Starting a tab with a card

[HMC12]

Does Square intend on offering the option to start a customer's tab by swiping the card? My customers are surprised and usually unhappy that I have to hold on to their card.  A lot of the time, they will close out immediately, and do so every time they order a beer.  Now, I am paying the fee on a $4 charge for the same customer, multiple times throughout the night, instead of just one time.  All because they don't want their card held at the bar.  And I can't blame them.  Most systems offer this 'convenience'.  Does square have any intention of doing this?  I do not mean saving their info in the system so Square has their info on file.  I want simplicity.  Swipe, give the card back, drink & eat, cash them out.  Just like every other bar / restaurant I go to.  This is going to make me leave Square. 

[Candlestore]

@HMC12 ;

As I see this is your first post let me welcome you.

I see this is in the Square POS board.  Square has 3 POS systems.  Standard POS, Square for Retail (Paid and Free), and also Square for Resturants (Paid and Free).   I currently use the Square for Retail on an Ipad.  When using this I can add an item to my Checkout cart and Next to the Charge button there is a Save Cart button.   On the Resturant version this button is marked as Open Checks I believe which sonds like what you want.  

Here is a link for more information : point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing 

For me if a customer comes up and wants xyz and then goes off and looks for other items, I tap save cart, enter a name of description I will remember and then take the next customer.  When the first customer comes back I tap the Saved Carts button and look up Name I assigned to save cart as, open that cart, and either add more items or tap charge if the customer didn't want to add anything else.

I think Open tickets works the same way.

[MayaP · Accepted solution]

Hey there @HMC12 - I see this is your first post in the Seller Community, so I'd like to officially welcome you! 🎉👏

Thank you for your feedback. We understand how frustrating it is for both you and your customers to have to hold onto their cards, leading to multiple transaction fees. Your concern about the simplicity and efficiency of starting a tab by swiping a card is valid and important to us. Our team is currently beta-testing Pre-authorization of cards on bar tabs. Hopefully, this will roll out soon! 🤞

I am sorry I do not have a solution for you currently! Feel free to reach out to me or any of our Seller Community moderators if we can help with anything 😊