Saving Credit Cards for open tickets

[longtab]

We are have a growing problem with walkouts, and unlike every other POS out there we cannot swipe a card to open a ticket - so when they walk we lose.  This is such a simple fix for Square that could really help us prevent losses.   

[crystalimages]

I don't know why square hasn't implemented this. I have a friend who uses square for a small bar and they have to hold the card until the customer closes out. But this means people forget their cards and they have to hold them the whole time. It's fairly common practice for small bars, but I doubt it would be well received in a restaurant. 

I recently came across Addmi which processes transactions through your square account, but has its own interface that allows you to authorize a card ahead of time. Unfortunately, you would have to rebuild your item library, I didn't see a way to import it. It costs $0.15 per transaction, which apparently you can pass on to the customer. Might be worth looking into for you.

addmi.com

[JJ_]

Hey there @longtab 👋

The Square feature you are needing should be available with our Open Tickets feature. If you are already using Open Tickets you may follow these steps to be able to add a Card on File to an Open Ticket:

Note: If you use a customer’s credit card to create a new open ticket, the card will not be charged at that time and their payment information will not be stored within the app. If it’s available, only the cardholder’s name will be associated to the new open ticket. You can override the cardholder name at any time by updating the ticket name.

Open a ticket before a Sale:

1. Tap Keypad > Tickets.
2. Tap New Ticket or swipe the customer’s payment card.
3. Enter a ticket name > Save.
4. Add items or custom amounts to the ticket.
5. Tap Save.

Create a ticket during a Sale:

1. Add items or custom amounts to the sale > tap Save.
2. Tap New Ticket or swipe the customer’s payment card to create a new ticket.
3. Enter the ticket information > Save.

I hope this information is helpful. Please let me know if you have other questions regarding Open Tickets.

[longtab]

The major risk that Square causes for our business is the inability to prevent losses from walkouts.  We need a way to quickly save a customers payment information so if they walk we can close it out and we do not lose money.  Quite literally, every other bar/restaurant POS system offers this except Square.  

If, when opening a ticket with their card, the payment information is not stored how will this help us?  

[JJ_]

I do understand the situation. Many restaurants and businesses do suffer from walkouts daily. However the best way to prevent this situation is by increasing server waitress awareness and if you work with open tickets making sure that employees are keeping cards on file for every open ticket. Without a card on file we have no way to assist with charging a customer for their walkout.

I will pass this experience and feedback over to our Product teams so they can take this into consideration and possibly include it in future development.

Thank you for taking the time to voice your concern and share details about your experience @longtab.

[cantrellr]

And that answer is the essence of why we are leaving Square. Most other platforms do not require the card to be held. I go to restaurants, bars, taprooms, all the time, and they do not need to keep my card.  And, when they do, I know they use Square. When I ask to keep a customer's card, now, they are surprised. So, we will move on to a new platform. Square has had eons to address this. It may as well be a bug, given how egregious an omission it is.

[longtab]

Seriously though - can we get a real answer whether this is even in the works?  People have been asking for this feature for years but whenever someone asks about it we get the same canned answer.  Is it actually being worked on or is this something that will actually never happen?  Just looking for some honesty so we can make a critical business decision.  We have grown to a point this is a MUST have and we are losing money we shouldn't be - and if Square isn't going to follow through then we need to move on to another system.  I'd like a firm yes or no and an ETA on when it will be implemented.  

Thanks. 

[cantrellr]

This feature gets asked for over and over. It is far and away the most requested feature. And the answer usually goes something like this: "At the moment, we do not have an ETA on whether or not opening a tab will be a feature implemented into Square. Our Product Team is constantly improving our products based on feedback like this." or some similar BS. Its clear they have no intention of fixing this. I suspect support results in a margin hit to them vis-a-vis thru the card servicer or some such. I'd pay a tick more for the feature. In any case, I wouldn't call this a missing feature at this point. ALL other platforms have it. Sometimes a missing critical feature might as well be classified as a bug. This bug impacts our bottomline and quality of customer service. So, we plan to leave the platform as soon as we choose and integrate a new platform. You can give up on the wait for this to be addressed, I promise you.

[cantrellr]

Open Tabs has never been the problem. It is that I have to hold the customer's credit card. ALL other POS systems no longer require that, I can give the card right back as soon as it is swiped when the tab is opened. If the customer walks out, you can charge the card that you swiped when they opened the tab.

It is has been a long time since I had to leave my credit card with a bar or restaurant. They give it right back. If I walk out and forget to close out, they charge my card at the end of the evening and usually add a 20% tip.

[MayaP]

Hi @cantrellr,

Thanks for reaching out!

I hear you completely, and understand the inconvenience of having to hold the card. 

Although it might not seem like it Square is attempting to figure out a way to enable a feature so you won't have to that anymore. 

This thread will certainly be updated once that feature is available, you can always keep track as well on your end from the ideate board. 

Thank you providing your feedback how not having this feature affects your business. 

[sarakbarr]

I also wanted to add my feedback/feature request for this feature (although tons of people have already requested this). Because we can't store the card information in the system with a swipe when we open a ticket, people will opt to not open a tab so we won't keep their card, which loses us money. 

Every other POS system offers this feature - Toast, Aloha, etc. The feature has been requested for *years*. We are also considering leaving Square due to the lack of ability to save card information on opening a ticket (without saving as a customer/entering all their information). 

[crystalimages]

For anyone who didn't see this previously, maybe it will be an option for you.

I recently came across Addmi which processes transactions through your square account, but has its own interface that allows you to authorize a card ahead of time. Unfortunately, you would have to rebuild your item library, I didn't see a way to import it. It costs $0.15 per transaction, which apparently you can pass on to the customer. 

[OHBCAdmin]

So we have found a work around with square but its ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS that is this difficult.  You can save a card but you have to add a customer, we just use first and last name (get it from the card they gave you), then save it, then click on the customer name and click "view full profile" and THEN you can go to the cards that are on file and add one. Its a HUGE PAIN in the **bleep** and takes a long time to setup a new customer and even to get a customer setup that is currently in the system, especially when there is a line, but that's what we do.  its absurd that EVERY other POS that i have EVER heard of can do a pre-auth on the card, very quickly.  But Square, who is a VERY popular POS cant.  I inherited the Square system with the business but I can tell you we will find another solution sooner than later.  After seeing the responses from "support" on this thread an others, it is making me want to jump ship a lot sooner.  They OBVIOUSLY don't listen to their customer or give 2 **bleep**s about what we need.  And paying 15cents a transaction and doing it through a whole other app is NOT the solution.  At least for us.  

***UPDATE***

There is a way to add a pre-auth for cards now but the feature is "in beta" and its definitely NOT perfect. in-fact I found posts about a year ago from the admins here saying it was in beta then so its definitely not a priority to them. We tried it so far for 1 night and it worked ok.  Definitely missed info from the card swipe (only got the last name on certain transactions) but not too bad.  Will update this when I have used it a little more.  

For those interested in checking it out this is what i did: 

Install open tickets:

https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/5337-use-open-tickets-with-square

turn on pre-auth:

https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/8058-bar-tabs-with-pre-authorization-for-square-point-of-sal...

There are other options in there to so take a look at the settings and use what you need.