thread Re: When is Canadian Debit chip going to be available? in Payments Troubleshooting

Does Square accept Canadian Debit cards?

sheldon — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 17:55:19 GMT

I would like this question answered before applying for a Square.

It would save a lot of time if Square had a customer service number for potential clients to call and get their questions answered.

Re: Does the Square accept Canadian Debit cards?

Sean — Tue, 26 Jul 2016 23:30:15 GMT

Happy to follow up! Currently, we're not able to accept Canadian-issued debit or Interac cards for swiped or manually entered payments in Canada. However, if you’re using Square Invoices, your customers can pay with Visa co-branded debit cards and credit cards.

If you use another payment processor to accept debit payments, you’re able to track your debit payments through Square Register by selecting Other and then Debit/Credit as your payment type. Keep in mind that this feature is for tracking purposes only.

This is a very popular request from our sellers in Canada, and definitely something that is top of mind for us! I'll be sure to update this thread if anything changes.

PS) If my answer solved your problem, would you mind marking it as "Best Answer"? That'll help the rest of the community find what they're looking for. If not, just write back, and I'll continue to help. Thanks!

Re: Does the Square accept Canadian Debit cards?

dakota — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 01:28:04 GMT

I really really wish you could get through the "red tape" or whatever it is needs to be done to accept debit cards. I personally don't want another machine/program just for debit. I totally love Square Register and 2 years later, still no debit cards, YET, i get the updates all the time and see Australia has debit!!

Re: Does the Square accept Canadian Debit cards?

Sean — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 01:35:34 GMT

@dakota - I totally understand your frustration, this is something that has been a top feature request from our Canadian sellers. This is definitely not something we're brushing off - it's top of mind for us. I'll be sure to update you if anything changes!

Re: Does the Square accept Canadian Debit cards?

dakota — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 01:52:43 GMT

Cheers Sean. Yes I called about 18 months ago maybe less and was told it was something that was at the top of the list. Thanks!! 🙂

When will the chip read be available in Canada???

thecorkery — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 15:07:08 GMT

Wondering when Square is planning to offer the chip reader in Canada? The mag stripe is most certainly not a flawless technology and I have customers actually telling me that they could simply reverse the charge and contesting it would be virtually impossible. It's LONG overdue. I have to use Square and another payment provider in order to accept debit. Frustrating. It's why I'm looking into other options for my POS.

Re: When will the chip read be available in Canada???

thecorkery — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 15:53:10 GMT

Oh! That's wonderful! So you've managed to give me the EXACT response I was anticipating...Why, if you're working on delivering this to Canadian customers, are there absolutely zero timelines? Surely, if there's teams of employees working towards this goal, there must be some kind of information you can offer us instead of the canned "Congratulations! We're working on it!" response. That helps in no way whatsoever. In fact, it just inspires me further to switch to a different POS system.

Re: Does the Square accept Canadian Debit cards?

j2ledflashlight — Fri, 07 Oct 2016 20:56:49 GMT

I am also thinking of leaving Square for not having a Debit payment option. Just lost another customer because he wanted to pay with a Debit card and Square can not process Debit payments!

Re: Does the Square accept Canadian Debit cards?

dakota — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 02:00:17 GMT

yes I am upset as I think Australia just joined Square and they have CC and debit

Re: Does the Square accept Canadian Debit cards?

j2ledflashlight — Sun, 15 Sep 2019 01:46:53 GMT

I have went to squareup.com/au to checked on dakota's claim that if Australia has both debit and credit processing.

In fact they have both and not only that , they have

"Accept every way your customers want to pay.

Square lets you accept tap-and-go cards and devices and take chip cards, whether you’re on the move or at your counter."

We in Canada only have credit card processing with swipe or manual typed in.

Why would a small country such as Australia and which is smaller than Canada have the most up dated technology and Canada is slowly left behind?

Square Up Canada needs to catch up with the times. Business is evolving very faster. If you do not fill a need for us - small businesses, we will take our businesses some where else.

I have been a loyal user for Square Up in Canada for many years . We used in our two retail locations.

I am stunned as more and more customers demanded to use the debit card systems to pay for their purchases in Canada over credit cards. I have guessed with the high interest rates that these credit cards charges for the late payments, it is not worth paying for by credit card if you forgot to pay it on time.

I am losing a huge portion of sales because Square Up Canada can not process debit card transactions. I am relying on one credit card processing from SquareUp Canada. I am now even looking at alternatives to use. As a small business, I need all the sales to survive. I am already looking at other alternatives besides Squareup.

Some of your competitors are beanstream.com and dreampayment.com . Both of these alternatives are Canada based and can processes both credit card and debit payment. They even have Visa Tap and Master Card Tap.

