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]

So sorry for the confusion here, @Amanda_Bierock @FarmAndBar and others!

Pre-Authorization recently became available to all users of Square for Restaurants (Free, Premium, and Plus), and you should be able to turn in on by following the instructions in this support article, via the Dashboard and device settings.

Enable and Configure Pre-Authorization Bar Tabs

If you are using Square for Restaurants and aren't able to enable Pre-Auth by following these steps, please reach out to our support team for assistance.

For businesses that use Square Point of Sale, there is not currently a way to access Pre-Authorization.  While we did run a Beta test last year for Pre-Authorization on Point of Sale, it has been discontinued and Square for Restaurants is the only application that currently supports this functionality.

The team developing Pre-Authorization decided last summer to focus their efforts on Pre-Auth within Square for Restaurants and discontinued the Beta and development of Pre-Auth for Point of Sale.

Some testers who participated in the Point of Sale Beta we ran last year may still have access via their open tickets settings on individual devices (like @ryanwanner) but accounts that were not enrolled in that Beta feature last summer can no longer be added.

@nika I hope this context is helpful when these questions come up - it can be confusing because at times we had a POS Beta on the way.  It's understandable when it's been a request for so long 🙂

Andy
Beta Specialist

[#3]

Hello all! We are so excited to let the community know that this feature is now available for Square for Restaurants! For more information on enabling and configuring preauthorization for bar tabs, check out this help article. Respond here if you have any questions, and thanks for your patience while our team built this out. We appreciate you!

️ Kristen
Square Community Manager
Product Engagement

[#4]

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!

[HRBrewing]

Not working for me either. View Details only opens a window offering to open OPEN TICKETS app which just brings you back to checkout screen. Getting pretty worn out waiting for Square to get this working. 6 years I've been waiting. 

[flounderbrewing]

none of my devices (square POS, iPad, iPhone) show preauth...

Square says to do the below but when I goto device management there is no service settings tab...

1. Sign in to your Square Dashboard and select Device Management > Service Settings > Bar tabs pre-auth. 

2. Select Pre-Authorization > Enable Pre-Authorization. 

3. Set a Minimum pre-authorization amount.

4. Select Enable. 

[nika]

Thanks for the tag @ryanwanner !

@FarmAndBar @Amanda_Bierock - I've reached out to my friend @AndySQ to get some clarity. Will report back as soon as I hear back.

[Amanda_Bierock]

@collabman @HRBrewing where is "View Details" in the Square Point of Sale app? I don't see it

[AndySQ]

So sorry for the confusion here, @Amanda_Bierock @FarmAndBar and others!

Pre-Authorization recently became available to all users of Square for Restaurants (Free, Premium, and Plus), and you should be able to turn in on by following the instructions in this support article, via the Dashboard and device settings.

Enable and Configure Pre-Authorization Bar Tabs

If you are using Square for Restaurants and aren't able to enable Pre-Auth by following these steps, please reach out to our support team for assistance.

For businesses that use Square Point of Sale, there is not currently a way to access Pre-Authorization.  While we did run a Beta test last year for Pre-Authorization on Point of Sale, it has been discontinued and Square for Restaurants is the only application that currently supports this functionality.

The team developing Pre-Authorization decided last summer to focus their efforts on Pre-Auth within Square for Restaurants and discontinued the Beta and development of Pre-Auth for Point of Sale.

Some testers who participated in the Point of Sale Beta we ran last year may still have access via their open tickets settings on individual devices (like @ryanwanner) but accounts that were not enrolled in that Beta feature last summer can no longer be added.

@nika I hope this context is helpful when these questions come up - it can be confusing because at times we had a POS Beta on the way.  It's understandable when it's been a request for so long 🙂

Andy
Beta Specialist

[bab_jj]

I've reached out to support. We use Square for Restaurants and we can't see any mention of Bar tabs pre-auth under Device Management > Service Settings

[Amanda_Bierock]

@AndySQ Well that stinks. So the only way to get this is to move to Square for Restaurants which would cost us $100 a month since we have 3 countertop devices (Square Register, Square Stand with iPad, and "stand alone" iPad).

[AndySQ]

Hi @Amanda_Bierock I definitely see what you mean here, and it's worth looking at the cost vs. benefit when thinking through changing the application you use 👍

For now at least, what you decide does depend on how important Pre-Authorization is to your business.  I am passing along feedback like yours to the team overseeing our development and rollout of Pre-Authorization, and we want to find the best way to make these options available to all of the businesses that need them.

If you'd like to get a better idea of how Square for Restaurants would work, you can opt into Square for Restaurants Free at no cost and test out Pre-Authorization on a single countertop unit.  This lets you minimize that monthly expense and introduce your staff to the Restaurants interface, to see if it's a good fit moving forward and if that monthly cost is worth paying to extend it to all of your countertop units.

If you'd like to talk though your options in more detail or talk through your needs, I'd be happy to put you in touch with our development team for a call - they're interested in hearing from real-world business owners and may have other suggestions for unlocking Pre-Auth and keeping your monthly costs reasonable.

Andy
Beta Specialist

[flounderbrewing]

@AndySQ  can you put me in touch with them?  It's terrible I have to get square for restaurants to use it.  We only serve beer as a brewery, no table service but a bar that has 4 POS readers, we don't need a ticketing system for orders.  To say we can see if pre authorization is worth it is a terrible view point, it's only being offered at a high cost with tons of other things that many of us do NOT need in square for restaurants.  Why not offer an in between?

we've waited years and this has been the worst roll out ever.  No where has it been clear the availability is only in square for restaurants. You guys got us all set for it and then limited it.  

[AndySQ]

@flounderbrewing Certainly 🙂 - Thank you for weighing in.

I'm reaching out via DM to arrange a time and date that works for you.