So, a couple of years ago, when I first got interested in accepting payments, I did this huge post on comparisons of payment options. I looked at banks and the two main payment systems you could use via smartphone. Times have changed, the fees structures in some instances and there are new players in the marketplace. But even with these changes, it appears most authors are still looking for the most cost effective way to accept payments at signings.
As a result, I thought I should update what I’d written.
The latest entry to the marketplace for me is “Charge”—the Stripe payment alternative— hence its inclusion into my data. Device Start Up Costs
Paypal Here:-$99 for the Paypal Here Device. The app costs nothing to set up.
Charge:- The reader is $129 and the app is free to download.
Square:- The readers are the small push in unit for the phone $ 19.00 or the larger Tap & Go $59. The app costs nothing.
Usage Fees:
Paypal Payments:
Stripe/Charge Payments:
Note: There is an “Enterprise” pricing module. You have to request it direct from them but I would think it would be dependant on your throughput.
Okay and in the interests of keeping it easy, let’s work out the cost of a transaction on a $15 book:
Paypal: $0.69 – so that’s 2.6% +.30 per $15 transaction.
Charge: $0.5625 – so it’s 17.5% + 0.30 per $15 transaction
Square: $0.33 – so that’s a flat 2.2% when done online OR
$0.285 – a flat rate of 1.9% when tapped, inserted or swiped.
As you can see, the Square continues to come out ahead cost and fee wise. In terms of the accessing of financial information, I can comment on Paypal, finding it clunky and unweidly when requesting reports.
Square I’ve found simple, the generation of reports arriving in a moment.
I can’t comment on Stripe (although I do have an account and accept the odd payment via this I don’t encourage payments this way.)
Important to note:
As these are governed by financial transaction guidelines in individual countries, the multitudinous readers only work in the country they are bought in. So, you can’t buy a Paypal Here in Australia and use it in the USA or the Square bought in the USA in say New Zealand.
You can generally get around these issues by using the online interface, just be aware of the changes in fee structures that this creates.
Also these figures are direct from the sites listed (Paypal, Stripe & Square) as at 1pm 31 July 2019. As with all things financial, you need to do your own research, and this should merely be a part of your due diligence.