thread Re: Why am I being charged 4% and we are using a terminal box and using "Square Free" in Payments Troubleshooting

Why am I being charged 4% and we are using a terminal box and using "Square Free"

MarkB3 — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 22:04:48 GMT

Why am I being charged 4% and we are using a terminal box and using "Square Free" We had just under $10,000.00 in the last year.

Re: Why am I being charged 4% and we are using a terminal box and using "Square Free"

TheRealChipA — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 22:19:00 GMT

Hello @MarkB3. So, the Square monthly fee tiers do not include free card processing. All Square sellers pay whatever our processing rate is for every card transaction that is processed. In the free tier, that just means that you don't pay any other monthly fees, because you are only using the basic Square services included in that tier.

As for why your fees averaged 4%, since you said you only did $10k in sales last year, you probably had mostly small transactions. Therefore the swipe fees added up more quickly than they would have if your average transaction size was larger. Without more information, though, I can't be any more specific.

Where did you find that you paid 4% in fees?

Re: Why am I being charged 4% and we are using a terminal box and using "Square Free"

MarkB3 — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 23:57:55 GMT

I understand none of it is free.... 2 years ago we were using the little square that you plug into your phone and we weren't paying 4%. I looked at your fee tier system and it wouldn't appear that I should be paying 4%. We spent $300 on a terminal that doesn't always connect and now we're paying 4%. Maybe I should be looking at other payment options.

Thanks

Re: Why am I being charged 4% and we are using a terminal box and using "Square Free"

TheRealChipA — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 01:01:39 GMT

I wouldn’t expect 4% either. Mine runs around 3%. So you have a lot of sales? That hits 4% quickly.

Also… I am not Square. I’m a fellow seller trying to help you make sense of things. So I’ll ask again… Where did you find that you paid 4% in fees?

Re: Why am I being charged 4% and we are using a terminal box and using "Square Free"

MarkB3 — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 23:32:11 GMT

We attend a farmers market and have sales averaging anywhere from $10.00 to $40.00. A few are less than $10.00. And, I didn't answer where I came up with the 4%. I took the total fees divided by my total sales and it comes out to exactly 4%, which doesn't make sense to me if there is variation in fees according to size of the purchase. Thanks

Re: Why am I being charged 4% and we are using a terminal box and using "Square Free"

TheRealChipA — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 12:27:28 GMT

So, in-person sales are usually the lowest processing rate. Mine average around 3.5% at over $200k in sales. Yours should be similar and in fact better since my check average is smaller than yours (ice cream shop, lots of $5 ish items).

Suggestion.... go to your online dashboard > Reports > Account > Fees. Run that report for the year. There is a "cost of acceptance" column that shows your average fees for the period. If that doesn't help clear things up, then you're going to have to get on the phone with support.