Introducing Build your Contract with Square

[kfeks]

Hi Community Friends!

Over the last few months I’ve been working closely with sellers who want to learn more about how to accept credit card payments while ensuring their business is protected. A key pain point for sellers when they make the decision to accept credit card payments is the threat or occurrence of a chargeback.  While we do everything we can to monitor your account for potential fraud, Square wants to do more to help you understand what you need to do in order to best protect your business from non-fraud disputes and ensure you get paid for the work you do.

One of the best ways to avoid misunderstandings or late payment is to have a contract in place with your customer, particularly for larger pieces of work where your customers have very specific preferences. You may be thinking that sounds like overkill -- and it probably is for certain types of businesses like coffee shops or restaurants. But for freelancers or business owners who work on a project basis or in wholesale, a contract is a key step you can take upfront that can help you through a difficult scenario down the road.

So, starting today, we’re excited to announce that you can now build your contract with Square!* To start, here are two contract templates that you can use to prepare a contract that fits your needs.

1. Service Based Contract Template
2. Sale of Goods Contract Template

Here’s how it works:

1. Choose the template that best suits your business (sale of goods or provision of services)
2. Download the template with the link above
3. Follow the instructions to prepare the contract
4. Save your contract and send it to your customer (remember to get a signature upon agreement!)

We know that there are plenty of businesses out there that may be looking for additional detail or different templates. Don’t worry, we’re just getting started. We would LOVE your feedback on what works for you and what you would like to see in the future.

Do any of you already have a contract service that you use for your business? What has been most helpful for you to manage and track all of your sales and customers? Feel free to comment below with any questions or feedback, thanks!

*Square is not a law firm, an attorney or a professional advisor in any industry. Square provides this template to individuals who choose to prepare their own contractual documents and does not constitute legal advice.

[RemaEvents]

@kfeks I would be happy to!

[Nick808]

I also would love to see square integrate an e-sign or agreement authorization box.

For example, having the ability to input your service agreement or contract within square, then giving someone the option to Agree to terms of service via checkbox in order to pay an invoice would be great.

Im currently using this functionality from another tool and would really like to see square add this to their functions.

[kfeks]

Thanks for the feedback @Nick808 ! We're working on supporting something similar for our Beta product. What tool are you currently using that you enjoy?

[Remscape]

Was an update implemented that allowed the means to digitally send an agreement/contract that could be signed and returned digitally? 

[kfeks]

Hi @Remscape,

Thanks for the question! We are currently in Beta. If you're interested in trying out the Dashboard Beta product version, please direct message me the email address associated with your Square Account and I can go ahead and add you.

[ashleywatts]

I’d love to try this out! 

[personal information redacted]

[kfeks]

Hi @ashleywatts ! I just added you to the Beta. See here for FAQ and overview of how to find it in your Dashboard and a guide on how to use it.

[Joe]

We are stoked to hear about your interest, @ashleywatts! I would like to include a friendly reminder to refrain from using any personal information here on the Community - due to it being a public platform 😎 Just to be safe, I went ahead and redacted your email.

Thanks so much! 

[Remscape]

Awesome!  Thank you so much!  I just sent you a private message.  

[LizBaronStylist]

I would love to see detailed contracts for trichology or more medical side of hair skin and nails. 

[Joe]

Thanks for adding your voice here in support of this feature, @LizBaronStylist! We absolutely love to hear suggestions for what our Sellers are looking for in terms of expanded services. More than happy to pass your request along as a Feature Request.

Thanks, again! 

[APW]

Hello,

First, I love the ability to create a specific contract tailored to my business needs, I would however like to see a more seamless integration into the customer communication process.

I realize contracts can be added to the invoicing process, but as a field services related company, invoicing is after the project has been completed in most cases. I need written confirmation of my Terms of Service before the service is rendered.

I would like to see the ability to add contracts to the email communication process at the point of estimate acceptance or possibly at an interval in the Confirmation/Reminder notifications page. This would allow for me to receive the needed authorization/service agreement in a timely manner without me having to manually send this to each customer.

Thanks for any consideration you can give to this process in making service related companies contract automation easier.  

[kfeks]

Thanks for the feedback @APW ! Making this available for the Estimate stage is something we're evaluating on our roadmap for future improvements, so this is valuable feedback. We will be introducing a feature that allows you to associate an Estimate or Invoice to the Contracts from the Contracts creation flow, which will be available first before introducing Contracts in the Estimates flow. This will allow you to share both with your customer before the payment takes place as well, but we are continuing to evaluate ways to further integrate between services to help reduce the manual effort currently required.

[Medallion]

Instead of a manual contract, for us to use this service you should integrate an online electronic contract service such as Certify with the online Square invoices. We are a home inspection business, and every one of our customers signs a contract we generate using Sertifi, and they pay us a deposit that we now take over the phone and enter manually into Square. If you can integrate the 2 so that we can only enter the information 1x we would be a buyer

[kfeks]

Thanks @Medallion - our new Square Contracts solution does allow for creation/management of contracts electronically from Dashboard. We just released an initial integration between Square Contracts and Square Invoices as well. 

I am interested in hearing more about what other features in particular you use with Sertifi that you'd want to see in the future for Square Contracts.

[mlauchli]

I'm very happy about the addition of contracts to Square!

What I've noticed, though, is I haven't found a way to either edit or delete a contract once it has been sent to a customer. Sometimes negotiations over a contract must be made, and being able to edit after sending would be super great. 

[kfeks]

Thanks @mlauchli for the feedback! 

The team is actively working on our first feature to support changes as described. Keep an eye out, as we hope to launch a Beta for this feature this year and collect feedback from sellers like yourself to continue improving it. 

[BeautyReigns]

I have a small business providing publishing services. I love the contracts feature, as it has allowed me to streamline my process and reduce the number of platforms I use for onboarding new clients. One improvement that I think would be beneficial for all is an automation for contracts to send once payment is received for services. This would change the game for me, as it would free up time that would be better used preparing for and managing the projects. Current

[ABI-Inspector]

Are the contracts esign compliant (official e-sign software) and if there was a legal case can we pull date and time of signed contract along with IP address?

[_Violet]

Hi there, @ABI-Inspector - Thanks for reaching out to us here on the Seller Community.

I'm not sure of the answer to this one myself, so I'm going to consult with the Square Contracts team on this one to get the best answer for you. 

I'll reach back out to you here once I gather more info!

[_Violet]

Apologies for the delay here, @ABI-Inspector.

The Contacts Team confirmed our contracts will contain the recipient's IP address, date and time signed. You can read more about using Square Contacts here in our Support Center.

I hope this information is helpful but please do let me know if you have any additional questions.