An Update to Square’s Refund Policy

Beginning next month, we are updating our refund policy so that processing fees will no longer be returned when sellers issue a full or partial refund to their buyers. We are making this change because Square has always incurred processing fees from our network and payments partners on all transactions at the time of sale. Modifying our refunds policy more accurately reflects that Square does not recoup these costs in full in instances of refunds, and matches current industry standards.

For existing sellers, these changes will go into effect in Australia on April 4, 2023; followed by the U.S on April 11, 2023; the U.K, Ireland, France, and Spain on May 2, 2023; and Canada on June 6, 2023. For new sellers signing up with Square on or after March 1, 2023, our new policy takes immediate effect.

Why We’re Making These Changes

Before introducing our new policy, we conducted a deep analysis of how this change may impact our sellers. Ultimately, many of the verticals our sellers represent, such as restaurants and beauty & personal care businesses, do not experience high volumes of refunds. For sellers prone to a higher refund frequency, like retailers, we are committed to providing support to help them adjust accordingly. This change helps us further reinvest in our platform to provide sellers of all shapes and sizes with innovative commerce solutions, and our new policy will have no effect on the numerous benefits sellers receive when using Square to accept payments, including:

• One processing rate for all major cards
• Payment dispute management
• Out-of-the-box PCI compliance
• 24/7 fraud monitoring
• Fast payouts and transfer of funds

What this means for Afterpay transactions

Afterpay Merchant fees are non-refundable in the event of a refund.

While Square previously returned all Afterpay merchant fees in the event of a refund, the changes we’re making bring Square’s approach in line with Afterpay’s standard refund policy.

Afterpay is an important growth tool for sellers, and a popular budgeting tool for buyers, and in Australia is resistant to refunds with less than 1% of Afterpay transactions being refunded.

More information on Afterpay’s refunds policy can be found here.

Adapting To The New Policy

Sellers that are interested in seeing how this change may impact their business can find a summary of their refund history for a given time period by visiting Square Dashboard → Reports → Sales Summary to learn more. Additionally, sellers can find more information to assist them in accommodating this change by visiting our Help Center, or can use our resources to help them build or modify their own policies to best suit their business’s needs and help control their costs.

We’re appreciative that so many sellers around the world trust Square to help them start, run, grow, and adapt their businesses.