Ahh upon further investigation I discovered that the catch is that businesses wishing to do over $21K in sales per month are ineligible.
So the product is only for businesses who meet all three of the following criteria:
1) small enough to not need over $21K per month of credit card charges
2) low enough chargeback risk that Square accepts/keeps them as a client
3) are currently paying more than $275 in fees per month with their current provider.
So bottom line this is a great marketing pitch but not really useful to the vast majority of companies in the real world. The odds of #2 and #3 both being true are basically nil for businesses small enough to meet #1.
Your initial reading is incorrect. Past 250,000/yr, you go back to the normal 2.75% rate; you remain eligible up to that point, and that point is not determined monthly but annually.
So the product is only for businesses who meet all three of the following criteria:
1) small enough to not need over $21K per month of credit card charges
2) low enough chargeback risk that Square accepts/keeps them as a client
3) are currently paying more than $275 in fees per month with their current provider.
So bottom line this is a great marketing pitch but not really useful to the vast majority of companies in the real world. The odds of #2 and #3 both being true are basically nil for businesses small enough to meet #1.