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Accept Payments on Square Register

Once you’ve set up your Square Register, you can start processing payments right away.

Taking Payments with Square Register

Position the customer display so your customers can easily see it and pay with their cards and devices. To take a payment, build your cart and tap Charge. Learn more about accepted cards with Square.

Contactless

Ask your customer to hold a contactless device or card near the contactless logo to trigger the payment.

Chip + PIN

Ask your customer to insert a chip card into the card slot on the customer display. If prompted, your customer can select their preferred account after inserting their card. And if asked, your customer can enter their PIN for their purchase on the customer display. Ensure that the chip card remains in place until the sale is complete.

Note: The front of the card should face upwards if the customer display is docked, and towards your customer, if the customer display is undocked. All major credit and INTERAC debit chip cards can be accepted with the customer display.

Swipe

Ask your customer to swipe a magstripe-only card through the magstripe reader on the customer display. Customers can swipe in either direction.

Docked Display Undocked display

Add Images to Your Customer Display

To get started, you can upload your image, then configure the appearance from your Square Register. To do so:

  1. Go to Settings > Account & Settings from your online Square Dashboard.

  2. Click Business information > Locations.

  3. Select the location you’d like to update or create a new one.

  4. Scroll to Point of Sale Checkout Background, and click the + icon in the image box to upload your image.

  5. Click Save.

To configure your customer display and image settings:

  1. On your Square Register, tap More at the bottom of the screen.

  2. Select Settings > Hardware > Customer Display.

  3. Toggle on Show Profile Image on Idle Screen.

Note: Instructions provided above are based on the latest Square Point of Sale experience. If you have not yet upgraded, tap the switcher at the top of your Square Register screen, select Checkout and then under Appearance, tap Upgrade to the new Square Point of Sale.

Connect Hardware Accessories

The USB accessory hub lets you connect a cash drawer, printer or barcode scanner to Register via USB. Learn more about supported point of sale hardware accessories for Square Register.

Note: Charging USB devices is not supported by the Hub USB ports.

Take Payments in Offline mode

Square Register requires an internet connection at all times to function properly. If your internet connection becomes interrupted or temporarily unavailable, you can enable Offline mode to accept swipe, tap and insert card payments and digital payments like Google Pay and Apple Pay. Offline payments are processed automatically when you reconnect your device to the internet and may be declined if not processed within24 hours.

To enable Offline mode from your online Square Dashboard:

  1. Go to Settings > Devices.

  2. Select an existing device to update, or click Create a Point of Sale

  3. Toggle on Offline mode

  4. Set the maximum amount allowed per transaction for payments accepted in Offline mode. 

  5. Click Save.

Once enabled, Offline mode will automatically activate whenever your internet connectivity is unavailable. You will see a banner at the top of your Square Register screen indicating it has automatically entered Offline mode. 

For your team members to enable or disable Offline mode, they will need to have the Configure Checkout Settings box checked in their Permission setting. Team Members without this permission granted can still process payments in Offline mode, but will be unable to enable or disable Offline mode.

When operating in Offline mode, there is an additional risk with any payments you accept. Square is not responsible for any loss due to declined cards or expired payments are taken while offline or for chargebacks. In addition, Square cannot contact any customers on your behalf should a payment decline or expire when taken in Offline mode. You will also be unable to add customers or cards on filecards to your offline sales.

If you’ve recently accepted payments while offline and have not yet uploaded them, do not delete and reinstall the Square Point of Sale app or factory-reset your Square Register. Doing so will delete any offline payments you have not uploaded.

Learn more about Offline Mode.

Supported Point of Sale Features

Square Register allows you to do a lot more than take payments. Learn more about what your device can do:

Point of Sale features:

Specialized Point of Sale apps:

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