Square Register Payments FAQ

• Contactless, chip + PIN and magstripe credit card transactions processed on Square Register have a 2.65% fee per transaction, Interac Debit cards are processed at 0.75% + $0.07 per tap or insert.

• Manually keyed in, processed using Card on File, processed using Virtual Terminal cost 3.4% + 15¢ per transaction, or using Invoices have a 2.9% + $0.30 fee per transaction.
• : Afterpay in-person transactions are 6% + 30 cents per sale.

• There are no fees for recording cash, cheque or gift certificate payments.

• There are no monthly or hidden fees for credit card processing. All fees are deducted before funds are transferred to your linked bank account.

• Processing fees are deducted before each transfer and cannot be charged on a monthly basis. You can view your total fees on a monthly basis from your online Square Dashboard.

Learn more about fees with Square.

When you tap the blue Charge button on Square Register, LED lights indicate on the customer display where to tap, insert or swipe cards. The customer display is ready to take payments when the lights are illuminated.

Contactless payments describe the act of paying without touching anything.
NFC (near-field communications) is a technology that allows for contactless payments. Using radio frequency, NFC allows devices (like smartphones) to wirelessly communicate at close range to do things like process payments. Apple Pay and Google Pay are both forms of NFC and types of contactless payments.

When you’re ready to take a card payment, tap the blue Charge button on Square Register. The contactless logo on the customer display will light up after tapping Charge. Ask your customer to hold a contactless device or card near the contactless logo to trigger a contactless payment.

Yes, they’re just as secure as accepting chip cards. In some cases because of additional verification methods (like Touch ID with Apple Pay), contactless payments can be even more secure. Learn more in
the Square comprehensive guide to Apple Pay.

Chip and PIN card payments require additional security steps to transfer and verify chip data. It can take around three to five seconds to complete a chip card transaction when it’s inserted into the customer display EMV card slot.

Unfortunately, you need to insert chip cards into the insert slot. You can only swipe magnetic stripe cards or faulty chip cards. The Swipe Chip Cards option is not currently available for Square Register.

Yes. In addition to Apple Pay and Google Pay, acceptable contactless payments include contactless cards and Samsung Pay.

If your customers use Cash App, they can scan a QR code from the buyer-facing display on your register with their own mobile device to complete their payment. Learn more about Cash App Pay.

Yes, the chip card needs to stay inserted in the customer display EMV card slot until the transaction is complete. The customer will get a confirmation message when it’s time to remove the card.

To accept tips on your Square Register:

1. Add items to the customer’s cart. Have them review the cart and select Confirm and Pay.
2. Your customer will then select a tip amount. They can choose to leave a preset amount, enter a custom tip or proceed with no tip. You will see the update on your screen.
3. Once your customer selects a tip, they can pay with their card or mobile wallet by tapping, inserting or swiping.

Tipping must be enabled to allow your customers to tip. To enable tipping:

1. From the navigation bar at the bottom of your screen, tap ≡ More > Settings > Checkout.
2. Tap Tipping.
3. Toggle on Collect Tips.
4. Select Smart Tip Amounts or Set Percentage Amounts.
5. Select whether you want to calculate tips before or after taxes.

Learn more about accepting tips with the Square app.

Yes. If your business is using Square Loyalty and your customer is enrolled in your Loyalty program, they can redeem any earned rewards during checkout. Once your customer inserts, taps, or swipes their payment card, any rewards that can be redeemed will be shown to the customer on the buyer-facing display. As soon as rewards are chosen and redeemed by the customer, you can continue through the checkout process as normal.

Note: The customer must be paying with the payment card that is linked to their Loyalty profile in order for available rewards to automatically appear on the buyer-facing display. Read more about linked payment cards and how customers can redeem their rewards.

There are two ways to connect Square Register to your network: Wi-Fi and Ethernet. You can connect to Wi-Fi by going to ≡ More > Settings > Hardware > Network on Square Register. You can also connect with an Ethernet cable through the Ethernet port on the USB accessory hub. Once connected to a network, you will see a confirmation that your connection is successful. You can also quickly check your connection in the Wi-Fi/Ethernet network status indicator in the status bar.

If you are unable to connect to Wi-Fi or Ethernet, you can enable Offline mode to accept card payments for a limited time. Offline mode will store your customers’ payment information for 24 hours until you can reconnect to a network.

Learn more about Offline mode.

On Square Register, you can accept payments via the Square Point of Sale, Square for Retail or Square for Restaurants app on Square Terminal and Square Register.

Customers can tap, insert or swipe payment cards, or use Apple Pay and Google Pay while in Offline mode. Afterpay transactions, INTERAC debit cards and Square gift cards will not work with Offline mode.

Learn more about Offline mode.