COVID-19 Resources for Square Sellers

With challenging times making it difficult for businesses to stay open, we want to provide you with resources that can help you to continue to grow. Head over to The Bottom Line to read up on different topics for small businesses and browse through industry-specific blog posts about current trends, growth strategies, immediate support, and more.

You can also join our Business Resources Topic in our Seller Community to see what other businesses are doing during this time.

Accept and manage online orders through Square Online. Set up your Square Online site and import your item library to start selling online. Square Online makes it easy for your business to deliver online orders with a delivery service provider through on-demand delivery. See what other Square Sellers are saying about using Square Online for on-demand delivery, in-person pickup, and local delivery in our Seller Community. Learn more about managing online orders with Square.

With Square for Restaurants, you can integrate popular ordering platforms like DoorDash, Caviar and Postmates for delivery and pickup orders. Learn more about delivery and pickup integrations with Square for Restaurants.

You can also view some Square Online tutorial videos to help you get set up.

As businesses have shifted from in-person payments to online orders, curbside pickup, and delivery, many business owners have found a need to rearrange their workspaces to accommodate this change. When moving hardware such as printer stations, devices need to be set up and reconnected carefully to function correctly. Review our printer setup guides for iOS and Android devices or our printer troubleshooting guide for more information.

With Square, you can create Square eGift Cards to purchase through your business. Learn more about how to start using Square Gift Cards for your business.

Square also launched the free Give and Get Local Directory to make it easier for customers to find local businesses that offer Square eGift Cards for online purchases.

For customers that are unable to physically shop in your store, you have the ability to bill them through Square Invoices. With Square Invoices, you can send an unlimited amount of invoices to your customers to make sure they’re able to purchase your products and you’re able to get paid.

Customers can sign up for your Square Loyalty program by entering their mobile number through your Square Online site when completing a purchase.

To assist sellers throughout COVID-19, all Square hardware was updated in September 2020 to support increased limits for contactless payments. The following new contactless card verification method (CVM) limits were implemented:

• Visa, Mastercard, Discover: $100
• American Express: $200

CVM is used to validate that a credit card is being used by its owner. In the United States, a CVM typically consists of a signature. A contactless CVM limit is the maximum amount a customer can pay with a contactless card before they are prompted for a signature.

At your Square Point of Sale, Cash App customers can complete their payment by scanning a unique QR code that generates on the screen on your point of sale device. Paying with Cash App facilitates in-person contactless transactions, provides customers an alternative payment method to complete a purchase, and helps businesses avoid the need to process a card-not-present transaction.

Paying via Cash App is currently available for sellers processing payments on Square Register, Square Stand, Square Online, and on the Square Point of Sale App for iOS and Android devices. Paying with Cash App is not available on Square Terminal at this time.

Read more about paying with Cash App in our Support Center.

Pause or close your Square Payroll subscription. When your Square Payroll subscription is paused, you will not get billed for up to 12 months when you do not process payroll. We recommend pausing your Square Payroll account and not canceling your subscription, if you plan on using Square Payroll in the future.

If your employees’ circumstances have changed, you have the option to process payroll as direct deposit or manual check. Direct deposit takes four business days. If issuing manual checks when running payroll, select the payment option to “Pay all Employees by Check.” You can write checks or print on custom stock type DLT-104. Square Payroll will still handle the tax payments on your behalf. Learn more about running payroll.

Square Payroll employees also have easy access to view and download important information needed to apply for unemployment insurance through a resources page. Employees can view this information on the resources page through their employee dashboard or on the Square Team App.

Learn more about setting up pay schedules, payment options, pay rates, and paid time off or sick leave with Square Payroll.

Keep things running smoothly while maintaining a safe environment for both customers and staff members with contactless payments. Square Reader for contactless and chip, Square Terminal, and Square Register accept contactless payments.

Stay connected to other business owners by joining our Seller Community. You can join a Seller Group and see what other businesses are doing to manage resources, inspire change, and spark innovation.

If you temporarily scale back your operations, you can pause the billing for your Square software subscriptions for up to three months and unpause at any time. Learn how to enable this feature in our Pause Subscription FAQ.

To maintain a safe distance between yourself and your customers, you can disable the signature requirement when processing a sale on the point of sale app. To do so:

1. Tap the navigation bar icon.
2. Tap Settings > Checkout > Signature & Receipt.
3. Indicate whether you’d like to Never Collect Signatures, Always Collect Signatures, or only Collect Signatures Over $25.

Learn more about this feature in our Seller Community.

As an alternative to accepting cash tips or having a customer enter in tip amounts on your point of sale, Cash App can serve as another platform for your employees to accept tips. Cash App funds can be sent to a recipient in 1-2 business days for free or instantly for a small fee.

