Square Gives Australian Not-for-Profits the Standard Rate, Not a Discount
Square markets to not-for-profits but prices them like any other seller. It is a payments and point-of-sale company, so the donation forms, receipts and donor records are yours to add.
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Square markets to not-for-profits without pricing for them
Square runs a page called "POS for Nonprofits", and its Australian pricing page contains no mention of a charity or nonprofit rate at all. You pay 2.2% online and 1.6% in person, the same as a cafe. Zeffy charges nothing and covers the processing.
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Point of sale is not a fundraising platform
Square takes a payment well. What it does not give a not-for-profit is a donation page, recurring giving, event registration, membership renewals, a deductible-gift receipt or a donor record — a customer directory tracks sales, not giving. Zeffy includes all of it.
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Tap to Pay with no terminal to buy, and no percentage either
Square's Tap to Pay is free because it needs no reader, just your own phone, and then takes 1.6% of every tap. Zeffy also runs Tap to Pay in Australia and takes nothing, so a volunteer can collect at an event with the phone already in their pocket.
Frequently asked questions
Does Square offer a not-for-profit discount in Australia?
Not on its published pricing. Square runs nonprofit-facing marketing pages, and its Australian pricing page contains no occurrence of "charity" or "nonprofit" and lists no reduced rate, so an Australian not-for-profit pays the standard rates. That is a real difference from PayPal, which does publish a gated Australian charity rate. Zeffy is free to every registered Australian not-for-profit with no application.
What does Square actually charge in Australia?
1.6% per in-person transaction for sellers who signed up on or after 30 May 2024, and 1.9% for sellers who signed up before that date. Online — Online Store, Online Checkout, the eCommerce API or an invoice paid online — is 2.2% per transaction, and manually keyed payments including Virtual Terminal and card on file are also 2.2%. There is no fixed per-transaction fee on top. Zeffy charges nothing.
Is there a monthly fee?
Not on the free plan, which is $0 a month. Plus starts at $40 a month and Premium is custom. Instant transfers cost 1.5%, and sellers processing more than $250,000 a year can negotiate custom rates. Zeffy has one plan and it is free.
Can we take donations through Square?
You can take a payment and label it a donation, through a payment link, Online Checkout or in person. What you do not get is a donation form with suggested amounts, recurring giving, a deductible-gift receipt or a donor record. Zeffy includes those.
Can we sell event tickets or run memberships on Square?
Square sells products and can take recurring payments, so you can approximate both. It does not publish event ticketing with registration and check-in, or membership tiers with renewals, in the way a fundraising platform does. Zeffy includes event ticketing and memberships at no cost.
What about Tap to Pay?
Square offers Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android free with your own phone, then charges the 1.6% in-person rate on each transaction. Zeffy also offers Tap to Pay in Australia, and charges nothing on the payment.
Is Zeffy really free where Square has a $0 plan?
Square's $0 refers to the software subscription, not the transaction. On $50,000 raised online, Square's 2.2% is about $1,100. Zeffy takes nothing at any volume and covers the card processing, and the donation forms, ticketing, memberships and donor CRM are included rather than added.
What does Square do better than Zeffy?
Retail. If your organisation runs a shop, a cafe or a venue with inventory, staff and a till, Square is a genuine point-of-sale system and Zeffy is not. Plenty of not-for-profits reasonably run Square for the shop and a fundraising platform for the fundraising.
Keep comparing, and see why not-for-profits choose Zeffy
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As a startup nonprofit with only two members, and no funding (yet) we’d need something with low (or no) fees. Zeffy was a dream come true.
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SUCCESS STORIES
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