One of the reasons that SquareUp Canada is ignoring Debit payment processing is because some debit card companies charges at least $0.10 to$0.25 per transaction. That is a lot lesser than charging a whopping a per transaction swipe fee, or 3.5 percent plus $0.15 for each manually entered transaction by Squareup Canada. They make a lot lesser under the debit card processing system and that is why some debit card and credit processing companies are selling their devices a lot morer or the monthly fees are more expensive. However, if you weigh in on all the sales you have lost because you can not process debit card payments, that device is worth getting.

Once I invested in one of your competitor's debit and credit card devices, I am not going back to Square Up.

It been a pleasure of using the SquareUp card reader but times have changed and we are moving ahead to other alternatives.

Re: Does the Square accept Canadian Debit cards?

Spenser — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 21:45:38 GMT

I completely get the frustration here, @j2ledflashlight, and understand that you need to do what’s best for your business, first and foremost.

It’s unfortunately a topic that I and the other admins here won’t be able to shed much light upon; either Square’s business decisions or a guess as to when these features will be available to you. Without a proper announcement, I can't speculate as major updates such as these are always very subject to change.

For what it’s worth I’ve shared your post with our team, as it’s certainly a valid criticism. I appreciate you taking the time to write this up; we’ll update this thread first thing should anything change in the future.

Re: When will the chip read be available in Canada???

EJ_ — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 15:31:28 GMT

I hear your frustration, but it's important to remember that we don't disclose timelines on any launches or product updates until they are released.

While I get that you need more information to determine whether or not you want to stay with Square, there simply isn't any information that we can provide to you at this time.

The best we can do is assure you that we're aware that this drastically impacts Canadian Businesses and we are most definitely working toward a solution for you.

Also, we don't enjoy giving canned responses and vague timelines, so it frustrates us as well.

Hang tight and hopefully we get this out for you sooner rather than later.

Hello I am looking to add Debit to my system. What do people do in Canada for Debit with square?

Actionlock — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 22:37:59 GMT

Hello I am looking to add Debit to my system. What do people do in Canada for Debit with square? What do people in Canada using square do for Debit transactions ?

Re: Meet the Team: Sean

Actionlock — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 13:27:06 GMT

In response to the reply saying that square takes debit. I notice that you are writing from the USA. In Canada we do not have debit visa cards like you all do in the US. Are the debit cards suppossed to work in Canada as well ? I am getting conflicting information on this subject. I was told that we do not accept debit in Canada. I am trying to find out what people in Canada, who use square, do to accept debit transactions. It is difficult using a system whose community forum is based in the USA, when the system down there is different then up here. Where do I get help from other Canadian Square users ??

Re: Meet the Team: Sean

Sean — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 18:12:22 GMT

Hi @Actionlock — It looks like another seller had the same question, and received an answer. Check out this thread for more details.

Re: Hello I am looking to add Debit to my system. What do people do in Canada for Debit with square?

Tom — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 22:39:38 GMT

Hi @Actionlock, handful of sellers had similiar questions, and received an answer. Check out the reply from Sean and let us know if that helps!

Re: Does the Square accept Canadian Debit cards?

Actionlock — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 13:48:24 GMT

Thank you for taking the time to both look into this and get back to me. I know it is a problem that is out of your hands. Thank you for passing this message along to your team. I will keep my fingers crossed that this problem can get worked out sooner then later. Have an awesome day.

Kim

Re: Does the Square accept Canadian Debit cards?

Actionlock — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 14:00:14 GMT

Thank you for this answer. If nothing else it is good to know that square can track Debit.

Kim

Re: Does the Square accept Canadian Debit cards?

Actionlock — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 15:21:09 GMT

Sean - I am unable to find my way back to my last thread with you. I have just finished reading posts that Australia has debit processing on square. I hear that you are looking into this, and trying to resolve this. I see some frustrated square users have had to stop using square because of this. I am wondering if I am going to have to be one of those people. I simply can not run a business and not accept debit cards. I have read and heard varied numbers on Debit sales in a business in Canada, but it appears 35-55% of our sales up here are on debit cards. I do not want to loose a customer, who will go and complain to another potential customer that we do not have that option available. I can not find anywhere in the posts what the actual problem is. Why do we not have Debit in Canada ? What is the issue ? Is it because of the government, or the bank system, or with square itself. I know that it is not your fault personnally, I just wanted to know if you knew what the actual problem was?

Thank You for your help.

Re: Does the Square accept Canadian Debit cards?

Sean — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 14:27:54 GMT

@Actionlock - This is definitely a popular feature request. While I can't speak to the business reason behind our inability to offer debit in Canada right now, it's definitely something that is top of mind for us. I'll update this thread in the future if I hear any news on this front.