Will fees for manual entry be waived during COVID-19?

[jill6487]

Here's a friendly suggestion from a long time Square user with multiple business locations: to help small businesses cope with the craziness of COVID-19 - waive the extra charges for manually entered credit cards, since we are (in many states) being forced to take payment over the phone versus swiping a card, therefore being forced to have higher fees!!!

Thank you for listening!

[Joe]

Hi there, @MeritUniforms 👋 Thanks for reaching out to us here on the Seller Community!

I've gone ahead and merged your post into an existing thread of Sellers who were sharing the same sentiment in regards to Covid-19 and resources for Sellers.

Take a look at this Best Answer from Valentina. It will direct you to some helpful guides and actions we are taking to assist Sellers.

Let me know if you have any further questions! We are here to help.

[MeritUniforms]

There are no answers here. Only that you are assisting in us applying for PPP, which I have done months ago.

My real question, and please don't give us the run around, is helping out with the very high processing fees for manually entered cards. Again, I have no other option but to take payment this way, we are all trying to keep our business alive. I really don't see Square helping us. 

[Joe]

Hi there, @MeritUniforms - thanks for the prompt reply. As Val's post stated above, we’re continually evaluating all options to help our sellers as this situation evolves, however we haven’t made changes to transaction fees at this time. 

We realize that a solution for one Seller may be far from one for another, and we have tried to enact policies and resources that would Support the broadest of our customer base while still providing us the means to be able to do so. 

If you have specific questions, you can feel free to reach out to our Support Team directly. Thank you! 

[MeritUniforms]

Thanks Joe. I know it's not your fault, but reading this thread seems like help with the Manuel processing fees would help A LOT of small businesses. And I felt Square was on the small business team & here to help and support us, but maybe not?

[Zimstonegallery]

Will square wave the higher fee for credit card transactions that are input manually since movement is restricted?

[Valentina]

I've moved your post to a thread where another seller has asked the same question here in the Seller Community, @Zimstonegallery. Please take a look at the Best Answer here for guidance, and let us know if you have any other questions.

If you haven't already had a chance to take a look at what we are currently doing for our sellers, we've bundled the resources together here on this page so you can easily find them.

[villagebagel1]

Hi Square. I'm asking that the fee for manual credit card entries be reduced or waived during this time. Our little business is down 70%. We are lucky we are even able to stay open as a now-carry-out-only operation. We are having our customers pay over the phone so they do not enter the restaurant. We run their food out to the car. Is there anything you can do to reduce the credit card processing fees for the manually entered credit card numbers? 

Sincerely,

Connie Leaf

Village Bagel

Edwards, CO

[Personal Information Redacted]

[Valentina]

A few others have asked the same question here in the Community, so I've moved your post to the thread where an answer has been provided. Have you heard about the various resources we've made available here recently, @villagebagel1?

It sounds like you may benefit from looking into a new feature we've just made available to our sellers: Curbside Pickup. When a customer places an order online, the associated fee is lower than the fee associated with card-not-present payments. We're here for you, and want to make sure you have the tools you need right now. Feel free to drop any questions in that thread if you decide to set up curbside pickup and need a hand!

[AnnRosenSpector]

Since Square charges more for manual entries, and since remote work is ONLY remote entries, doesn't it make sense for Square to support the community by dropping the EXTRA fee?

[Kassi_]

Hey there, @AnnRosenSpector - 

Welcome to the Community.

We’re continually evaluating all options to help our sellers as this situation evolves, however we haven’t made changes to transaction fees at this time. Thank you so much for reaching out!

[AnnRosenSpector]

Thanks but I hope you will speed it up. 

[val411]

I, too, am now providing telehealth services from home; therefore I am unable to swipe cards.  Given the current anxiety-provoking state of a pandemic, I am trying to continue to provide needed therapy services to my patients.  It seems this could be a way for Square to give back and help providers by forgoing additional profit-percent charged for continuing to use your service during these stressful times.

thank  you

[drjay]

Completely agree, it's pretty bad that Square is profiting from this - at some point people who use social media will probably cause viral outrage at these practices.

[jill6487]

I read it, and none of them are super helpful, actually. It's only waiving fees for extra services, not the day-to-day which is affecting most of us so negatively.  Thanks for the response, though!

[droidbaker]

I am a one man band trying to keep my store afloat as are many other.  I dont have any need for these extra resources.  I need a reduction in fees as these higher rates combined with smaller order amounts is really cutting into what little margins are there :-(.  Could Square offer maybe sellers a choice of those resources or a reduction in fees or even the $1,000 refer a friend in free processing.  Something is better than nothing.  I have ben loyal to Square for almost 5 years please help us.

[susanelnora]

Please consider lowering your keyed-in transaction fees to what you charge for card swipes. Almost none of us are able to conduct face-to-face business right now. As a small business owner who must now rely exclusively on online sales, this would make a huge difference to our struggling community. Thank you. 

[4pawsrehab]

We are allowed to stay open but are running out of gloves to swipe people’s cards with and don’t want to take even more of a hit with the higher manual card entree fees! I can’t seem to find a way to actually contact a human being at square and noticed they hadn’t answered someone who posted the same question on here....

[AxelsGallery]

This is a public plea to the Square organization to please waive the additional fee to process a credit card manually. Right now the President of the US is asking non-essential businesses to close in an effort to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus. My business is scheduling deliveries (the cost of which is not refunded to the business) to return the finished goods to the customers. My customers want to pay over the phone or via Square Invoice. This means my business will loose even more of the sale. I'm pleading with Square to PLEASE WAIVE THE FEES ASSOCIATED WITH MANUAL CREDIT CARD ENTRY. In a time like this, all of our small businesses need as much help as they can get.

[GlassJudy]

Many, many businesses have asked for fees to be reduced or waived.  Square continues to evaluate ways to help out, but as of yet they haven't announced anything about this.  See and bookmark this article to be kept up to date on what they're doing.

[MMCOOKIES]

We, too, are a super small business that has changed our way of operating to curbside pickup and FREE delivery.  We require customers to use their bank cards or credit cards and we manually enter them.  The fee that Square is charging for this manual entry is higher as well as the per "swipe" fee.  I just got off the phone with a Square representative and the only answer I got was "at this time, Square is not considering adjusting the manual entry percent that they collect nor the per entry fee." The representative could not answer my question as to why Square charges a higher fee for this method to begin with.

SMALL BUSINESS NEEDS ALL THE HELP WE CAN GET - I DON'T WANT A LOAN!  We are here working to keep our business running during this very difficult time.  We need to still pay our lease, utilities, insurances, supplies, and what is left of our employees.  Give us a SMALL break!  We use your services year-round and ask that during this time - you help us out with a 1% decrease in your manual fee.  1%, Yep, we count every cent.  We are small business.

[droidbaker]

I agree!! Help us out!! Apparently I know someone who got $4,000 in free processes fees last week when she called in.  I have asked by phone and email and nothing.  I don't even need that much even is maybe $1,000-$2,000 in free processing would be appreciated.