thread Payment Link via Square Terminal in Payments Troubleshooting

Payment Link via Square Terminal

PudCatering — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 16:05:42 GMT

Hi all,

I am trying to set up Payment Links via the Square Terminal, but it just won't come up as a Checkout Option on the Terminal.

It works in the PoS on my phone, but not on the Terminal.

From what I've read, Payment Link is available for the Square Terminal?

Any ideas?

Terminal:

PoS App:

PoS App -Payment MethodsPoS App -Settings

Re: Payment Link via Square Terminal

Breffni — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 12:55:26 GMT

Hi @PudCatering, thanks for your post 👋 and I appreciate the screenshots!

We have two different types of links which can cause confusion:

Checkout links - allow customers to purchase from a checkout page without you having to create an eCommerce website. These links are customisable and do not expire unless specified.

Payments links - are limited to the Point of Sale app. They are generated at the sale screen during a transaction and can only be used once.

With the Square Terminal, you can use Checkout links for the following options:

Collect payments – to accept money for goods or services.

Buyer entered payments – to accept an amount of the customer’s choice.

Items – to accept money for items in your Item library.

Donations – to allow a donor to enter an amount of their choice.

To do so:

Tap ≡ More and select Online Checkout.
Note: If Online Checkout does not appear in More, add it to your Point of Sale app by tapping ≡ More > Add-ons > Online Checkout > Add to Point of Sale.
Tap Create Link in the Online Checkout section.
Select the “Link purpose” by choosing to Collect a payment, Sell an item, or Accept a donation.
Enter a name for your link that will be displayed to the customer.
If prompted, enter the amount you want to charge.
Tap Save.
Have your customer scan the QR code with their phone, or share the link through text, email, or social media. On Square Terminal and Register, you can choose to Send Link via Text or Show QR Code.

I hope this clarifies! I'll leave some more info here on the Online Checkout with the Terminal.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Re: Payment Link via Square Terminal

PudCatering — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 19:47:48 GMT

Hello Alegra,

Thanks for the reply, so from I gathered I need to have Online Checkout installed as an Add-On, which I do, this is why I'm confused.

On the PoS on the phone I have options in the Settings Page of the Online Checkout Add-On, however on the Square Terminal, there are no settings to toggle.

Terminal:

Add-OnsOnline Checkout settingsSettings Tab

PoS Phone App:

PoS App- Online Checkout settings

Re: Payment Link via Square Terminal

Breffni — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 10:14:25 GMT

Hi @PudCatering, thank you again for the screenshots, I don't have my own Terminal with me at the moment, unfortunately, it would make this much easier. 😅

So per the instruction above, on the Terminal, in Settings Tab > Online Checkout, you should have an Add Point of Sale button, but it doesn't appear to be there.

Can you check from your computer/desktop if you have activated the Online Checkout from your Square Dashboard? If you haven't, that may be why you don't have the option on the Terminal.

It would look like this if you haven't:

If you do need to activate it, please do so and then log out and back in of the Terminal let me know if the Add Point of Sale option appears. Let me know how this goes!

Re: Payment Link via Square Terminal

PudCatering — Fri, 23 Dec 2022 21:51:56 GMT

Hi Alegra,

I think it's just not available for the Terminal, because there's no way of sharing the link you create (as you could with your phone via text/email).

I have the same account, logged in on my Phone and the Terminal, but only the Phone comes up with the option to Send Payment Link or Online Checkout for that matter.

It would be nice to take an order on the telephone and bill them using the Terminal. They could've implemented it through a customer creation, select Items/Custom Amount on the Terminal, Charge > Send Payment Link > Add Customer > {Create Customer >} Charge this way it can be sent via email. Ultimately I guess it would be no different from sending an Invoice, other than it looking less formal.

Thanks for your help anyway.

Re: Payment Link via Square Terminal

k_atie — Mon, 26 Dec 2022 12:35:32 GMT

Hey @PudCatering, just stepping in for Alegra here.

Yes, so it seems like you'd be correct in saying that checkout links are unavailable on the Terminal. However, I've passed your feedback on to our product teams as I think your feedback would be very helpful in improving our products.

Let me know if you need anything else.