Square’s Double Fee Hike For Businesses

Square hasn’t been shy about its efforts to provide new services for businesses in the back office, from payroll to financing. But with the company’s recent public debut, scrutiny has hit a new level for Square, and it can do little to keep anything quiet.

Case in point: Recent Re/code reports noted that Square has not once, but twice hiked fees for businesses using Square Cash, which helps businesses get paid via the corporate version of Square’s P2P money transfer service.

[bctt tweet=”Square has not once, but twice hiked fees for businesses using Square Cash.”]

According to reports, Square hiked the payment processing fee to 2.75 percent earlier this month after raising it over the summer to 1.9 percent. Square Cash for Business was once a free service and began as a way for small businesses and independent contractors to get paid through a method other than cash or check.

Reports note that the 2.75 percent fee is the same charged to businesses using the company’s main payment processing service, its card reader. However, the reports also note that Square has not made clear how it will attract new business users of the service that once was offered to consumers without processing charges (and initially offered to businesses with a 1.5 percent fee).

In addition to introducing Square Cash for Business, Square has launched other ways to help SMEs manage working capital, most notably through Square Capital, its small business lending service. Earlier this year Square pointed to this unit as its fastest-growing, though analysts have also highlighted Square Payroll as a likely success story for the company. Only days ago the company expanded Square Payroll outside of California for the first time.