Marketing Spend

• Square's marketing budget reached $116 million in Q3 2018, a 75% increase compared to Q3 2017.
• This is equivalent to 13% of its revenue spent on marketing in Q3 2018, a rise from 11.5% in Q1 2018 and %12 in Q2 2018.
• Its marketing budget has risen following an increase in advertising spend on products such as the Cash App, as well as sales costs going up.

Rates and Processing Fees

• Square offers different payment options, and rates differ depending on the payment being made in-person or at distance.
• In-person service rates vary depending on the point-of-sale software and hardware.
• In-person payments are charged at 2.6% + 10¢ .
• Processing fees are the same for all credit card providers.
• Standard rates apply to companies with less than $250,000 of credit card transactions per year, and an average of $15 per ticket.
• Rates can be negotiated for larger companies. 

• Helcim offers two types of plans, a retail plan costing $15/month and an online plan charging $35/month.
• In addition to the cost of these plans, credit card processing costs vary depending on the type of plan (retail or online) and the transaction volume.
• It can reach a maximum rate of 0.25% plus $0.08/transaction for retail plans and a maximum of 0.45% plus $0.25/transaction for online plans.
• Maximum rates apply to companies that process less than $25,000 worth of transactions per month.
•  Rates decrease on a sliding scale with the size of companies.

• Payline charges 0.2% plus $0.10/transaction for in-person swiping, in addition to a $10/month payment plan.
• Payline charges 0.3% plus $0.20/transaction for payments not made in person, in addition to a $20/month payment plan.

Unique position or service offering (competitive Advantage)

• Square offers services such as Bitcoin trading, peer-to-peer money transfers and a debit card linked to its Cash app.
• The company offers a variety of additional offerings beyond credit card processing that help keep the client loyal.

• Helcim provides its clients with an all-inclusive merchant platform, including a variety of services, and simple payment grid.
• Helcim is considered to be more affordable than its competitors.

• Stripe is focusing its value proposition on convenience, price, and accessibility.

Information about how these companies market their credit card servicing plans

• Square targets a large audience for their credit card processing service.
• The company uses a variety of different publications to market their services to niche markets and specific topics.
• The company based in San Francisco started to target a core group of customers locally, that were prone to be influential and spread good publicity for the service.

• Stripe started its growth without a sales team. 
• The company relied on word of mouth and did not spend an important budget on marketing.