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!

[Denise3]

Just set up my square for restaurant register.   I have a small restaurant and about 85% is phone orders for take out.  How do I hold payment but continue to process the ticket?  

[ashc]

Hi @Denise3 and welcome to the Community.

I moved your post to a thread where this question has been answered already.

Check out the Best Answer above for details on how we don't offer pre-authorizations.

In the future, don't hesitate to search your question first here or on the Support Center for your quickest answer too!

[Denise3]

Wow!    I really wish I knew this before I purchased your register system.    I realize there is always the option to take payment when order is phoned in, but the fees are higher when manually entered.   

[Leequa]

The admins here like to push the no-show protection but they don't actually protect you. Crappy clients will use a pre-paid card, fake card, or remove their card after scheduling an appointment and then you are out money.  SOL! Square gives you the option of having clients fully pre-pay, but this doesn't help/work for my particular business. Wouldn't it make more sense if Square gave users the option to charge a percentage of the services (like what one would charge if that person did a no-show), so that it lessens the stress of collecting that fee and doesn't fully punish honest clients by making them pay the full amount?  Makes too much sense. Yes, I'm angry!!  During Covid my schedule is severely limited and it hurts me when I don't have any protection and can't fill that slot.

[elponce]

Not sure how you can offer & promote a POS for Restaurants & Bars and not offer this feature- this is a feature even the worst of the worst point of sale systems include.  Customers expect this feature from us, and they don't care that Square doesn't offer it, they expect any place that has a bar to be able to carry an open tab for them.  Here are some examples of why this is an issue for us:

• We have lost business during Covid because the passing back & forth of cards is not attractive
• Running a card multiple times is annoying to our guests
• This also costs us merchants more since there is a per transaction charge with square- hoping this isn't the reason this feature hasn't been added in over 6 years of request on this forum. 
• If someone runs a card for multiple separate transactions in a short time, it usually ends up getting flagged as fraudulent by their bank and denied, causing them to have to call and verify.
• We do not hold cutomer cards or hold tabs without info because many times the card is left behind or the tab isn't paid, which none of us can afford especially now
• Adding a card on file and creating a customer profile is not an option for fast paced service environments
• Keeping a card on file for a guest isn't something you should suggest to restaurants- you have to go in later and remove the guest card information, as their expectation is that the information is not kept on file longer than their tab is open
• We left Aloha for square and even they had a tab feature
• Many hospitality owners will not consider a platform without this feature- I know we wouldn't have signed up if I had known this wasn't an option, and will be looking for another system for our next location if this isn't added by the time we need to set up our POS as it is a bar concept and completely unacceptable to not have tabs at a bar.

[cantrellr]

How this is not a feature makes me concerned  the developers and designers of Square are wildly disconnected from the practical use of their product

[DrumBrew]

Y’all need to get after the card pre authorization thing. It’s literally the only thing you don’t do. 

[TJ4]

This is ridiculous. All of Square's major competitors have this option. You have a huge development team and your stock prices are soaring. Fix this issue. 

[Deuces]

Unfortunately we are going to jump ship!

We did not realize that this was not a feature of open tickets when we bought our hardware. In fact, it’s more shocking that the Square team members responding to this thread are so clueless as to why their bar customers even want this!?!

We have not yet opened and are glad we figured this out in time to save our customers great inconvenience, and ourselves potential revenue loss.  

That said, we learned this after our return window closed, so if anyone wants a discounted brand new (never used other than some testing) square stand kit, case of receipt paper, and handheld terminal, we have them to sell! Fortunately we will be able to return the second kit we just ordered. 

[Deuces]

That’s nice that you think we should feel empowered to run our businesses. 

It’s sad that no one at Square seems to be empowered to help us do so!