Should you choose PAYPAL HERE or SQUARE?
Overview:
Square has been a giant in the mobile payment processing since its inception in 2009. Claiming an estimated 3 million merchants, Square has made it possible for anyone to accept credit card payments and grow their business. And at the end of 2015, Square finally went public with an IPO that generated a hefty amount of buzz.
PayPal is a behemoth in online commerce. In 2012, it ventured into mobile payments with the PayPal Here app. PayPal claims more than 170 million active accounts, though obviously not all of them are PayPal Here users. And 2015 was a big year of changes for PayPal, too; namely, it severed ties with its longtime parent company, eBay.
Both Square and PayPal Here have a hefty share of the mobile payment market and instant recognizability for consumers, and they have many similar offerings. We’ve reviewed both services, and given them each a 4-star review. But let’s look more closely and see how they stack up against each other and which one might be the better option for you.
Products and Services:
Winner: Square
Square and PayPal Here are both mobile payment services, requiring just a cell phone or tablet to accept credit cards. They’re great for merchants at conventions, street vendors, repair businesses, professional services, restaurants and retail boutiques… Basically anywhere that you may not have an actual register, or don’t need a large, complicated POS system, either service will give you what you need.
When you look at both services as a whole — not just their mobile support — Square is the clear winner. Square’s app is nearly a full-fledged POS, and it offers several additional services free of charge — inventory management, for example. There are just two shortcomings: Integrating Square into an eCommerce store may be difficult, as it currently supports only two shopping cart products and its own marketplace. In addition, there’s no way to integrate Square’s payment processing into other POS software, a feature PayPal does offer. With PayPal you do get the ability to integrate with a variety of shopping carts, as well as inventory management.
But all of that is only if you’re looking for a more comprehensive setup. When you look at just the mobile service, Square does has one very clear advantage — its Offline Mode.
First, let’s take a look at the basic capabilities of each:
| Features | PayPal Here | Square |
| Free App | Yes | Yes |
| Free Card Reader* | Yes | Yes |
| Authorize Multiple Users | Yes | Yes |
| Compatible with Receipt Printers | Yes | Yes |
| Offline Mode | No | Yes |
| Accept Cards via Photo Capture | Yes | No |
| Manual Entry for Payments | Yes | Yes |
| Invoicing Supported | Yes | Yes |
*The basic mag stripe reader is free for both. If you are worried about EMV support (in other words, being able to accept chip cards), you’ll need to pay to upgrade to another reader. We’ll come back to this.
Square’s Offline Mode is interesting, and frankly I wonder why no one else has introduced this capability yet. You can use the credit card reader to swipe a card even when you don’t have Internet signal. As long as you connect to the Internet within 72 hours, the payment will go through automatically.
The catch, obviously, is that you’re responsible for “for any expired, declined, or disputed payments accepted while offline” per Square’s website. And you can’t manually enter cards, either — if the swiper doesn’t work, you can’t take the payment.
It’s a risk you take on yourself, but if you’re selling in a location where cell signal is spotty or there’s no Internet (as I have done on occasion), this could be a crucial feature — and maybe the deciding factor.
Compatible Hardware:
Winner: Square
For a mobile setup, really, all you need is a compatible smartphone or tablet and a credit card reader. You can send your customers digital receipts from either PayPal Here or Square. But if you want a full-fledged register, you can have that, too — that means receipt printer, cash drawer, the whole shebang.
Now that the EMV liability shift has occurred, EMV-compliant hardware is important. Here’s one area where Square outshines PayPal Here: Square’s EMV readers are far less expensive: the basic model runs for $30; the model with NFC capabilities as well runs for $49.
By comparison, PayPal offers a single EMV reader with NFC built in…for $150. You can get a $100 rebate if you process $3,000 in 3 months, but it’s still quite telling that Square’s reader at full price is the same as PayPal’s reader if you qualify for the rebate. For a new merchant, this could easily be a dealbreaker.
Both PayPal Here and Square require either an Android or iOS device (a smartphone or tablet; for Square, some features will only work with an iPad). PayPal Here also supports Windows devices using the mag stripe reader only — not the NFC/EMV reader.
