by Ben Dwyer SQ Merchant Services (not to be confused with Square) is a merchant services company that offers credit card processing and other services for businesses. If you’re considering SQ Merchant Services, here’s what you need to know about their offerings, rates and fees, contract, reviews, and more.
- SQ Merchant Services
- Can I get equipment from SQ Merchant Services?
- Customer Service
- What does it cost?
- What about contracts and termination fees?
- Reviews
SQ Merchant Services
SQ Merchant Services offers a basic range of processing and business services. You can take credit and debit cards (in person, online, with mobile devices, or using internet-connected computers), as well as EBT and fleet cards. You’ll also be able to purchase breach insurance, and get cash advances against future credit card sales. SQ doesn’t push a gift card program, but if you want one, you’ll be able to set one up.
The company specializes in medical busiensses, contractors, and non-profits, but can serve many types of business.
SQ utilizes monthly discounting, meaning they will collect processing fees once per month rather than deducting them with every deposit to your account.
The company offers next-day funding at no extra charge as long as you batch transactions by 6pm Pacific time.
Credit Card Processing
SQ Merchant Services provides credit card processing for in-person transactions using traditional credit card terminals, online processing using the popular Authorize.net gateway, and mobile processing with card readers that attach to smartphones or tablets. With SQMS, you can take major credit cards, including Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express, as well as PayPal payments.
In addition to in-person and e-commerce forms of payment, SQ Merchant Services offers the Transaction Express system to let you take cards and process them through any internet-connected computer. Transaction Express is ideal for mail and phone order businesses, utilities, healthcare, and more. Real-time processing includes customized reporting to help you track and manage your transactions.
Breach Insurance
We’ve all seen the stories about credit card breaches at major retailers. Breaches can affect small businesses as well. SQ Merchant Services offers a Data Breach Security Program that provides up to $100,000 coverage for different types of data breaches, including terminal theft, credit card receipt theft, skimming, and more. The Data Breach Security Program helps cover costs associated with breach audits, card replacement costs, and industry fines.
Breach insurance is optional, and will cost you $6.95/month.
Read our article on data breach insurance to determine if it’s right for your business.
Cash Advances
Need money for business purposes like buying inventory, advertising, or expanding your location? SQ Merchant Services offers merchant cash advances. You get cash, and repay it through a percentage of your sales each day. There’s no set monthly fixed repayment.
SQ Merchant Services offers same-day approval through a simple application process. A minimum 500 FICO score is required, along with $2,500/month in credit card processing. Only a person with at least 50% ownership in the business can enter into a cash advance, and that person must have spent at least 9 months as the controlling owner. There is a minimum of $5,000 and a maximum of $450,000.
Can I get equipment from SQ Merchant Services?
Yup.
SQ Merchant Services is an authorized distributor of Verifone products, and also suggests FD terminals. Options vary by model, but SQ Merchant Services’ equipment is PCI compliant and features encryption technology for security.
For full POS systems, the company suggests Aloha, Radiant, and TouchSuite. If a mobile solution is more your speed, you can opt for a PayAnywhere mobile swiper.
Additionally, SQ may be able to support somet types of specialty equipment, such as Ruby systems for gas stations.
When considering what’s right for you, note that CardFellow prohibits leasing terminals for certified quotes placed in our marketplace, and suggest that you don’t lease equipment. Fortunately, SQ sells equipment and doesn’t push leasing.
If you already have equipment, SQ Merchant Services may be able to reprogram it for you, meaning you can keep using your existing machine.
The company also offers free ATMs for businesses that want to install an in-store machine for cash-preferring customers.
Customer Service
SQ Merchant Services offers technical customer service 24/7 and extended customer service hours from 7am – 9pm Monday through Friday, and 7am – 2pm on Saturday. Customer service is closed on Sundays and holidays. Note that the phone lines actually close at 6pm on weekdays and calls will go to voicemail, but the voicemail line is monitored hourly until the 9pm official customer support closing time. Emergency calls received through voicemail will be answered immediately upon receipt.
What does it cost?
While SQ tells CardFellow that they can offer both interchange plus and tiered pricing, SQ Merchant Services doesn’t publish any rate or fee information on their site. That’s common, as most processors set pricing individually for each business.
Not to worry! Find out exactly what SQ Merchant Services will cost for your business by signing in to your CardFellow account and requesting a quote. Don’t have a CardFellow account? No problem! Accounts are free (really!) and it only takes a few minutes. Head over to our sign up form to get started.
What about contracts and termination fees?
While SQ doesn’t publish information about cancellation fees, the company confirmed to CardFellow that contracts include a $500 early termination fee. In some cases, the company may be able to offer month-to-month agreements instead of contracts with termination fees.
Reviews
It can take a little extra work to find information and reviews for SQ Merchant Services online, in part because of the similarity of the beginning of their name to Square and search enginers’ tendency to auto-correct SQ to Square.
However, the company is accredited with the Better Business Bureau and currently has an A+ rating. SQ’s BBB profile shows dozens of positive customer reviews, resulting in a 5-star rating. Customer praise the ease of switching, helpful apps, knowledgeable staff, and savings.
SQ won the 2018 Better Business Bureau Torch Award for Ethics, as noted in this video of the presentation, provided to CardFellow by SQ.
What CardFellow Thinks
As of 2018, we have not reviewed any statements for SQ Merchant Services. CardFellow doesn’t rate processors or offer unsubstantiated information and so cannot make a recommendation for or against SQ Merchant Services at this time.
As noted in the profile itself, SQ Merchant Services offers services that CardFellow actively prohibits (such as leasing) and services that we think are usually not in a business’s best interest (like breach insurance.) However, breach insurance and leasing are options with SQ Merchant Services, not requirements, so it may be possible to get a good solution from SQ.
