Afterpay In-Person Payments FAQ
Find answers to commonly asked questions on accepting Afterpay in-person payments with Square.
General
Buy now, pay later — or BNPL — is a payment option where a customer pays for a purchase over time in instalments, while sellers get paid the full amount immediately. With Afterpay, customers pay in four interest-free instalments over six weeks.
Square sellers using Afterpay get paid the full amount at the time of purchase, minus a processing fee on the total order. Enabling Afterpay with Square is free — there are no monthly fees or startup costs.
You only pay 6% + 30¢ (excl. GST) when you make an online or in-person Afterpay sale. There are no processing fees charged on the remaining instalments or if your customer makes a late payment.
Afterpay is a separate payment option working with Square, and this is the standard Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) rate that Afterpay charges merchants. In addition, Square and Afterpay assume BNPL risk on behalf of the merchant together, including chargebacks and fraud.
- Increase Average Order Value: Customers who use Afterpay spend +40% more than those who do not.
- Increase Frequency: Customers who use Afterpay shop +50% more frequently than those who do not.
Learn more via the Afterpay Business Centre.
The in-person payment method from Afterpay is available to eligible Square sellers in the US, Australia and United Kingdom.
To see if you are eligible for Afterpay and to enable it for your business, log into your Square Dashboard and review your Payment methods.
If you are listed as Ineligible, you cannot accept payments using Afterpay at this time.
Accepting payments with Afterpay first requires being activated for Square payments. Eligibility for Afterpay varies depending on your business type and the country you operate in. If you have multiple businesses within your Square account, it’s possible that some locations may be unable to accept Afterpay even if your overall business is eligible.
Eligibility for Afterpay is dependent on numerous factors, including how your business is structured and what you sell. Eligibility includes, but is not limited to:
- Sellers must be in an approved merchant category
- Sellers must be based in Australia
- Sellers cannot have multiple Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) or business numbers (such as ABNs)
We are working to expand Afterpay availability over time to allow more sellers to accept Afterpay within their business. Review our Afterpay Merchant Terms for more information.
Setting up Afterpay is easy. Simply direct your customers here to set up their Afterpay account. You can also learn who can use Afterpay via the Afterpay Support Centre.
All remaining payments are handled entirely by Afterpay. If your customer is late or misses a payment, it doesn’t affect your business. Find out more about how payments work with Afterpay and the consequences of late or missed payments on the Afterpay website.
The integration is set up so Afterpay takes on the risk for you so you can focus on growing your business. You will receive the full payment upfront and at no risk to your business.
One of the inherent risks of accepting Afterpay in-person payments through Square is receiving a payment dispute, also commonly known as a chargeback. It is important for your business to understand how the dispute process works at a high level and what parties are involved.
When your customer initiates a dispute when products are not received:
- The account holder on your Afterpay account will receive an email to submit an Information Request form for you to respond within 7 days to accept or challenge the dispute. Note: Funds from the disputed payment will be on hold during this process.
- If you’re challenging the dispute and submit the form, Square will collect the evidence you provide and send it to Afterpay.
- Afterpay decides whether the dispute has been won or lost.
- If you have won the dispute, you will be notified and refunded from your Square balance.
- If you have lost the dispute, you will be notified and the customer will be refunded.
This process may take up to 30 days to review. You can view the status of your dispute at any time from the Information requests section on your online Square Dashboard. You can also access the form via your Square Point of Sale app by tapping ≡ More > Settings > Information Requests.
Accept Payments
To enable or disable Afterpay for in-person transactions on Square POS app and Square Appointments POS app, you can enable/disable Afterpay directly from your app or online Square Dashboard.
If you’re using Square Retail POS, Restaurants POS, Invoices or Virtual Terminal, you will need to visit Payment Methods via a web browser to enable/disable Afterpay.
Square Dashboard
- Go to Account & Settings from your online Square Dashboard.
- Click Business information > Payment methods.
- Next to the Afterpay payment method, click ••• then Edit settings.
- Toggle the In Person setting on/off.
Note: Once you’ve enabled Afterpay in-person, customers can pay via their Afterpay Card on Square POS, Appointments POS, Retail POS, and Restaurants POS.
Square App
If you’re using Square POS app or Square Appointments POS app:
- Log in to your Square app.
- Tap ≡ More > Settings > Checkout > Payment.
- Under All payment types, tap Configure Afterpay. You will be directed to your dashboard via a web browser.
- Toggle the In-person setting on/off.
If you’re using Square Retail POS or Square Restaurants POS, visit the Payment Methods setting from your online Square Dashboard to enable/disable Afterpay.
Afterpay is an optional product that Square offers to sellers. If at any time you decide you do not want to offer Afterpay at checkout, you can turn it off at any time within your online Square Dashboard settings under Payment Methods.
- You can order a free marketing kit via Square Shop which includes stickers and a table tent that you can display at your point of sale. You can also download a free retailer kit from the Afterpay website.
- Using Square Marketing, you can send a free Square Marketing email to your subscribed customers.
