Enter your typical order and how many you ring in a month. The math below uses Square's free-plan rates: 2.6% + 15¢ in person on a Square Terminal and 3.3% + 30¢ online.
| Sale | In person (Square Terminal) (2.6% + 15¢) | Online (Square checkout) (3.3% + 30¢) |
|---|---|---|
| $5.00 | fee $0.28, keep $4.72 | fee $0.47, keep $4.53 |
| $10.00 | fee $0.41, keep $9.59 | fee $0.63, keep $9.37 |
| $15.00 | fee $0.54, keep $14.46 | fee $0.80, keep $14.20 |
| $25.00 | fee $0.80, keep $24.20 | fee $1.13, keep $23.87 |
On a $5.00 in-person sale the 15¢ fixed part is more than half of Square's $0.28 fee. That is why a snack bar feels card fees more than a restaurant does: the percentage is small, the fixed cents are not. Two things help. Sell combos so one tap covers more food, and post card prices with a cash discount so cash sales cost nothing to process.
Serve-It Menu connects to your Square account. Customers order and pay from their phones, the order lands on a kitchen screen, and the money still goes to Square at the rates above. Serve-It adds $0.10 to $0.25 per card order depending on the order size, never more than $29 in a month, and nothing on cash.
At Square's free-plan rates, $0.41 in person on a Square Terminal (2.6% + 15¢), so you keep $9.59. Online it is $0.63 (3.3% + 30¢), so you keep $9.37.
This calculator models Square's free plan, which has no monthly fee. If you are on a different Square plan, use the rates printed on your Square statement instead.
Adding a fee only to card payments is a surcharge, which card network rules restrict and which cannot be applied to debit cards. Serve-It uses dual pricing instead: the posted price is the card price and cash gets a discount. Check your state's rules before changing how you post prices.
No. Serve-It connects to your existing Square account, and the money from every order settles into that account. Serve-It never holds it.