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.

[Cc881]

No they do not, you find out by trying to transfer out your funds and it gets declined. Then you reach out via chat which is where they tell you it’s on hold for verification and can take 48 hours which is a lie, it can take up to a week. Also there’s no direct line to that specific department. It’s really really unprofessional and inconvenient /crippling to small businesses 

[AAC1]

Wow, that is beyond messed up! It's unbelievable really.

[laylaliang]

Hi @AAC1,

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.

[laylaliang]

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

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

[laylaliang]

Thanks, @Jjpainting. Square periodically asks sellers for additional information to ensure that your account remains in good standing. This is industry practice subject to regulatory and payment partner requirements.

It’s important to our buyers and our sellers alike that Square is a safe platform for processing payments. One of our best tools in keeping Square secure is to learn about your business, so we may request additional information to help us spot unusual activity, keep you safe from fraudsters, reduce the risk of a chargeback and make sure that your business runs smoothly. The information you provide gives us a sense of how to help you adopt best practices.

We need documentation to confirm some details about your account and better understand how your business tends to process payments. This includes details about the goods or services you provide through Square and documentation of your transactions. Fill out each answer with as much detail are you can provide.

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

[BlingtimeLLC]

I’ve not had the chance to fully take a look at everything but I’m seeing a lot of negative comments 

[laylaliang]

Hi @BlingtimeLLC,

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.

[Jammerg56]

Why should entrepreneurs use Square up instead of PayPal?

[AAC1]

That's a great question, hopefully they answer this one. 

[Tallulah]

I would like an answer TBH, I'm here from PP, and after reading all the community comments I am wondering if that was a bad decision. 

[AAC1]

Would be curious to hear why you left PP?

[Hkmoen15]

Have yet to get it to work. So I am using another company whose fees are higher but payments are easy.  I have been verified but I want to use tap to pay and it fails every time or doesn’t allow me to enter a total.  Been almost a month but I don’t have time to figure it out.  

[AAC1]

What is the other company you're using? It's always good to have options.

[lindylouunique]

Wow. I'm new to square and have a big event coming up. I'm suddenly very nervous about the negative experiences I'm seeing here. Nervous enough I'm thinking I might need to jump on a new POS platform quickly. Why all of the verification? Am I going to be blindsided when I least expect it? I had no idea there was ongoing verification and my business might be locked down by surprise!

[Jjpainting]

I’ve been with square for about 8-9 months and have only had that initial verification. I wanna say it took around 48 hours…maybe a little less or more, and as I remember, everything still operates as normal, and you can still accept payments, you just do not have access to your money during this time. I understand the purpose of the initial verification, but I do not understand why they cannot do a periodic verification without locking you out of using your own money. That just blows my mind. 

[AAC1]

I'm now having the same concerns. If I'm understanding these comments correctly, Square will just somehow freeze your account, withhold funds and make it so you are unable to process cc payments?!?! I sure hope that is not the case, as I am new to Square. But if I learn that this is in fact the case, and they do this with no warning (not that that's really much better), I need to have other options.

[laylaliang]

Thanks, @lindylouunique. 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.

[SweetsbyN]

The installation was easy. I will let you know when I do my first transaction.

[laylaliang]

Thanks, @SweetsbyN. Glad to hear!

[TLT2023]

I am just getting my business off the ground, and the last thing I need are these kinds of headaches.  I haven't even received my POS card reader yet, and judging by the vast majority of these comments, I may not even use it once it gets here.  This may cause me to look else where. 

[Tom]

Thanks, @TLT2023. 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.