Why would I receive declined credit card when trying to receive manual payment from laptop?

FEA — Mon, 07 Oct 2019 04:36:12 GMT

I am new to Square - trying to use it for the first time for 2 clients who want to pay their invoices. I have watched the videos and followed the instructions, but none of their cards (AmEx, Visa) work. I get a "Credit Card declined" notification each time. Clearly something is going on. I can't figure out if it's in my settings or what. The information I'm entering is correct!

Can someone give me step-by-step instructions as to how to get payment for FIRST TIME using it?

Thank you!

Re: Why would I receive declined credit card when trying to receive manual payment from laptop?

Joe — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 18:43:31 GMT

Hi @FEA 👋 - thanks for taking the time to make your first post. Before I jump into your question, I just wanted to say welcome to Square and also welcome to the Seller Community! We are happy to have you.

So sorry to hear that taking your first manual transaction has been difficult. Not at all what we would want for you right off the bat.

There are a couple reasons you may be getting a decline when manually entering in manual transaction. Here are some of the most common:

Security Decline: This is a decline from the card-issuing bank due to that institution not recognizing your business based off of past transactions. This can be easily resolved by having the customer reach out to their bank and approving the charge.
Insufficient Funds: Manual transactions can often be declined if funds are not available to the customer - especially if your customer is using a debit card. Even if the buyer is sure funds are available and active, it might be best practice to have them double check with their bank.
Incorrect Card Information: Often times our Sellers physically have the card available to ensure they have the number, expiration, and CVV correct. However, Square also requires the billing zip code to be 100% accurate to process a successful payment. This can become an issue if your customer has moved or changed banks recently.

Our system does periodically get reasoning back from the bank about why a transaction is declined, so if you still have trouble, feel free to reach out to our Support Team for troubleshooting.

And finally, here is a step-by-step guide for manually entered transactions. I hope it is helpful going forward!

We are here to help! I want to make sure you get this issue resolved so please feel free to hit me back if you have any follow up questions.

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Why would I receive declined credit card when trying to receive manual payment from laptop?

Re: Why would I receive declined credit card when trying to receive manual payment from laptop?