Live Q&A: Ask us anything about verifying your identity for your Square account!

[Tom]

Hello Seller Community!

To allow your business to accept card payments, Square is required to perform a series of checks to verify your identity and your business. As your business evolves, we also need to stay up to date to provide you the best financial services. We strive to make it fast and easy while fulfilling our regulatory and payment network obligations.

With that, we want to hear from you:

• What do you think of our payment onboarding experience?
• What suggestions would you give to improve the experience?

On Monday, April 24 we welcomed @laylaliang and @lanj from the Trusted Identity team for a question & answer session! Their team is eager to learn about how they can help you get started quickly as well as answer any questions you may have. Check out the "Best Answer" below for a summary post that covers the main takeaways from this discussion.

We're unable to share account-specific details within our online forums, though information on your experience will be helpful as we continue to make improvements. For account questions, please contact the Customer Success team directly.

[#2]

Hello everyone! We're at the top of the hour and the time for asking new questions is closed. Here are a few quick updates:

• Due to the volume of participation on this thread, it may take a couple more days for the Trusted Identity team to follow up on your questions.
• Square is required to verify your identity for processing card payments. Your participation in this thread does not impact your status with Square. Learn more in this guide.
• We're not able to comment on account specifics in our public forums, but you can get in touch with an account specialist on the Customer Success team here.

Thank you for your patience and keep watch for a summary post after we've addressed all of the feedback that came in during this discussion.

[CGROSS]

We ordered the  SQUARE READER but it was worthless because no one has a phone that it adapts to these days - I-PHONES and SAMSUNG no longer have the headphone portal - so, we pretty much wasted $10. 

[JUYBoutique20]

If you're doing transactions on your phone, you can use the tap to pay option.  I also think if you plug the reader into your computer, you can use it to swipe cards through the virtual terminal.

[LCNMNGMNT]

What wld your best practices be for a media production /talent management agency? 

[Lonewolfbbqmke]

I have only been with square for a short time so I haven't run into any of these issues yet but with this verification process I can see once every 6 months at most just to verify nothing has changed, any more than that is a waste of time and loss of money for our companies.  They should verify through email like everyone in the world does instead of making you enter a chat room which is another waste of time.  Use chat rooms for connecting with others and exchange questions and answers or even tips and ideas

[laylaliang]

Hi @Lonewolfbbqmke,

Square periodically sends information requests when we need more information on your account. This isn’t on a specific timeframe.

You can continue accepting payments during the review process, but depending on the type of review, you may not be able to initiate or receive transfers to your linked account until the review is complete. Once we have the information we need, the review process will take 1 to 2 business days. You’ll receive an email and a text message when it’s complete.

If your transfers are suspended, we may have noticed some unusual activity on your Square account. Our system periodically reviews your transactions to keep your account safe from scams and fraud. We’ve found that some businesses sell products or services that are more prone to fraud or to receiving payment disputes from their customers. This may not necessarily be the reason your transfers are suspended, but our policy is to make sure your business is protected when our system notices something out of the ordinary.

You can read more about our information requests here: Information Requests FAQ.

[Lonewolfbbqmke]

Advance notice would be much appreciated when you plan on locking up an account so that we the business owners can plan accordingly for any disruption in our service

[AAC1]

What are the advantages of using Square over PayPal or Stripe?

[AAC1]

Questions about the verification process:

1) Do you really have to go thru the verification process more than once after being initially verified and using Square?

2) If yes, how often does this happen?

3) Do you really withhold our funds that we have processed during our regular course of business?

4) How do you notify us that we need to verify again and how much advance notice is given to us?

5) Surely this re-verification process doesn't apply to businesses that have been around for many, many years?

6) Why can't you reverify without disrupting our business? You have all of the necessary information to do that (tax ID number, physical address, website, social media pages, etc) 

[laylaliang]

Hi @AAC1, thanks for reaching out. I have some more information for you:

1. Square periodically sends information requests when we need more information on your account. This is industry practice subject to regulatory and payment partner requirements. To keep buyers and sellers safe, this sometimes results in transactions being temporarily suspended until the review process is complete.
   
   You can continue accepting payments during the review process, but depending on the type of review, you may not be able to initiate or receive transfers to your linked account until the review is complete. Once we have the information we need, the review process will take 1 to 2 business days. You’ll receive an email and a text message when it’s complete.
   
