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!

[CynthiaJ1970]

We keep cards as well.  Right now we have a filing system that hangs on the wall above the register that we store the cards.  Kind of like a magazine rack, but on a much smaller basis.  We have never had a problem with card theft as we have a camera that is on the register and sees all actions by bartender.  We also have other cameras thru the business that keeps an eye on everything.  My employees are trained to double check with everyone if they see them leaving to make sure they do not leave a card behind.  Some have left them behind; we call the credit card company the next day and let them know their customer left their card at our business.  It is then placed in our safe until such time the customer can come and retrieve it.

[CynthiaJ1970]

PS - Also fogot to add that you can set your settings so that the open tickets screen pops up before every transaction so employees do not forget.

[BSBRick]

What you describe is painfully labor intensive.  I have no desire to hold anyone's credit card.  It is a huge liability.

[CynthiaJ1970]

What it sounds like is you're just lazy and don't cater properly to your customers.  A lot of of businesses hold a card for a tab while the customer is there.  Having the screen pop up showing open tabs helps remind the bartenders that there are cards being held and need to be sure to close the customers tab out before they leave.  A little effort on your end goes a long way in the hospitality business and your customers will appreciate the efforts in the long run thus creating more revenue for you.  And if you believe your employees are going to steal customers credit cards then they shouldn't be working there.  Simple as that.

ALSO - credit cards have insurance basically on them against fraudulent charges so that's why customers are willing to leave their cards with you for an open tab.

[BSBRick]

Hey Cynthia,

Check your attitude, please.  This is a feature request to Square for the benefit of all the Square community, including you.  I would also suggest you read up on PCI compliance and the huge potential liability to businesses that handle customer's cards, and card data in non-compliant ways.

[xyzrent]

Any update on this? We run a rental business and always charge a damage deposit so this is crucial for us. Else we have to charge the full amount including the deposit, charge our guests processing fees (we pass on SQ fees) and then the rental become super expensive (and it is a pain to get the money back to guests).

[EJ_]

@xyzrent Nothing new to report on this at the moment. It's not something that we have on our roadmap, but that can change. If any updates come along we'll be sure to announce it to everyone.  

[AZCorpGames]

This is an important feature for us as well as we are also a rental company.  Anyone that takes a deposit needs this feature.  Square has it together in every aspect other than this.  

[MotoTahoe]

I would like this feature as well. I checked out the Checkfront thing but I don't need those additional services, nor pay for them, just the ability to hold money until the item is returned in the conditioin it left, and partial payments like a rental deposit to hold the date.

[ChezMotMot]

Please also add us to the list requesting pre-authorization of credit cards. Renting our properties on VRBO requires this and it will soon become a hard requirement that our processor needs to offer.

Thank you