Fees and Rates:
Winner: Tie
While the cost of hardware is notably different, Square and PayPal Here do offer similar prices for credit card processing. Neither service charges any regular fees beyond those incurred per transaction, which is always good to see.
| Price | PayPal Here | Square |
| Standard Swipe | 2.7% | 2.75% |
| Manual Key-In | 3.5% + $0.15 | 3.5% + $0.15 |
| International Cards | Add 1% to fees | Not Stated |
| Invoicing | 2.9% + $0.30 | 2.75% |
The main advantage to PayPal is how quickly your money is available: Any mobile payments you accept are available almost instantly in your PayPal account. That means if you have the PayPal debit card, you can spend your money right away.
Square sends its payments to your bank account within 1-2 business days, depending on when the payment was processed. Payments taken before 5 p.m. Pacific time are available the next business day; payments made after 5 p.m. Pacific time are available the second business day.
However, if you don’t have the PayPal debit card, or you prefer to route all your funds to your bank account, Square has the advantage. An ACH transfer from PayPal to your bank will take 3-4 days, which could be an issue for some merchants.
Square doesn’t assess any chargeback fees, which is nice. PayPal does — $20 per chargeback. However, to PayPal’s credit, it’s actually lowered that fee from $25, and started disclosing it (something that PayPal previously hadn’t done very well).
If your business is growing, PayPal Here offers special pricing for merchants whose volume exceeds $3,000 in transactions per month. Nonprofits also get a discounted rate with PayPal — 2.2%. Square does offer volume discounts, but they’re not well advertised and certainly not accessible to merchants just starting out.
Previously, both Square and PayPal Here had limits on the amount of keyed in transactions you could process before triggering a hold — $2,500 for PayPal Here, and $2,000 for Square. PayPal’s amended the wording in its contract to be a little more nebulous, and Square seems to have eliminated that information as well — but both companies have a reputation for holding funds if they suspect anything out of the ordinary.
Contract Length and Early Termination Fee:
Winner: Tie
One of the advantages to both Square and PayPal Here is that there’s no contract, no monthly fees, no termination fees. If you don’t like the service, just stop using it and find another one.
Sales and Advertising Transparency:
Winner: Tie
In general, both Square and PayPal Here deliver what they offer: an effective mobile payment solution with up-front pricing and no hidden fees.
That said, some of the policies for both services could be spelled out more clearly, a topic we touched on in our reviews of Square and PayPal Here. The holds are a point of contention for merchants, who understandably want their money as soon as possible.
Customer Service and Technical Support:
Winner: PayPal Here
Square’s customer support has earned a bad rap, but it’s taken steps to improve — namely actually adding customer support via phone — which is good. It still doesn’t quite match PayPal’s, but the latter certainly isn’t without its flaws either, particularly where phone service is concerned.
Square support options include:
- Help Center: Very thorough and detailed, covering just about any topic you might need. If you’re having trouble setting up or using your Square account, start here and all your questions should be answered.
- Social Media: Square’s support Twitter feed (@SqSupport) is active (though not as active as PayPal’s), and its YouTube channel is full of instructional videos. Square even allows you to post directly to its Facebook page, something it previously hadn’t allowed.
- Contact Us Form: A mainstay of help desks everywhere.
- Phone Support: The biggest flaw in Square’s phone support is that it’s only available if you have a code, which some people have reported having trouble getting. If your account is terminated, you lose all access to phone support.
PayPal Here support goes through the main PayPal system. Again, you’ve got several ways to seek your answer:
- PayPal Hub Home: Start here to get all your questions answered. The help center is organized by topic, with FAQs you may have.
- PayPal Community Forum: Get answers from other PayPal users.
- Social Media: Facebook and Twitter. Specifically, tweet @AskPayPal Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. central time, and they’ll go find you an answer. For a frame of reference: PayPal’s general Twitter account (@PayPal) has just shy of 8,500 tweets at the time of writing. AskPayPal has about 144,000.You can also post directly to Facebook’s page.
- Phone and Email: The online consensus about PayPal’s phone support seems to be that the service is inconsistent at best. Fortunately, most of the answers you need are available through the help desk, community forum, or social media.
Negative Reviews and Complaints:
Winner: PayPal
Complaints are never a good thing, but they happen. Sorting through the mess of complaints for Square and PayPal Here can be daunting. Normally we’d consult the BBB, but all complaints about PayPal Here are routed through PayPal’s main page (which has some 5,000+ complaints), which makes it a little bit difficult. Sites like RipOffReport are also full of people who have been scammed by merchants on Square or PayPal and want the companies to do something about it. (They won’t.)
That means it’s difficult to draw direct, apples-to-apples comparisons about complaint volume (not to mention the unknown size of each service’s user base.) But we can use these comments other ones around the web to get a picture of where the problems and pain points lie.
