Accept Payments with the Square Reader
The Square Reader connects to your compatible device via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), so it’s compatible with a wide range of devices – even ones that don’t have a headphone jack. You accept chip and contactless cards or devices such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, Afterpay Card, and other contactless smartphones and watches. Square Reader is not compatible with Offline Mode at this time.
There are two generations of Square Reader: Square Reader (1st generation) and Square Reader (2nd generation). Processing fees, supported card brands, device setup, and payment acceptance are the same across the generations. Learn more about the differences and how to identify your Square Reader.
Square’s standard processing fee of 1.9% per tap or insert on Square Reader and Square Stand applies to all card payment types – chip cards, contactless, and magstripe. You can read more about how processing fees and rates are calculated. For manually processed payments, the processing fee is 2.2% per transaction.
Note: Bank-issued eftpos cards without a chip can’t be read by the Square Reader.
Accept Contactless (NFC) Payments
Watch this video to learn how to accept contactless payments:
When you’re ready to charge your customer:
Make sure your reader is connected with your device.
From the Square app, add items to your current sale, and then tap Charge to prepare the reader for the payment. Note: If you’re using a mobile device or your tablet is being used in Portrait mode (vertically), tap Review Sale > Charge.
When you see one green light on the reader, it’s ready to take your customer’s payment. Ask your customer to hold their card or mobile wallet over the reader to complete the sale.
When you see four green lights, hear a beep, and see a confirmation in the Square app, the payment has successfully completed.
The current contactless payment limit is up to $200 before the customer is prompted for a PIN with Visa, American Express, and JCB branded cards. Mastercard has resumed a CVM (cardholder verification method) limit of $100 per contactless card payment. Learn more about the contactless card PIN limit increase.
Accept Chip + PIN Payments
Follow these steps to accept chip + PIN payments with both generations of the Square Reader:
Make sure your reader is connected with your device.
Open the Square app, add items to your current sale, and then tap Charge. You can tap Charge before or after the chip card is inserted. Note: If you’re using a mobile device or your tablet is being used in Portrait mode (vertically), tap Review Sale > Charge.
Insert the chip card (chip-side first with the front of the card facing up) into the wide slot on the top of your reader and turn the device screen to the customer for PIN entry.
If prompted to select an account, please ensure your customer selects credit, cheque or savings.
Once PIN has been entered, make sure the customer has tapped the blue tick button.
When you see four green lights on the reader, hear a beep, and see a confirmation message in the app, the payment has successfully completed and you can remove the chip card. If the customer wants a digital receipt, they can enter their phone number or email address on the confirmation screen.
Enable Card Network Sounds
To enable or disable the card network audio tone for the Square POS app at the completion of a successful transaction:
Tap ≡ More.
Tap Settings > Checkout > Payment sounds.
Toggle on or off Allow card network sounds.
If enabled, the tone will only be heard for dipped or tapped on applicable card network debit and credit cards.
For more information, review frequently asked questions about the Square Reader.