(30 March 2016 – Global) Payment services provider, Square is taking set to challenge industry heavyweights PayPal and Stripe with a new e-commerce application processing interface (API), enabling sellers to process online payments on their own self-hosted, fully developed websites.
As part of a new set of business tools called Build with Square, it builds on the firm’s chief, Jack Dorsey's plan to create a one-stop-shop for small businesses.
The e-commerce API pits Square squarely against the likes of Stripe and PayPal, letting sellers seamlessly integrate their sites with the payments processor.
Square said in a blog post: “Independent businesses have been poorly served by existing commerce solutions, which require them to laboriously piece together hardware, software, and payments services from many different vendors.
“From payments to point of sale, financing to payroll, we believe all sellers — big or small, online or offline — should be able to start, run, and grow their entire business with one cohesive system.”