That’s what Indiana merchants are saying about Square Inc., which offers a service to bypass expensive credit card transaction fees by basically using an iPad, iPhone or Android device as a cash register.
There are other firms like it, but San Francisco-based Square has been around since 2009 and is gaining popularity among small businesses in northeast Indiana.
“It’s great,” said Ann Barile, owner of Zia’s Italian Café and Tea House, located inside the Lamplight Inn senior facility, 300 E. Washington Blvd. “I’m a small-business person and don’t have a lot of money. When I found out about Square, I was kind of skeptical at first.”
The businesswoman began using the gadget last summer and expects to save $700 a year. Barile simply plugs the “Square” into her iPhone. The adapter device has a prong that connects to a headphone jack. Customers can swipe a credit card through the Square’s slit and use their finger to sign for purchases on the iPhone’s touch screen. Receipts are emailed or text-messaged to patrons.
Instead of paying for equipment and associated fees, Barile is only assessed a flat 2.75 percent charge per swipe. As for other charges, there is no activation, annual, monthly or refund fees that come with using some credit cards.
On average, bank card charges are between 2 percent and 3 percent per swipe. That might not sound like much in comparison to Square’s fees. However, Craig Shearman, vice president of governmental affairs for the National Retail Federation, said major retailers fetch lower rates because they have more customers than Mom-and-Pop operations.
“The higher the volume of purchases, the lower the rate that merchants have to pay,” he said. “So, what you have is smaller retailers being among the highest to pay.”
This is why Barile turned to Square.
“They sent me the Square for free, and any time I need a new one they ship it for free,” Barile said, adding that the company recoups its cost through the swipe fees. “It’s really convenient, and the customers think it’s neat and new.”
More than 600 companies in Fort Wayne use Square, company officials said.
Swipe fees cost merchants and their customers nearly $50 billion annually – triple the $16 billion assessed in 2001, according to the retail federation. The charges are hidden from consumers because card company practices keep the fees from showing up on receipts. Credit card firms and banks also don’t reveal the charges on cardholders’ monthly statements.
The fees cost the average U.S. household nearly $430 a year because retailers typically pass the cost on to consumers.
“That’s what’s been at the center of the fight for the past several years,” Shearman said.
That’s not to say that the industry has taken the issue sitting down. Retailers and proponents were behind a congressional push to address swipe fees that began several years ago.
At least nine hearings on credit and debit swipe fees have been held since 2006, and in 2008 two bills were introduced.
In June , the Federal Reserve said banks can charge retailers no more than 21 cents each time they swipe a debit card. Banks previously had no limit and charged an average of 44 cents per swipe.
Now that the debit card reform is in place, retailers plan to press for legislation that will tackle credit card swipe fees as well.
Until then, those costs are passed on to the consumer.
“You don’t ever want to do that, so that’s why Square is so great,” Barile said.
Such praise pleases Square officials. Founded by Twitter creator Jack Dorsey, Square Inc. processes $2 billion in payments annually. Spokeswoman Lindsay Wiese said the company has found a niche.
“The Square app and hardware are free,” Wiese said.
Square also doesn’t require a “merchant account,” which new business owners often don’t qualify for based on their revenue, she said. Many find the application process complicated and expensive anyway, Wiese added.
Officials at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Minneapolis are intrigued by Square. The non-profit is a small business advocate. They say a level playing field needs to exist between the Macy’s and Mom-and-Pops of the world.
“The bigger retailers can afford (credit card fees), but smaller businesses can’t,” said Stacy Mitchell, a senior researcher for the institute. “It really has become one of the biggest costs for small businesses, and they don’t have a choice about it. They’re at the mercy of the big banks and Visa and Mastercard.”
So, for merchants who haven’t discovered Square or operations like it, “it’s not a competitive market,” Mitchell said. “We need some regulators to step in and put some rules in place because these small companies out there are getting gouged.”
Help could be on the way. The U.S. Government Accountability Office is aware of the situation. Alicia Puente Cackley is director of financial markets and community investment at the agency. She said credit card transaction fees “are an understandable concern.”
Cackley said not much has changed since her office studied the issue in late 2009. It found “that fees merchants pay to accept credit cards have risen over time.”
To offset the transaction charges, small merchants do indeed pass the costs to customers, Cackley said.
That was one of reasons Mabel on the Move went with Square. The Indianapolis business is owned by Kate McKibben, who said her mobile food truck specializes in organic and health food.
“The Square was cost effective for me because nobody carries cash like they used to,” said McKibben, who worked private events during the Super Bowl. “I just use my iPad and it becomes my cash register. People love the technology.”
Where does that leave credit card companies like Visa? Well, actually, it is an investor and, according to a Visa spokeswoman, Square’s success “hasn’t taken anything away” in terms of lost revenue. That’s because now Visa is able to reach smaller merchants who previously wouldn’t have qualified to accept credit cards.
Barile is just glad her expenses are down.
“It’s nice,” she said. “The amounts they charge might not seem like a lot, but for a small business it adds up.”
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