holding my money because my customer spent $1215. Have to submit all sorts of documents? really

[kosmickornerinc]

A customer spends $1215, via facetime with me because they live in a different State. Now because that charge is a little higher then the normal charge. Square is holding my money. They require my ID, Invoice for the purchase, Bank statements and a ton of other documents. The charge is legit, I have been using square for a few years now. I have never had charge backs or any issues. I am not submitting anything, I will call them when they are in, and they WILL release my money.

Not acceptable at all!!!!

[TheRealChipA]

Hi @kosmickornerinc.  Sorry to hear about the delay in getting your funds.  Hopefully, I can explain this a little.  

Square is probably not the one who is holding your money.  You mentioned a few things that are almost always automatic red flags — customer spending via FaceTime (which I assume means you keyed in the card number, etc, manually) AND the fact that the charge is higher than normal AND the fact that the customer is out of state.  It sounds like all three of these are different from most of your transactions, right?  If so any one of these can cause Mastercard, or even the customer’s card-issuing bank, to question the charge.  If they think it is suspicious, they will instruct Square to investigate and they will withhold money from Square until the investigation is completed.

Most likely someone — the card network (Mastercard, etc), the customer’s card-issuing bank, or even the customer themselves — is disputing or questioning the charge.  That’s a fact.  If Square approved the transaction, it is probably not Square who is doing this.  But federal law says that once someone questions the charge, they have to investigate.  Period.

If you do not follow the process then you definitely will not get your money.  Whoever is questioning this charge will assume that your lack of an answer means that the charge is bogus and they will refuse to pay Square.  If Square doesn’t get paid, you don’t get paid.  It’s as simple as that.

I hope it gets resolved soon.  But it won’t if you don’t follow the process.

[kosmickornerinc]

The Customer is actually a Friend of mine, who has a business in Texas and bought out some specific Inventory I had. I asked her to call her bank, and let them know the charge is legit.

Square is treating me like a criminal and I don't appreciate it. I don't have Invoices for the sale. I don't use a POS system, Nor did she require an Invoice. I don't have time in my day for this, I run my shop alone. 

[TheRealChipA]

I understand, believe me.  But Square is not treating you like a criminal.  They are following the steps that the law requires.  Someone is questioning this, and it is either your customer’s bank or their card network.  You can’t change the fact that someone has questioned this charge.  You have to go through the process of proving it is legitimate, now.  If you don’t, the money won’t ever be transferred to Square so that they can remit it to you.  Hopefully, once your customer calls their bank to verify the charge, it will all be ok.  But, if it is not resolved in your favor, you can’t ask Square to give you money that they never received.  It’s not their responsibility.

The money is not lost forever.  If the money isn’t released by whoever is holding it, then your customer won’t be out the money since it would be returned to their account, eventually.  Then you can have that customer send you the money another way.

Good luck.