The biggest issue with both is simply that some merchants have trouble accessing their money. PayPal is, as we’ve said before, trigger-happy where it suspects fraud. But Square seems to have even bigger issues with withholding funds from merchants or terminating accounts with little to no justification. Simply put, that’s a side effect of both companies’ “Come as you are” approaches to business. It’s unfortunate, but the cost of accessibility is reliability.
Many of Square’s jilted users are understandably frustrated at the loss of phone support when your account is terminated. If you sift through the BBB complaints, you’ll learn that Square’s compliance department — which is the department that decides when to cut a merchant loose — deals only in email for the sake of accountability and record-keeping.
If you do encounter the dreaded hold or account termination, you can expect to get your money in no less than 90 days. While that wait can be a nightmare, it’s also industry standard. Both PayPal Here and Square will sometimes keep funds in a reserve and request additional verification for your business. That might be an invoice or proof of authorization of the payment, as well as bank statements and other records.
If you have high-risk transactions, you probably want to think twice about using either of these services. That includes selling auctions and antiques, and even some branches of professional services. Sudden high-value transactions will also cause both companies to get a little bit skittish.
Find out more about high-risk merchants in our article here.
Positive Reviews and Testimonials:
Winner: PayPal
You’re going to find some pretty solid supporters on both sides of the Square vs. PayPal Here debate. Both apps are well designed and easy to use, with good reviews for the most part. They both make mobile payments available to people who might otherwise not be able to manage them.
What freaks a lot of people out is the large number of complaints from people who seem to have done nothing wrong. But at the same time, there are plenty of people who use both Square and PayPal Here with no problem. They just tend to be a bit less vocal. We have some satisfied customers for both PayPal Here and Square who have posted on our reviews, and there’s good news scattered elsewhere, too.
PayPal has some video testimonials on its YouTube channel. Square has even more.
The sheer number of disgruntled customers can seem scary, but you have to bear in mind that’s actually the minority of users. If either company were losing more customers than it gained, it wouldn’t stay afloat very long.
Final Verdict:
Winner: Tie
Both Square and PayPal Here are 4-star services in our book. They’re not without their flaws — primarily the holds and freezes.that merchants encounter, but they both offer solid value for merchants who need mobile processing. We’re comfortable calling this one a draw. You should go with the mobile processor that has the features you need most.
PayPal Here is nice in that you get access to your money right away, and overall, it beats Square in terms of reliability…most of the time. If PayPal Here’s feature set is right for you, go for it.
Square’s Offline Mode is a serious asset to merchants who sell on the go and may not have reliable Internet access. The difference in prices for their EMV-compliant hardware could be the deciding factor: PayPal’s solution is far more expensive — a full $100 more, and not all merchants will even need NFC support. While you will possibly sacrifice some stability, it’s hard to deny the convenience and flexibility Square offers.
Selecting the Perfect WordPress Theme – 9 Things You Should Consider
Most beginners feel overwhelmed when it comes to selecting a theme for their WordPress site. There are thousands of free and paid options. Each theme looks better than the other. How do you choose the best theme for WordPress? In this article, we will share the 9 things you should consider, so you can choose the best WordPress theme for your site.
Why You Should be Careful When Choosing a WordPress Theme?
WordPress is used to create all kind of websites. That’s why each theme caters to a different market.
Your WordPress theme should complement the content of your website. For example, if you are creating a blog on politics or social issues, then you would want a theme that improves readability.
Many WordPress themes come with tons of customization options. If not coded properly, these options can make it difficult for you to change themes or use other WordPress plugins. You will be locked into that theme or will have to pay a developer to help you switch.
On the other hand, some WordPress themes that look really great can actually make your website incredibly slow. No one likes slow websites, particularly Google, which prefers to rank faster websites higher.
Your theme is the face of your WordPress site and plays an important role in how users as well as search engines perceive it.
You’ve probably heard the saying, ‘All that glitters is not gold’.
Having said that, let’s take a look at the steps you can take to make sure that you select the best theme for your WordPress site.
1. Strive for Simplicity
Many WordPress themes come with lots of colors, complex layouts, flashy animations, etc. Sometimes you may need those things, but in most cases you don’t really need all that.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
~ Leonardo da Vinci
Look for a theme that has a design layout that helps you support your goal. It needs to look good but without compromising on usability and simplicity.
Make sure that the theme’s presentation style is not overly complicated. The purpose of web design is to help users find information they need and to help site owners achieve their goals at the same time.
