Verizon Wireless Stores Now Selling Square Card Readers

Payments startup Square has scored another retailer partnership, as today Verizon Wireless says it will begin stocking the Square Card Reader in its stores, effective immediately. The readers, which allow iOS and Android users to accept credit card and debit card payments, will sell for $9.97 at Verizon’s stores, and come with a $10 credit to users’ Square accounts, making the transaction essentially free for consumers. This is the same pricing that Square’s other retailers have in place, too.

Square doesn’t require contracts, minimums or set-up fees, Verizon reminded users via a blog post this morning. Transactions are completed with a swipe and are followed by the buyer’s signature. Receipts can then be emailed or sent via text to the buyer. Sellers pay a fee of 2.75 percent for swiped transactions and 3.5 percent plus 15 cents for sales that are manually keyed in. And funds are now deposited in customers’ bank accounts within 24 hours, typically.

The move to sell Square at Verizon comes shortly after Square’s rollout to 7,000 company-owned Starbucks stores, which completed earlier this month. The coffee chain not only sells the Square readers, but thanks to a deal announced last year, it also invested $25 million in the startup and uses Square to process transactions. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz also sits on Square’s board of directors as a part of that deal.

Earlier in the month, Square said that it is now available in over 30,000 retail locations, up from 20,000 outlets nationwide in June. Verizon’s website says it has more than 2,000 company-owned Communications Stores, kiosks and stores-within-a-store across the country. In addition to Verizon Wireless and Starbucks, Square’s readers are sold at AT&T, Walgreens, Staples, FedEx Office, Apple, Walmart, Best Buy, RadioShack, and Target.