- Tell customers your business offers Afterpay on your website and social media. Visit Afterpay’s marketing assets for helpful tips.
Afterpay is an optional product that Square offers to sellers. If at any time you decide you do not want to offer Afterpay at checkout, you can turn it off at any time within your online Square Dashboard settings under Payment Methods.
Yes, Afterpay can be used for in-person purchases up to $2,000. Afterpay also makes an instant approval decision at the time of purchase based on the specific consumer and the order, which may result in a customer’s order being declined at the time of transaction. This will be communicated to customers within the Afterpay app.
Note: The ability to change the in-person acceptance limit is not yet available.
To process Afterpay in-person transactions, customers must Tap-To-Pay via Afterpay Card on their digital wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay. You can accept Afterpay in person on any of our contactless-enabled points of sale:
Afterpay can be accepted on:
- Square Register
- Square Terminal
- Square Stand (2nd generation)
- Square Reader
Afterpay cannot be accepted via swiping through magstripe on Square Stand (1st generation).
Yes! Simply tap Split Amount at checkout prior to accepting payments. Learn how to process split tender payments with Square.
Transactions and Refunds
If your customer chooses to make a return, they will be refunded the appropriate amount, and you will be refunded the relevant processing fees.
Square Sellers should refund an Afterpay payment as they would any other payment with Square—via your transaction history via your Square app or online Square Dashboard. Any paid installments will be returned to the customer by Afterpay and their future payments will be removed.
If issuing a partial refund, the refund amount will be first deducted from any outstanding installments, starting with the last installment to be paid. Then any amount over will be refunded directly to the customer’s payment method.
Please note, this may take several days to complete and a customer may not receive an immediate notification from Afterpay.
Learn more about how refunds and returns work with Afterpay.
Your customer may have cancelled or closed your card in the time since the purchase was made. If this has occurred, your customer will need to contact your card issuer or bank to locate the returned funds and ensure that they are properly paid out to them.
If your financial institution requires details about the refund, including specific date, time, and amount, your customer can get in touch with Afterpay to ask for your refund confirmation.
To understand in real-time whether Afterpay was used as a payment method for in-person transactions, reference your printed receipt.
To understand which of your previous transactions have been made using Afterpay:
- Go to Reports from your online Square Dashboard.
- Go to Payment Methods to see the total payments, refunds, collected amount and fees for the Afterpay transactions. You can use the time filter to navigate to a specific day, week, or month. And use other filters to get additional insights.
Customer Experience
Learn more about how Afterpay works on their website.
To check out using Afterpay, you’ll first need to load your Afterpay Card into your digital wallet, such as Apple Pay or Google Pay. When prompted, simply tap your mobile device on the Square seller’s hardware as you would any mobile wallet or contactless payment.
It’s easy to shop in-store with Afterpay.
- Simply download the Afterpay mobile app to set up Afterpay Card.
- Visit the Card tab and follow the prompts to add Afterpay Card to your digital wallet.
- When you’re ready to pay, tap to pay with Afterpay Card using Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay.
Learn more about who can use Afterpay in their support centre.
For questions about a purchase made through Afterpay, contact Afterpay directly through their support centre or review their support articles. They’ll be able to assist you with your questions about your payment schedule, late fees, refunds and more.
Yes, make sure you have the latest version of the Afterpay app. You can download the free Afterpay app here.
To shop in-store with Afterpay Card, customers are required to:
- Download the free Afterpay App.
- have an NFC-compatible mobile device.
We understand there’s a small percentage of customers whose devices are not NFC compatible, meaning that you will no longer be able to shop in-store with Afterpay without changing your handset. NFC capability is now a widely supported handset feature on devices across a range of price points.
You can see where you can shop in the Afterpay app. Browse the Card tab to find Square sellers near you that accept Afterpay.
To resolve your enquiry, we recommend contacting the Square seller directly. If you opted in for a digital receipt, you can find the Square seller’s contact details via the SMS or email receipt.
To process a refund, you‘ll need to return to the Square seller’s store or contact them directly to initiate the refund. Once the Square seller has processed your refund, the amount returned to you will come from Afterpay.
Questions regarding your refund, outside of requesting it, should be directed at Afterpay. You can also learn more about Afterpay refunds in their support centre.
After making a return, it may take several days for the Square seller to accept the return and process a refund, especially if you’ve returned items via mail. Until the refund is confirmed and processed by the merchant, your original Payment Schedule with Afterpay will continue.
If you’ve made a return and would like to request that your next payment be pushed back by up to two weeks from the original due date in order for the Square seller to process your refund, you can do so easily in the Afterpay app. Just follow the steps below:
- From the Orders Details menu, select Returning an Order.
- Choose whether the return is for a purchase made in-store or online.
- Following the prompts, enter the order details as instructed.
- If your request is successful, the final confirmation screen will include your updated Payment Schedule.
Note: You’ll only be able to make this request once per order. Additionally, if your refund still hasn’t been processed by your next payment date and amounts remain due, you may have two payments due on the same day.
Using Square Online? Learn more about accepting payments with Afterpay on Square Online and Square Online Checkout.