Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has joined the list of national retailers that sell Square Inc.'s device that turns smartphones into mobile card readers.
Wal-Mart joins Best Buy Co. Inc., RadioShack Corp. and Apple Inc. stores in offering the reader, according to Square's website. The move into Wal-Mart, of Bentonville, Ark., makes the Square reader available in an additional 3,800 U.S. stores.
The devices cost a refundable $9.95, and users pay 2.75% of each if they swipe a card or 3.5% plus 15 cents when the merchant enters the numbers manually, the Square website says.
Square already had shipped 800,000 of the devices, says Todd Ablowitz, president of Double Diamond Group LLC.
Launched in 2009 by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, Square, of San Francisco, has attracted more than $100 million in venture capital. Its investors include Visa Inc.
