — it seems like every week brings news of another company or collection of companies trying to squeeze in on the space.

Much of the focus, though, is on the consumer side. Meanwhile, over on the merchant side of things, Square changed the game today with its announcement of a flat monthly fee payment plan for small business owners.

Square has introduced a $275 monthly plan that doesn’t include a percentage-based processing fee for each transaction. Square’s original plan, with no monthly fee and a 2.75 percent transaction fee, also remains in effect.

There are two requirements to qualify for the new plan:

• It’s available only to businesses that process up to $250,000 in payments per year.
• There’s a $400 maximum for any single transaction.

Transactions that go beyond those limits will be charged at Square’s original 2.75 percent fee.

Both of Square’s plans are less than the typical 3-4 percent swipe fees that most businesses pay to accept credit card payments. The new monthly plan will likely appeal to merchants that want the comfort of knowing exactly what they’ll pay each month for payment processing.

Earlier this year, eBay launched PayPal Here, a mobile credit-card reader that slightly undercut Square with a 2.7 percent swipe fee for merchants.

There’s more discussion on Techmeme.