If a theme looks great but does not help you get new business or subscribers, then it is not a good theme. It is also not a good theme when your users can’t really find their way around your website.
Take a look at these 37 simple WordPress themes for some inspiration.
2. Responsive is Not Optional Anymore
Responsive themes adjust their layout across different screen sizes and devices.
A significant number of web traffic is generated from mobile and other handheld devices. Depending on your website’s topics, this number could go even higher than 50% of your traffic.
Google shows mobile friendly websites on top in their mobile search results. Regardless of your site’s topics and demographics, all websites need to be responsive and fully mobile ready.
Most WordPress themes are already responsive by default. But there are still sellers who are selling fixed width layouts that are not mobile friendly at all. Make sure that the theme you are choosing for your website is mobile friendly.
Testing a Theme for Mobile Readiness
The easiest way to test whether a theme is responsive or not is by resizing your browser screen. As you resize your browser screen, you will notice that the theme’s layout will adjust itself to the screen width.
For more thorough testing you can copy the URL of theme’s demo page and paste it in Google’s Mobile Friendly Test page.
Please note that this test will show some warnings, regardless of how good a theme is. Lookout for any red flags like text too small, content wider than screen, etc.
3. Browser Compatibility
Your users will be using different browsers. Your theme may look perfect on the browser you use, but there might be something broken in other browsers.
This is where browser compatibility comes in. Most WordPress theme developers test their themes rigorously by using sophisticated browser compatibility testing tools.
They may clearly mention this on their website. But if they don’t, then you can always run some basic tests to check the theme on different browsers like Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, etc.
Don’t forget to test on different browsers on mobile as well.
4. Supported Plugins
The real power of WordPress comes with WordPress plugins. These plugins make it possible for you to do anything with your WordPress site.
While there are plenty of WordPress plugins, some are must-have WordPress plugins for every websites. Like Gravity Forms, Yoast SEO, W3 Total Cache, etc.
Make sure that your WordPress theme supports all popular plugins. If you are unsure, ask theme developer about it.
5. Translation + Multilingual Ready
A large number of WordPress sites are not in the English language. You may be creating a website in a language other than English. Maybe you have plans to create a multilingual WordPress site in the future.
Make sure that your WordPress theme is translation ready and supports multilingual WordPress plugins.
6. Page Builders
Page builders are WordPress plugins that allow you to create page layouts using drag and drop user interface.
Many premium WordPress themes come with page builders pre-installed. Some of these page builders are used by that theme developer only.
Using such a page builder to create landing pages can produce a lot of unwanted code. If you ever switch the theme, then those pages will require a lot of cleaning up.
You should choose themes that are shipping with one of the most used page builder plugins. You can also purchase these page-builders separately to use with other themes as well.
7. Support Options for When You Need Help
One downside of using a free WordPress theme is that there is no guaranteed support. While some developers provide excellent support for their free themes, many free themes have no support option.
If you mess up your WordPress theme, then you will have to figure it out on your own. You can also end up paying a third-party developer to solve the tiniest problems.
Make sure that you select a WordPress theme that has good documentation and support option. Most premium WordPress themes offer detailed documentation with 1 year of email based support.
8. SEO Friendliness
Your WordPress theme plays a crucial role in your site’s SEO friendliness. A good looking theme can still generate poorly coded HTML, this could affect your site’s performance on search engines.
It could be difficult for beginners to analyze a theme’s source code on their own. This is why many premium WordPress theme developers will let you know that their pages are optimized for SEO.
You can also take a look to see if the page generates proper HTML5 by checking it with W3C Markup Validation service. However, please note that the W3C tool will generate many warnings which are nothing to be worried about.
9. Ratings and Reviews
Another solid indicator of a WordPress theme’s quality is ratings and reviews provided by their users. If the theme is sold on a third-party marketplace, then you will see customer reviews.
For free WordPress themes, you will find the ratings section just below the download button. It will show the number of reviews and stars given by users. If you click on 5 stars, then it will show you all the reviews that gave the theme 5 stars.
Almost all WordPress themes can get a few bad reviews. but if the number of bad reviews is unusually high, then you should read them carefully.
Our Recommendations
There are plenty of free WordPress themes available with new ones being released on a daily basis. That’s why we regularly publish the list of our favorite free themes in our showcase section.
Some of the popular items in our theme showcase are:
- 41 Best Free WordPress Photography Themes (Expert Pick)
- 21 Best Free WordPress Business Themes
- 37 Simple WordPress Themes You Should Try
- 43 Beautiful Free WordPress Blog Themes
However, as we have mentioned above that support is one of the most important factor to consider when selecting a theme. Free WordPress themes do not come with guaranteed support and updates.
