Introducing New Ways to Accept Payments Anywhere: Square Launches APIs for E-Commerce and Point of Sale in Australia

Jan 18, 2017

MELBOURNE, 18 January 2017 – When you’re growing your business, the thought of piecing together hardware, software, e-commerce and payments services from multiple vendors can be exhausting. Unfortunately, that’s the challenge many Australian business owners face. At Square, we believe that all business owners— big and small, online and offline — should have the tools to start, run and grow using one cohesive and fully integrated platform.

So we’re excited to introduce our new Build with Square payment APIs in Australia, empowering offline businesses with payment solutions to service omni-channel needs. Our collection of APIs enable you to integrate your custom point of sale or e-commerce solutions seamlessly with Square for secure payment acceptance.

Square’s Australian Country Manager, Ben Pfisterer, commented: “We’re excited to launch Square’s payment APIs in Australia, which vastly increases the capability of the Square platform and enables deeper partnerships with third party solutions. It’s more common than ever for businesses of any size to sell their products or services online and in-person, so having a fully integrated omnichannel system gives them a powerful advantage. With Square, businesses can now accept payments through any channel and gain a single, holistic view of their business, which vastly reduces the complexity of having to navigate numerous, disparate systems. Square is proud to continue releasing new features and products with today’s announcement being another example of our ongoing commitment to keep bringing unique and innovative solutions to Australian businesses.”

The Square API for e-commerce enables sellers and developers to use Square to process online payments on their own developed and self-hosted website. The e-commerce API enables sellers to seamlessly integrate their existing websites with Square to accept payments online, providing a powerful and fully integrated solution that helps grow both their online and offline businesses.

If building a custom website sounds daunting, Square now integrates with the world’s leading website building companies such as BigCommerce, Weebly, Ecwid, Wix , WooCommerce and Magento, so you can use beautiful, pre-existing e-commerce shopfronts while accepting payments via Square’s secure online payment gateway. Sales accepted online will now show in Square Dashboard, so sellers have a holistic view of all sales processed in store and online from one convenient location.

The Square API for point of sale allows any iOS or Android point of sale platform to enable customised payment processing with Square. Some businesses have highly specialised point of sale needs — such as a winemaker that needs to manage cellar door sales in conjunction with online and wholesale orders. Businesses integrating with Square using our API for point of sale can leverage Square’s beautifully designed and very affordable hardware (such as the Square Reader for contactless and chip) with third-party point of sale platforms, while enjoying the same simple, flat-rate pricing that’s available to all Square sellers.

Melbourne-based tech startup SwiftHero — whose app matches vetted tradespeople with those who need them — is first to integrate with Square’s new API for point of sale. Embracing Square’s API means tradespeople can now accept card payments right from the SwiftHero app using affordable and accessible hardware, while overcoming challenges of payments partnerships often experienced by startup companies.

“Using Square’s API for point of sale has made taking card payments on the spot effortless, which is what everyone is starting to expect. Payments are instant, making SwiftHero providers’ and customers’ lives easier.” said Hacik Ozdil, co-founder at SwiftHero. “Integrating couldn’t have been easier; as simple as plugging a Square Reader into a phone. This level of simplicity and ease of integration has allowed us to focus more time on SwiftHero.”

It’s free to integrate Square’s APIs into your platform. Payments accepted online using the Square API for e-commerce are charged at the flat rate of 2.2% per transaction for any Visa, MasterCard or American Express transaction. Card payments accepted in person using Square hardware via applications integrated with our API for point of sale are charged at 1.9% per tapped, dipped or swiped payment for any Visa, MasterCard or American Express card. There are no other hidden fees or lock-in contracts.

We’re proud to empower businesses with tools, hardware and platforms to service their needs — online and off. No matter what you sell or how you sell it, Square has you covered.

About Square, Inc.

Square creates tools that help sellers of all sizes start, run, and grow their businesses. Square’s point-of-sale service offers tools for every part of running a business, from accepting credit cards and tracking inventory, to real-time analytics and invoicing. Square also offers sellers financial and marketing services, including small business financing and customer engagement tools. Businesses and individuals use Square Cash, an easy way to send and receive money, as well as Caviar, a food delivery service for popular restaurants. Square was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in the United States, Canada, Japan, and Australia.

Media Contact:

press-au@squareup.com