The 7 Best Square Alternatives for eCommerce Businesses in 2022

Square has quickly become one of the leaders in the payments space, but what if you are looking for the best Square alternatives for your business? Square has been growing from strength to strength and announced last year they were acquiring Afterpay in a $29 billion deal. However, some eCommerce businesses have run into issues with the payment platform.

The Problem With Square For eCommerce Business Owners

We first reported way back in May 2020 that a number of business owners were having issues with Square when without warning they would hold their funds without any chargeback issues or problems on their accounts. This led to legal issues for Square as some merchants resorted to filing lawsuits against the company for their “breaches of contract, and their fraudulent, grossly negligent, intentional, and unfair and deceptive actions, including, but not limited to, wrongfully withholding merchant payments due, owing, and rightfully belonging to Plaintiff.”

Due to these ongoing issues which for some are still continuing today with the Square platform for eCommerce business owners, we have compiled a list of alternatives for you to look into and consider for your business. If you were looking at Square we are assuming that you are requiring a POS device as well as online functionality which all of these alternatives will feature.

Best Square Payment Alternatives for eCommerce Businesses

PayPal Zettle

The original and some would say the best when it comes to eCommerce payment solutions. Since splitting with eBay back in 2015 PayPal has been building out its suite of products and offering for all online sellers, not just eBay sellers.

Earlier this year PayPal announced the launch of PayPal Zettle which introduced a POS solution to the PayPal suite of omnichannel payment solutions. PayPal Zettle comes with all of the usual PayPal benefits including:

• In Person Transaction Fee Percentage – 2.29%
• Per Transaction Charge – $0.09
• No Monthly Fee
• No Monthly Commitment
• Free POS App
• Card Reader Cost – $29 for 1st card reader ($79 per additional reader)

To get started with PayPal Zettle just click this link here.

Stripe

For a long time, Stripe did not have a facility for in-person payments however this has now changed thanks to their new POS terminal. On the side of online payments, Stripe and Square are very similar in terms of setup and fees.

Stripe is a very well-established company with a huge number of tools in their suite of products and services primarily built for eCommerce businesses. Priced competitively this should be on most people’s to-consider list if looking for an alternative to Square.

• In Person Transaction Fee Percentage – 2.9%
• Per Transaction Charge – $0.30
• No Setup Fee
• No Monthly Commitment
• Card Reader Cost – $59

You can find out more about Stripe and its fit for your business here.

Helcim

A name you may not be too familiar with but a definite contender in the payments solution space is Helcim. Whether dealing with invoicing, in-person or online payments Helcim has a solution for your business. Helcim could be particularly attractive if you do a lot of international transactions due to them using the Interchange Plus pricing which can save a lot on currency conversion fees.

Helcim also uses a pricing model which varies depending on transactional volume, so the more you sell the lower the per-transaction fee you will pay. They are ultra-transparent about their pricing, so you can find out what your fees would be here.

• In-Person Transaction Fee Percentage – Varies according to volume
• Per Transaction Charge – Varies according to volume
• No Monthly Fee
• No Monthly Commitment
• Free POS App
• Card Reader Cost – $109

To get started with Helcim just click this link here.

Payment Depot

Payment Depot boasts the claim of being the highest-rated credit card processor with a rating of 4.7 out of 5 on Trustpilot

Payment Depot just like Helcim works on the interchange pricing rate, but instead of charging a percentage on a transaction basis, they have opted for the monthly membership model. Similar to Helcim, they have a handy pricing table where you can work out what membership plan makes the most sense for your business.

• In Person Transaction Fee Percentage – N/A
• Per Transaction Charge – Varies but starts at $0.15
• Monthly Fee – Starts at $59/mo
• No Monthly Commitment
• Card Reader Cost – Starting from $99

To get started with Payment Depot just click this link here.

Clover

Clover not only offers their own POS devices for taking mobile payments but is also integrated with a number of eCommerce platforms like BigCommerce, Magento, Shopify, and more. With a well-established dashboard, a suite of tools, and big-name integrations Clover covers a lot of bases for bigger eCommerce businesses.

Clover runs their business relative to your own business, which means they tailor their solution to fit your needs. Because of this, it’s almost impossible to report on their pricing structure due to the many variables.

To find out more from Clover and see if they are the solution for you and your business click here.

Shopify

We couldn’t compile a list of POS services for eCommerce businesses without including what Shopify has on offer. The downside to Shopify is it does require you to be using the Shopify platform. If you are using another eCommerce software then this is not going to be relevant, but if you do, it is one you would be foolish to overlook.

There are two options for the Shopify POS platform which are either to use Shopify POS Lite which is included in all Shopify plans or Shopify POS Pro which starts at $89 a month.

The rates that you will pay are determined by the level of Shopify subscription that you have and for more information, you can check out this page here.

QuickBooks POS

Finally, we have the option from the accounting experts QuickBooks, who have their QuickBooks POS product for both instore and eCommerce businesses. For those businesses who are very focused on their accounts and are using the QuickBooks service, then their POS system could be a good option for your business.

The pricing setup is a little different as you start off by paying for a one-off license for the product and then have the option of joining a pay-as-you-go model or a pay monthly model which will determine the transaction fees you pay. Because of this, the QuickBooks POS is aimed slightly toward the larger more established businesses that will benefit from the full QuickBooks suite of tools. To find out more about their pricing you can check out this link here.

The Square Alternative Conclusion

As you can see there are plenty of Square alternatives now available to eCommerce businesses. We have purposely stayed away from ranking them or giving them a score as what might be the best solution for one business, could be the worst option for another.

The whole point of this article is to highlight to you a range of payment provider options that you may have been unaware of. Whilst Square has been a staple for many businesses it has also taken some questionable actions against eCommerce businesses.

As always we encourage you as the business owner to do what is right for your business.

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