Fees and Payments FAQ
Find a POS designed just for your business.
Download the Square Point of Sale app free today, directly on your phone or tablet.
We put together a Square payments fees overview to help educate sellers on Square processing fees along with a list of corresponding FAQ about processing payments with Square.
Square Fees and Pricing Questions
Review details about Square’s processing fees.
You can read more about how processing fees and rates are calculated.
There are no contracts with Square for payment services, so there are no monthly fees charged to accept payments with Square using the standard Point of Sale app.
If you subscribe to one of Square’s specialised software products, you may incur a monthly subscription fee.
No – Square processing fees are only charged on a per-transaction basis. You can take payments with your Square account across multiple devices for free.
You’re able to view and download your sales summaries and fees from the Sales section of your online Square Dashboard.
You can also download fee statements for previous months from your online Square Dashboard. Log in to your Dashboard > select Account & Settings > Business > Fee Invoices.
Square’s fees are charged on a per-transaction basis at the time the payment is taken. When Square transfers funds to your bank account, the fees have already been deducted from the transfer. Square does issue a monthly fee invoice, however the invoice reflects fees already paid and does not reflect an outstanding balance.
No – Square works as a ‘pay as you go’ system and you’re only charged processing fees when you accept a payment. There is no fee or penalty for keeping an inactive account.
If you’ve referred, or have been referred by another business to use Square, you’ll see fee reimbursements reflected in your transfer summaries and in the Transactions tab on your online Square Dashboard or from the POS app.
To view the Transfer Report:
- Visit Banking > Balance > Transfer Reports in your online Square Dashboard > select a transfer.
- You’ll see fees reimbursed in the Free Processing row of the transfer summary.
To view in the Transactions tab:
- Visit the Transactions tab on your online Square Dashboard or from the POS app.
- You’ll see the total fees reflected in the summary section.
Note: If you are using a mobile device to view the Transactions tab, use landscape orientation or view on desktop for best results.
You can also see how much free processing credits you have left under the Get Free Processing section of your Square Dashboard.
Learn more about the Square referral programme.
Payment Questions
We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, VPay and Maestro debit and credit cards. JCB, Discover and China Union Pay are not currently supported.
Your account will not be fully activated to accept payments until you have linked a bank account to your Square account and the bank account has been verified.
Learn how to link and edit your bank account.
Your sales are transferred within 1–2 days (including weekends and holidays) using our automatic standard transfer schedule. If you need access to your funds faster, you can use instant transfers for a small fee.
With Square Card, you can take a payment and get instant access to your money the minute you make a sale. You can spend with your Square Card anywhere that Mastercard® cards are accepted, including in person, online and at ATMs.
Check out your transfer options with Square.
Yes, if the card isn’t present, your reader is out of battery, not working, or the card is damaged and can’t be read, you can manually key in a payment in the Square app. Learn how to enter a payment card manually.
Card-not-present transactions have a higher fee than card-present transactions due to the risk involved with accepting these types of card payments. Make sure you review the best practices for accepting keyed-in payments.
Yes. Refunds processed through Square on a mobile device must be requested and completed within 120 days of the original transaction. Payments refunded via your online Square Dashboard can be refunded within one year of the original transaction date. Once this window has passed, you must issue refunds outside of Square.
Learn how to process refunds.
While you aren’t able to delete any transactions that have been processed through Square, you can process a refund on any payment to keep your books in order.
Yes. If your internet connection becomes interrupted or temporarily unavailable, enable Offline Mode to accept credit card payments. The Square app securely stores the credit card details for 24 hours until the device is reconnected to a Wi-Fi network.
Cards can be declined by the card-issuing bank or by Square if any information is entered incorrectly. Try these payment troubleshooting tips.
Incomplete payments may appear as pending on your customer’s card statement, but they’re not actual charges but simply Square verifying that funds are available, and should fall off your customer’s statement within a few days.
You can add notes to items or custom amounts at the time of sale. The ability to add a note on a completed payment is unavailable. Learn how to add a note to a payment at the time of sale.
Yes, you can accept international magnetic stripe cards without a chip, with the Magnetic Stripe Card Reader included with your Square Reader, or on your Square Terminal or Square Register.
You can accept card payments from your laptop or desktop computer in a couple different ways:
- You can log in to your online Square Dashboard and accept payments with Virtual Terminal.
- You can send a Square Invoice.
- Set up a site with Square Online.
Find answers to questions about your Square account.