   If your transfers are suspended, we may have noticed some unusual activity on your Square account. Our system periodically reviews your transactions to keep your account safe from scams and fraud. We’ve found that some businesses sell products or services that are more prone to fraud or to receiving payment disputes from their customers. This may not necessarily be the reason your transfers are suspended, but our policy is to make sure your business is protected when our system notices something out of the ordinary.
   
   You can read more about our information requests here. https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/7889-information-requests-faq 
   
   
2. This doesn’t happen on a specific timeframe. It occurs only when our system detects unusual activity.
   
   
3. Transfers are not always suspended. They can either be frozen after the information request has not been completed within the timeframe or they can be frozen if there’s unusual activity.
   
   
4. We notify sellers via email, text, and within the Square app.
   
   
5. This applies to all sellers and is based on transaction activity.
   
   
6. Square will ask for different information depending on the situation.

[BlackCrown]

I am extremely impressed! I have used ALL of the other large options and avoided square for a while. The verification process with square is by far better than any other leading processor. The speed is crucial as a small business owner because we needs the funds to pay for many different costs. I have recommended it to all of my friends as well! You have no idea how much stress you relieved.

[laylaliang]

Thanks, @BlackCrown. We’re happy to hear that your experience has been positive!

[airikakotaska21]

Well this make payments faster?

[BlackCrown]

It did for me. PayPal has been holding a good chunk of money for 3 weeks. Stripe and lightspeed are just as bad as PayPal... Square has been the first payment processor I've seen to offer instant deposits. I got the debit card as well which makes things a lot easier when paying for shipping costs etc.

[laylaliang]

Hey @BlackCrown,

Glad to hear Square is working well for you. Thank you for choosing us.

[laylaliang]

Hi @airikakotaska21,

All payment providers, including Square, are required by regulation to verify identity prior to allowing sellers to take payments.

[calftown]

So far no issue. But if all the complaints are true, Square needs to fix this process asap. My small business can't afford for the credit card machine to be down. And if the machine is down for days, perhaps Square needs to send us all the old school machine and paper slips to take credit cards by hand. Then we will send the slips to Square customer service and they can enter the information into the computer by hand.

[Tom]

Hey @calftown,

Square periodically sends information requests when we need more information on your account. This is industry practice subject to regulatory and payment partner requirements. To keep buyers and sellers safe, this sometimes results in transactions being temporarily suspended until the review process is complete. This won’t always result in transfers being suspended and in some cases, you will have time to respond before your account is frozen.

You can continue accepting payments during the review process, but depending on the type of review, you may not be able to initiate or receive transfers to your linked account until the review is complete. Once we have the information we need, the review process will take 1 to 2 business days. You’ll receive an email and a text message when it’s complete.

If your transfers are suspended, we may have noticed some unusual activity on your Square account. Our system periodically reviews your transactions to keep your account safe from scams and fraud. We’ve found that some businesses sell products or services that are more prone to fraud or to receiving payment disputes from their customers. This may not necessarily be the reason your transfers are suspended, but our policy is to make sure your business is protected when our system notices something out of the ordinary.

You can read more about our information requests here: Information Requests FAQ.

[Sheely213]

I am brand new to this environment and was hoping this would be as simple as advertised.  Now I am VERY CONCERNED.  I have a one day event and this has to go smooth!

[Tom]

Hey @Sheely213,

We understand yours and other seller’s concerns and want you to feel confident with Square. We noticed that sellers were experiencing the most pain with our information request process.

Square periodically sends information requests when we need more information on your account. This is industry practice subject to regulatory and payment partner requirements. To keep buyers and sellers safe, this sometimes results in transactions being temporarily suspended until the review process is complete.

You can continue accepting payments during the review process, but depending on the type of review, you may not be able to initiate or receive transfers to your linked account until the review is complete. Once we have the information we need, the review process will take 1 to 2 business days. You’ll receive an email and a text message when it’s complete.

If your transfers are suspended, we may have noticed some unusual activity on your Square account. Our system periodically reviews your transactions to keep your account safe from scams and fraud. We’ve found that some businesses sell products or services that are more prone to fraud or to receiving payment disputes from their customers. This may not necessarily be the reason your transfers are suspended, but our policy is to make sure your business is protected when our system notices something out of the ordinary.

You can read more about our information requests here: Information Requests FAQ.

[gentleteach]

I am still working through the payment onboarding process. However, I did create an invoice for my client, and she received the invoice. I will not know the details until my client pays the invoice. More step-by-step videos on how to set up the complete account as well as how to set it up on your website so clients are able to easily make payments. 

[laylaliang]

Hi @gentleteach,

Thank you for the suggestion. Hopefully this article is helpful: Square Get Started Guide.