Visit the Cash App Support Center for information on how to get set up with Cash App, send and receive payments, and more.

You can read how to clean and disinfect your Square hardware, from your Square Reader to your Square Terminal, in our Seller Community. For additional information on how to prepare your business during COVID-19, review the CDC guidelines for business and workplaces.

You can also request and accept donations from your customers to your business during the online checkout process. Although optional for your customers, this can help provide an additional source of revenue for your business. To enable this feature:

1. Log in to your online Square Dashboard and select Ask for donations.
2. In the pop-up window, indicate Accept donations as the Purpose of link, and give the link an optional title.
3. Press Create link.

To minimize team member contact with shared surfaces on the Square Point of Sale and reduce crowding around the point of sale, you can have employees clock in and out from the Square Team App on their smartphones.

The Team Plus subscription cost is determined by the number of active locations on your Square account with team members assigned to them. If you are not currently using a location, you can reduce your subscription cost by deactivating a location.

To deactivate a location:

1. Go to Account & Settings > Business information > Locations in your online Square Dashboard.
2. Select the location you want to deactivate.
3. Click Deactivate > Deactivate this Location.

You can reactivate a location at any time from Locations by changing the status filter to Inactive, clicking the inactive location, and then clicking Reactivate Location.

If your team members’ pay rates have changed, you can update their hourly pay rate or annual salary by going to their team member profile. If a team member is working multiple jobs at different pay rates, you can also update their jobs from their profile in Square Team Management.

You can set new operating hours for each of your locations to let your customers and employees know when you are unavailable or closed.

If you subscribe to Team Plus, you can optimize your staffing by using labor vs. sales reporting in your online Square Dashboard. You can compare your hourly labor costs to your net sales in one report.

If your business is temporarily closed, or if you don’t need all the features of Team Plus at this time, you can pause your subscription ahead of the next billing cycle. Square will not bill you while your subscription is paused. You can unpause at any time, and your data, permissions, and settings will remain as you left them. To pause your subscription, go to Settings > Account & Settings > Business information > Pricing & Subscriptions in your online Square Dashboard.

If you do not plan on using Team Plus in the future and would like to unsubscribe, your subscription will end on the first day of the month after you cancel. Go to Settings > Account & Settings > Business information > Pricing & Subscriptions in your online Square Dashboard to cancel your subscription. You can renew your subscription at any time, and your data, permissions, and settings will remain as you left them.

If you unsubscribe from Team Plus, you have the option to use the Square Team Management free plan to continue securing and restricting sensitive areas of your Point of Sale, allowing your employees to clock in and out, and using shifts, at no additional cost. To downgrade to the free plan, assign all team members to the free Team Permissions set and then follow the instructions above for unsubscribing from Team Plus.

Note: The owner permission set is free and cannot be deleted.

If you pause your Team Plus subscription or unsubscribe from Team Plus, your shift data will continue to be visible in the Shifts page of your online Square Dashboard. However, you will no longer be able to access sales reporting by team member data or labor vs. sales reporting data, even if you continue to use the Team Management free plan.

If you want to retain this data, export it to a CSV file prior to the first of the next month. The sales reporting by team member data and labor vs. sales reporting data are available in your Dashboard. If you decide to unpause or renew your subscription to Team Plus, this historical data will be available in your Square account.

Employment regulations at the state and federal level may change at times. Stay updated on regulations that affect you and your employees, including the following federal resources:

• Internal Revenue Service (IRS): Coronavirus Tax Relief
• USA.gov: State Health Departments
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Workplaces and Businesses

Online accounts give employees access to their pay stubs and Form W-2s, which they may need to apply for unemployment or other government services. Learn more about Square Payroll for employees and contractors.

Due to COVID-19, the federal government has provided states with flexibility in providing and updating their benefits. The Unemployment Benefits Finder, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, has a directory of state unemployment offices and information on benefits, eligibility, and filing a claim. Unemployment benefits are not filed through Square Payroll and the rules vary per state. Employees will need to file their claims directly through their state agency and may need the following information, which can be found on Square Payroll:

• Paystubs: Employers can download paystubs from the Payroll > History section of their Square Dashboard. Employees with online account access can also view and download paystubs through their Payroll Employee Dashboard.
• Hire date: If you opted to have Square Payroll file a New Hire Report on your behalf, you can find these forms by going to Payroll > Tax Forms in Square Dashboard.
• Business Information: View your Federal EIN and state tax IDs by going to Payroll Settings > Tax Info in your Square Dashboard. You can find your business’ taxpayer name, DBA (if applicable), and primary tax address in the Business Info tab.

You can read additional information on how to apply for state unemployment insurance benefits in our Support Center.