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Use Card on File with Square for Restaurants app

Use Card on File with Square for Restaurants to easily receive payment from repeat customers:

  • Securely add and store payment cards in your Customer Directory from your Restaurants app or online Square Dashboard.

  • Seamlessly charge your customers’ stored payment cards or Square Gift Cards.

  • Safely carry out your business with Square handling PCI compliance and authorisation on your behalf.

Note: You must have written authorisation from your customer to save their payment card. Make sure to keep authorisation forms on file and store them securely to help prevent payment disputes.

Add Card on File

With Card on File enabled, you can link payment cards to customer profiles from both the app and your online Square Dashboard.

To turn on Card on File:

  1. From your online Square Dashboard navigate to Settings > Devices > Point of Sale.

  2. From a device, scroll to Customer Engagement and enable Allow charging and saving cards to customer profiles to save your customers’ payment card information from your in-app Customer Directory.

  3. To save a card after a sale, you can choose to enable Show in customer directory only or Show in customer directory and after checkout to save card used in transaction.

Add Card on File from the Restaurants App

There are three options for adding a card on file via the Square for Restaurants app:

  • At the beginning of a new sale.

  • After a sale.

At the beginning of a new sale

  1. From the New Sale screen, tap Actions > Customer.
  2. Select an existing customer or tap Create Customer to enter your new customer’s name and information.
  3. Tap Add Card to swipe or manually enter in the card number, expiry date, and CVV. Tap Next.
  4. Confirm the customer’s email address so you can send digital receipts for purchases. Tap Next.
  5. Enter the postcode to authorise the card for future purchases. Tap Agree and Save Card.
  6. A Card and Customer Profile Saved confirmation message will appear. Click Done to return to the customer profile.
  7. Once the card is added, tap Add to Sale to add items to the customer’s bill.

After a sale

  1. Add the items to the bill.
  2. At checkout, select Manually enter card details. Enter the card details and follow the prompts.
  3. After the sale is complete, tap the card icon in the top left hand corner next to New Sale button. Select Save Card.
  4. Enter the passcode and search for an existing customer or tap Save Card to New Customer to create a new profile.
  5. Follow steps 4-6 above to continue to the receipt page.

Note: Phone numbers cannot be used for Card on File notifications.

Manually save a payment card to your Customer Directory

You can also manually link one or more payment cards to customers saved to your Customer Directory. To do so:

  1. Visit Directory under Customers in your online Square Dashboard.

  2. Select an existing customer.

  3. Select Actions > Add Card.

  4. Use the template form to confirm you have your customer’s permission to store their payment card information. To do so, select Download Form > send the template to your customer. Note: You must have written authorisation from your customer to save their payment card. Make sure to keep authorisation forms on file and store them securely.

  5. Select Continue.

  6. Enter the card details > click Save.

Charge a Card on File with Square for Restaurants app

Note: A processing fee of 2.2% per transaction is applied at the time an invoice is paid with a credit or debit card.

With Open Bills

  1. Add items to your customer's bill or enter a custom amount.

  2. Tap Actions > Customers to add the customer to the sale.

  3. Select a customer with a card on file or create a new customer profile to add new card details.

  4. Tap Pay.

  5. Card on File displays as a new tender type at the bottom of the screen. Tap Charge next to the card on file that you would like to use for the payment.

  6. Complete the payment flow.

When you charge a customer’s card on file, a receipt is automatically sent to the email address associated with their customer profile.

Unlink a Card on File

You can unlink and remove your customers’ cards on file from their profile in your Customer Directory under Edit Personal Information.

Your customers can also remove their own cards by following the link provided to them on all card on file notifications. Customers will receive notifications when their card is stored, when their email address is changed, and when a payment is made using a card on file. The link on these notifications will take them to their Card on File Dashboard, where they can view and remove the cards on file associated with your business.

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