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.

[PaulLawrence]

Hey Tom,

This is Paul W. Wow! Squareup, asking for a feedback request! I've gotta say, I'm flattered. Let me tell you, the experience thus far has been nothing short of delightful.

But enough of the chit-chat, let's get down to business. You asked for my thoughts on the Squareup experience, and I'm happy to oblige. In short, it's been good. LOL! A rollercoaster of emotions, if you will. One minute, I'm excitedly setting up my account, and the next, I'm checking on how my sales overview will work.

Okay, now to answer your specific questions, my replies are conveniently located after this. Hopefully my feedback, is delivered with a side of wit, that clarifies my experience so far on squareup.

QUESTION:  What do you think of our payment onboarding experience?

ANSWER: When it comes to onboarding experiences, I have to say, I've seen some real snoozers in my day. But Squareup? you've got it down to a science. I mean, I'm a bit of a commitment-phobe when it comes to reviews and feedback, but Squareup had me at " Welcome back, Paul!" So, I would say my feedback is actually coming from a positive experience thus far.

To me, I thought the onboarding process was smoother than a freshly waxed surfboard. I clicked a few buttons, entered some info, and before I knew it, I was up and running. Also, the whole process made feel like I knew what I was doing. There's nothing cooler than feeling like a tech-savvy wizard when you're starting a new venture.

But the real reason I chose Squareup was for the ease of monitoring my financials. Let's face it, no one wants to spend hours poring over spreadsheets and trying to make sense of their sales data. With Squareup, it's all visible withing just a few clicks.

QUESTION: What suggestions would you give to improve the experience?

ANSWER: humorously, suggestions for improvement. As for me trying to be an armchair CEO, I've got plenty of suggestions! First and foremost, let's talk SEO. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the 130-character limit on the page description, but sometimes people need a little more room to flex his creative muscles, you know what I mean?

So, I propose Squareup rolls out a new FREE feature called "SEO Deluxe" (cue the dramatic music). This bad boy would allow users to craft longer descriptions, add more keywords, and basically take their SEO game to the next level. Because let's face it, in today's online landscape, you gotta do everything you can to stand out from the crowd.

Also, while we're on the subject of upgrades, let's talk about that full sales overview. Like I said earlier, I like the "ease of monitoring financials", but I mean, who doesn't want to bask in the glory of all their hard-earned profits? But having to upgrade just to get a peek behind the curtain? That's like making me pay extra for guac at Chipotle. It's just not cool.

So, my suggestion? Give the people what they want, Squareup! A full sales overview for all, no upgrade required. And while you're at it, throw in a free burrito bowl. I'm kidding (sort of). But seriously, it's all about making the customer feel valued.

Other than that, all is good.

Cheers,

Paul W.

[laylaliang]

Thanks, @PaulLawrence! Your robust answer made us laugh. We’re really grateful for your participation. 

Thanks for the suggestions. We’ll be sure to share your feedback with the appropriate team. I would also suggest checking out our SEO support article here https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/6874-seo-settings-for-square-online-store

Also, reporting is something we’re very passionate about here at Square. We are currently looking to dramatically improve the way we create and display data. While I cannot provide more details on upcoming changes, we hope they’ll meet your needs! You can also check out more about advanced reporting here https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/5530-advanced-reporting

[CNB1944]

I just tried to access Square to input a $200 sale but couldn't get logged in due to the special code not being sent and when it did was not recognized.  Very frustrating.  So went back to Paypal to enter the sale.  I'd like to get this 'Squared' away so I could use your portal.  

Chris Beere

[PaulLawrence]

Hi Chris, this is Paul Wyant.

Have you tried to check your text messages for your code? I had the same problem the other day.

Cheers,

Paul W.

[laylaliang]

Thanks, @CNB1944! It sounds like you have Two-step Authentication set up. Two-step verification is a tool that provides an extra layer of security for your Square Account, protecting your account from unauthorized access. 

With two-step verification, you will be asked to enter a verification code in addition to your password each time you sign in to your Square account. Once enabled for yourself, you can choose to require it for your team. By doing so, each team member associated with your Square account will need to enable their own verification methods.

If you don’t want to enter a verification code every time you sign in to the Square app or Dashboard, select Remember this device for 90 days. Every 90 days, you’ll be asked to sign in with a verification code. This option can be enabled again once the 90 days are up.

You can read more about two-step verification here: Two-Step Verification.

[armshome]

I will be a first time user on Saturday.  I am reading the other posts and wondering if I should just not use Square if all these issues exist.  Advice?

[laylaliang]

Thanks armshome. 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.

[Tom]

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.

[c4utoday]

Hello Tom,

Hope all is well. I have been on travel and just saw your email from 2 weeks ago.

Please let me know what I need to do to verify my Identity. I am a freelancer in the digital marketing space. I am focused on building web-sites for service based Industry, SEO services and customer acquisition.

Look forward to hearing back from you soon,

Thank you,

David

[personal information redacted] 

[laylaliang · Accepted solution]

Hello Everyone,

Thanks again for taking the time to share your experiences! We hope your questions were answered — the insights you've shared will help us as we continue to iterate based on your feedback.

As we close out this event, we wanted to share three thoughts:

☑️ Identity verification during onboarding
Square is obligated to verify your identity, subject to regulatory and payment partner requirements, similar to other payment companies across the globe. We understand that it is frustrating to not be able to pass, and we deploy multiple data vendors and provide alternative verification methods, where possible. If you run into issues, please refer to this troubleshooting article and follow the on-screen prompts.

🔍 Information requests 
Rest assured — keeping your payments flowing is Square’s top priority. Square doesn't take suspending bank transfers lightly and only does so when necessary. While we may suspend bank transfers temporarily, you can still take payments during this review period.

Square continuously monitors payment transactions, subject to regulatory and payment partner requirements, similar to other payment companies across the globe. It is important that Square keeps our platform and your business safe, by understanding how any anomalies occur, so we can help you get back to business as soon as possible. If you run into issues, please refer to this FAQ about our Information Requests process. All Information Requests will be notified via email, Dashboard and in some cases SMS text messages. Please keep an eye out on communications sent from Square. 

Our Risk and Compliance teams continuously optimize our policies to minimize disruption to your business.

🪪 Document based verification is in the works
Square uses a variety of data vendors and verification methods to ensure a smooth onboarding experience. As an example, our team is working on introducing document-based verification, where you can take a picture of your government ID and a selfie, to pass verification.

Have thoughts on this new method? Respond in this thread with #docIDV, to help us continuously improve the onboarding experience.

We value your input and will use it to improve this process. Again, thank you for your participation.

Layla and Lan from the Trusted Identity team

[Dexonemaster3]

Merci beaucoup pour ces éclaircissements qui permettent de bien s'imprégner du business.

Je suis nouveau ! Je serais constamment en ligne pour bénéficier de l'expériences de mes collègues vendeurs en ligne.

Passez une merveilleuse journée de vente!

[Murrays_makeove]

Ok so I just processed another payment for my business and it somehow has disappeared and I have gone through the verification process via email and via phone and I thought that after I was verified then this would no longer be an issue. Does this happen with each and every new customer? 

[Dexonemaster3]

how do verifying  my identity like new seller?