Ask a Payments Product Manager Anything

[Tom]

Hello Sellers! On July 8th at 11am PT / 2pm ET, we hosted a virtual office hours opportunity where sellers posted questions to this thread and heard back from our Payments team!

@Sean is a product manager on the Payment Products team at Square, and he took the lead in this session. Having worked on the Seller Community team as a community manager previously and with more than 7 years of experience at Square, he's always excited to hear from sellers and ensure that their experiences are taken into account with product decisions.

Click here to learn more about Square Payments.

A few example questions:

• How can I offer a seamless payment experience to my customers?
• How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact Square payment products and services?
• How does Square's referral program work and how do I track my free processing balance?

Note on account-specific questions: For your privacy and security, we are not able to address issues related to specific payments, deposits, or account status details in our public forums. If you need assistance on one of those related topics, please contact our Customer Success team and they'll be able to take a deeper dive into your account.

[SeasideStones2]

Thanks, @Sean! I trust Square more than I trust PayPal. Hopefully, my customers will once we move over 100% to Square.

[Kitty1]

Hi! Thank you for doing this! I'm new to Square terminal. I'm planning to use it for my food truck business early next year.

1) I would like my personal (not business) name to not show up on customer print out receipts. I have already tried the receipt settings but it doesn't seem like there's an option to do that although I seen it on another business' receipt that it's doable.

2) I'll be vending in a few different locations with one Terminal and account. Does it matter what I put as my business address? 

3) Since I'm a food truck business, it's seasonal. So I'll most likely be accepting payments in the summer compared to other months or there might be a large single payment when there's catering. Would that affect the security of my account? I read that might trigger a hold on one's funds and that's the last thing I need. If that's the case, is there a way to make a note on one's account so everyone's on the same page?

Thank you so much for your time! 

[Sean]

Hi @Kitty1 , and congrats on the new Square Terminal! It’s definitely a popular hardware choice! To tackle your first question, it sounds like you’re in the right place, so I’m not exactly sure what’s going on. I’d suggest navigating to the Square Dashboard on your computer and updating the information in the Receipts tab. Be sure to press “Save” in the bottom right hand corner! 

As for your second question, you can choose whether or not to show an address on your receipts, but also sometimes a business address can show up on a customer’s bank statement, so make sure it makes sense!  You can select “Mobile Business” if that makes sense, just edit the Details under “Business.”  If you plan to create  multiple locations within Square, you’ll need to be sure and update each of them using the selector above the receipt rendering. 

For your final question, it most likely won’t be an issue (depending on what you mean by large orders). All Square merchants start off with an initial per-transaction limit of $50,000. While we may periodically reach out to customers for additional information on transactions that are atypical, we resolve them pretty quickly. You might want to review our merchant protection guidelines and tips for safely accepting payment cards.

[Bakerjulie1]

Is there away to charge the customer the credit card fees instead of us having to pay it? Alot of processing companies are charging customers to releave the business owners of hundreds of dollars a month. We shld be able to do this... any thoughts to this? Thank you

[Sean]

Hi @Bakerjulie1, and thanks for the question! We don’t currently have an automatic way to help calculate and charge surcharges, but it’s definitely something that has come up from our sellers. There are some third party sites that help sellers calculate what you would need to charge your buyer in order to net a certain amount. It is worth calling out that Debit card surcharge rules may vary by state, regulatory, or card network rules. I suggest you touch base with a tax professional or your local government for more guidance on whether surcharges are permitted in your area ahead of moving forward. It’s also your responsibility to meet all legal and card network requirements, so you also have to notify both Visa and MasterCard. I’d also suggest subscribing to this thread for future updates on this topic from us. I think there’s definitely an opportunity for us to help sellers out with this functionality! 

[Baytreevet]

How do I get reports of sales broken down and totaled by card type?

[Sean]

Hi @Baytreevet! Love the question, and would also love to understand how this reporting is useful for your business. While we don’t have an automated report for sales by card brand, if you do an export from the Transactions tab of the Dashboard, the transactions CSV contains a column for Card Brand. You should be able to work some Excel or Google Sheet Magic to pivot and get sales by card pretty easily this way. Hope this helps!

[SamuelDesgagne1]

Need accrual reporting method for Canada for invoices as it is required by law for almost all business.

