Beating a Dead Horse but it needs to be: Preauthorization

[FarmAndBar]

We need to be able to preauthorize credit cards when running a tab. Period.  We really enjoyed the low buy in and easy menu development and a couple of the other features, but a bar/restaurant needs to be able to run a tab and preauthorize a credit card.  I've gone back and looked at conversations about it and it appears that this has been a CONSTANT request by users that has gone ignored.

I'd like to know why it isn't available.

[#2]

Pre-Authorization for Bar Tabs Update ⭐
Hi everyone - I'm Hadley, from the F&B product team. First of all, thank you SO MUCH for continuing to share all the feedback here over the years, we know how important the Bar Tabs feature is. For anyone who is not aware, this feature is currently in beta in the US for Square for Restaurants POS. 

➡️ You can join the beta community here and our beta team will enable feature to your account. You can find the support article for getting set up on RST POS here. 

As a reminder, when a feature is in beta, there is still some engineering work happening to iron out the smaller bugs and optimizing the experience for our sellers and their customers. If you choose to participate in the beta testing, please share any feedback (good or bad 😄) to our beta team at betafeedback@squareup.com so we can learn how it is working for you and your staff.  

Thank you!

[ORSLLC]

The title of this post has been edited from the original: How can I pre authorize a card?

We run a business where our customers "rent" an item. Before they rent they have to put their credit card on file for a $250 deposit.  If they do not return the item their card gets charged the $250.

Lately we've had a lot of this item walking away and cards being declined.

Is there a way to check to make sure the funds/card is good before we accept that card for the deposit? And avoid when we go to charge the card the $250 deposit and the card getting declined?

Thanks

[mremele]

I don't believe Square has a way to simply verify an account. However, you could charge the $250 then immediately refund it (or refund when the item is returned).  When you refund an item, Square returns all the funds back to the customer and to you. It doesn't cost anything.

[Gaswork]

Ummm, why was my post moved here?! It has absolutely NOTHING to do with recurring charges the OP asked about. My question had to do with putting a hold on a certain amount of funds on a persons credit card. If the person breaks the appointment then the amount of the hold would be charged to the card. If the person followed through with the appointment, then the hold would be released and the full amount would be charged via swiping the card, thereby saving the extra fee of manually entered info vs swipe info.

[DDC]

Can I use square for a deposit on a reservation ?

[Sean]

So sorry for the confusion. We don't currently offer this functionality in our system, but it definitely sounds like it would be useful for your business. Thanks so much for the suggestion. We'll be sure to pass it along to our Product Liaison Team. 

[Sean]

Currently, Square Point of Sale doesn’t offer the ability to pre-authorize cards.
While this feature isn't something that's available right now, we can definitely see how it would be helpful.

We would caution you when considering using refunds a workaround, as the refund process can tie up your customer's money for up to 7 days (depending on their bank). Another option may be to charge a percentage up front as a down payment, and then subtract this amount from their final bill - potentially as a discount.

Another thing to note is that you can use Square Appointments to accept pre-payments for online bookings and to confirm client-booked appointments. Square will authorize the card at the time of booking, and keep a hold on that amount for 3 days. When you go in to confirm the appointment, we'll bill the card.

We recognize that using our Appointments software may not work well for all types of businesses (like equipment rental businesses), but it is an option for those offering service-based business like salons, etc. Learn more about scheduling and setting up appointments. 

[George]

Right now we don't support the collection of security deposits. But we know it'd be helpful for many of our sellers, so it's definitely on our radar.

[bushman4]

We will be using Square for a POS at trade shows to sell on-site available products.  Is it possible to capture a transaction but delay charging a card, in the case where the show inventory is depleted and we want to ship the product from the home office when the show is over?

We'd like to capture all of the customer and credit card information, and then charge the card when the order is released to ship when the show is over... or when the product is back in stock.

Thanks,

Glenn

[Kelly]

Hey Glenn - great question! At the moment, Square does not have the ability to collect a security deposit or pre authorize a card but there are a few things that you can do to make sure your customer gets their item and you get your funds! 

You are able to send your customers a Square Invoice, which will allow you to track your customer's orders that need to be fulfilled after your show is over, but not charge your customer immediately. You are also able to process a refund, if your customer purchases at your show and you are unable to fulfill that order right away. 

[RileyV]

I run an equipment rental business. I would like to preauthorize a deposit on my customers credit card, so incase they do not return the rental, this amount can be charged. How do I set this up? I cannot find any answers online.