Most premium WordPress themes offer 1 year of support and updates. Here are some of the theme shops that we highly recommend.
- ThemeLab (WordPress themes by our team)
- Themify – 20% off coupon “wpbeginner”
- Elegant Themes
- StudioPress
- iThemes
- ThemeIsle – 20% off coupon “wpbeginner20”
How to Hire a Virtual Assistant
There are many benefits of using a “virtual” assistant versus bringing an assistant into your home office. Not all VAs are created equal and you don’t want to be paying someone to learn on the job. Some are new to the assistant industry and have a lot to learn about helping a self-employed small business owner. Some have excellent technical skills while others labor with using a computer or the internet. Some have great customer service skills while others struggle to keep in touch with you about the status of your projects. Some work part-time and are only available for limited hours per week. We’ll talk further about selecting a VA below, but be aware that it’s up to you to interview the VA and determine if his skills match your needs. Some VAs are taught that they should be a “partner” with you in your business. On the surface, this sounds great. However, I have heard too many horror stories about VAs who did things without asking permission, from modifying website text to changing established class titles. Make sure you are clear about the boundaries of what your VA can do without your permission. I prefer that my VA takes the extra time to ask my permission, rather than taking it upon herself to do something that might negatively impact my business. Many self-employed people are not looking for someone to “take over” running their company; instead they want a professional who can assist them with specific tasks and projects. It’s a rare entrepreneur who doesn’t feel overwhelmed wearing all the hats and doing all the tasks alone. But when is the right time to hire a VA? First, look at your task list and determine which tasks should be delegated. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking, “I can do this so much faster and better, I won’t delegate this task.” The question isn’t whether you can do a task; the question is whether you should be the one to do the task. Think how you will use all the time you free up from administrative tasks to create more income for your business. Second, look at your budget. How much can you afford to spend? Remember to add into your budget calculations the fact that you’ll be able to generate more income, and design more products and services, with the time that is freed up by hiring a VA. Virtual assistants have a wide range of fee structures. Some charge by the hour, some work on a monthly retainer basis (a certain number of guaranteed hours per month). Some charge a sliding scale: a lower hourly rate for common administrative work and a higher hourly rate for high-end skills, like website maintenance or database management. In my research, I’ve found the range to be from $20 – $80 per hour, depending on experience and skill. This is one field where you get what you pay for, so if you need a highly skilled VA, pay the money, and get the best. I can’t emphasize this strongly enough. A virtual assistant who prices herself too cheaply may be a sign of lower skill set, lack of self worth, or just plain poor business strategy. When a business owner prices her services too low, she automatically sets herself up for cash flow problems, the leading cause of businesses failing in the USA. You want to make sure your VA is around for a long time to serve you. This is a person who will save you time so that you can spend that time making more income for yourself. Also consider that you might hire multiple VAs with specific skill sets. For example, hire one who focuses on your bookkeeping and another who focuses on implementing your marketing campaigns. While you can use on online referral or directory to find a VA, I would recommend you first ask for referrals from other small business owners. Hiring a VA is a very personal decision and it’s good to have someone to talk with, who can tell you about a particular VA’s strengths and weaknesses before you call to interview the VA. In addition to personal referrals, there are several online referral services to help you find a Virtual Assistant: Finding the right virtual assistant for you is an important task; give it the time and attention it deserves. Whether you ultimately choose to hire one VA to do all your tasks, or multiple VAs with special skill sets, make sure you get it in writing: how much you’ll pay, how many hours a week or month the VA will work, how often you’ll be invoiced, confidentiality agreement, etc. Then start delegating those tasks! – See more at: http://www.passionforbusiness.com/articles/how-to-choose-a-virtual-assistant.htm#sthash.ToMmj98Z.dpuf
Some of the Drawbacks of Hiring a VA
When Is It Time To Hire A VA?
What Should You Consider When Hiring A VA?
How Much Should You Pay For A VA?
How to Find a VA
Conclusion
Building your new website: Questionnaire
To build you a website, efficiently and economically, the more questions answered up front the better! We can ensure your site will go up quickly and be the “end-all” you want by knowing your business and wishes up front.
Please complete the attached questionnaire and we’ll get started. Don’t panic, it seems daunting but run through it quickly, answering what you can. We will explain any question or give you a definition of any item you need.