[Sean]

Hi @SamuelDesgagne1 . While I’m not an accounting expert, it sounds like you need to see the portion of Invoices that were paid in a certain year, and not just the total invoiced amount? Please correct me if I’m wrong! If you can let me know what an ideal report would look like, I can share with our Invoices Team, as well as perhaps suggest a work-around using the reporting we have available now. Thanks so much!

[SamuelDesgagne1]

The invoice should be reported in the report and inventory section the date it was created or the date we choose, not the date it was paid. If we sell 12 items the 4th april 2021 and give 30 days to pay, the inventory should be removed on the 4th april and the income should be reported on the 4th april, not the 4th may when it's paid. That's the accrual method we need to follow in Canada by law and it is not supported by square.

In short : inventory problem and accounting problem.

Square even have the possibility to add the 30 days delay to the invoice. What's the point if we need people to pay right now to have correct accounting and inventory up to date?

[Sean]

Really appreciate the detailed reply. I will definitely share this feedback with the Invoices Team. They might also want to reach out to you and ask you some other questions if you'd be open to that. 🙏

[SamuelDesgagne1]

No problem at all. I'm here to help make Square better! Don't hesitate to reach out. I also speak french.

[mikez65]

Hi Tom.

I refunded an accidental charge to a customer and it was deducted from my attatched bank account.  The original card she used for the purchase was refunded to that card she used.  The problem being is that she cancelled the card that day and was issued a new card to replace that one tied to her bank account.  The amount was deducted from my account but how will she receive the credit if she cancelled that card.  Please let me know.

Thank you.

[Sean]

Hi @mikez65 , and so sorry to hear about this issue! I’m happy to offer some advice here: 

- If a new card was activated with the same card issuer, the refund is normally credited to the new payment card.
- If the account was closed recently (last 2 months), the refund may post. The card issuer typically reaches out directly to the buyer to notify them of any next steps.
- If the account has been closed for more than two months, the refund credit will fail. We will notify you and you will need to refund your customer outside of Square via check or cash.

Have your customer reach out to their card issuing bank to locate the refund. If they’re unable to find their credit after talking with their bank, please give us a call. 

[criley]

Hello! I am trying to create a link to share for one of my items and it will not save - I have this on all other items but for whatever reason this one won't save. What am I doing wrong?

[Sean]

Hi @criley, and sorry to hear about the issue! It should be as easy as navigating to the Online Checkout tab in Square Dashboard, clicking “Create checkout link,” and then filling in the information. Have you tried a different browser or check for updates? Sometimes that can cause issues. Are you creating a new item or is it an existing one? You are also welcome to give us a call if you want someone to walk through this with you!

[chasruddy]

Do you have an online link?  Or are we to follow this after the fact?

[mikez65]

Hi Chaz. You can follow up with me at [personal information redacted]. 

Thank you.

[Tom]

Hey @chasruddy, thanks for checking in on this. All replies will be delivered in writing within this thread and you'll receive an email notification as soon as your question is answered—there isn't an additional link. Keep watch for updates later today and thanks for your patience.

[LocalFoodFarms]

My brother owns a farm that does online sales.  One of the issues we found with another vendor is we get double charged a processing fee if we do a deposit.  

If a customer orders something that requires a weight (in this case meat birds) my brother would like to be able to hold the order until the product has been weighed or trigger an invoice.  This was something he was told he'd be able to do with the current online system in place for his web site but then we discovered being double charged issue mentioned above as well as a couple of other issues and the company couldn't give us any good resolutions.

Is there a way to do this or has someone implemented an application that would let us do that within Square?  He really loves y'all (he uses the swipe at the farmers markets he attends) and it seems like you all have the most robust POS system out there in terms of add ons.  

Thanks 

Paula 

[Sean]

Hi @LocalFoodFarms, and thanks for the nice comments about Square! As for how a workflow with Square would work with collecting deposits. Currently, our invoices product does allow you to designate and collect a deposit amount. You would pay the processing fee if the seller paid the deposit online (2.9% + .30c). When the seller would come to collect the goods and complete the bill, you’d likely charge their card in person and close out the Invoice. The rate for an in-person charge is 2.6% + 10c. While you might pay a few two different rates since each payment type is different, you wouldn’t be charged double fees. Does this help?