Beating a Dead Horse but it needs to be: Preauthorization

[FarmAndBar]

We need to be able to preauthorize credit cards when running a tab. Period.  We really enjoyed the low buy in and easy menu development and a couple of the other features, but a bar/restaurant needs to be able to run a tab and preauthorize a credit card.  I've gone back and looked at conversations about it and it appears that this has been a CONSTANT request by users that has gone ignored.

I'd like to know why it isn't available.

[#2]

So sorry for the confusion here, @Amanda_Bierock @FarmAndBar and others!

Pre-Authorization recently became available to all users of Square for Restaurants (Free, Premium, and Plus), and you should be able to turn in on by following the instructions in this support article, via the Dashboard and device settings.

Enable and Configure Pre-Authorization Bar Tabs

If you are using Square for Restaurants and aren't able to enable Pre-Auth by following these steps, please reach out to our support team for assistance.

For businesses that use Square Point of Sale, there is not currently a way to access Pre-Authorization.  While we did run a Beta test last year for Pre-Authorization on Point of Sale, it has been discontinued and Square for Restaurants is the only application that currently supports this functionality.

The team developing Pre-Authorization decided last summer to focus their efforts on Pre-Auth within Square for Restaurants and discontinued the Beta and development of Pre-Auth for Point of Sale.

Some testers who participated in the Point of Sale Beta we ran last year may still have access via their open tickets settings on individual devices (like @ryanwanner) but accounts that were not enrolled in that Beta feature last summer can no longer be added.

@nika I hope this context is helpful when these questions come up - it can be confusing because at times we had a POS Beta on the way.  It's understandable when it's been a request for so long 🙂

Andy
Beta Specialist

[#3]

Hello all! We are so excited to let the community know that this feature is now available for Square for Restaurants! For more information on enabling and configuring preauthorization for bar tabs, check out this help article. Respond here if you have any questions, and thanks for your patience while our team built this out. We appreciate you!

️ Kristen
Square Community Manager
Product Engagement

[#4]

Pre-Authorization for Bar Tabs Update ⭐
Hi everyone - I'm Hadley, from the F&B product team. First of all, thank you SO MUCH for continuing to share all the feedback here over the years, we know how important the Bar Tabs feature is. For anyone who is not aware, this feature is currently in beta in the US for Square for Restaurants POS. 

➡️ You can join the beta community here and our beta team will enable feature to your account. You can find the support article for getting set up on RST POS here. 

As a reminder, when a feature is in beta, there is still some engineering work happening to iron out the smaller bugs and optimizing the experience for our sellers and their customers. If you choose to participate in the beta testing, please share any feedback (good or bad 😄) to our beta team at [email protected] so we can learn how it is working for you and your staff.  

Thank you!

[DJKeith]

Our application of Square is a bar. We need to be able to keep the credit card info, without keeping customers actual card. But when you add a new customer and swipe card, it forces them to add an email address. Although I would love to harvest all of these emails, that is not practical in a busy night club. Any suggestions?

[kellyj]

@DJKeith

Sounds like you are creating a customer profile and saving the card on file, kind of a work around for pre-authorizing cards?

The email is needed to be able to send a receipt to the Customer who's card is saved on file for you- and specifically so that a person's card cannot be saved on file, charged, and the customer is not aware. So at this time, it's not possible to turn that function off, but I can definitely see how, in your use of the system, it would be helpful.

I think the more specific answer for this, is that a pre-authorization payment method to hold your customers card info would be helpful for you. We've had this request a lot, and am moving this post to the a thread where it's discussed for iteration.

[ndb_bakery]

Has Square added pre-auth yet?

I want to start renting cake stands and it is rather annoying to have to charge them a full price to cover the cost of a $200 cake stand upfront and then tell them I will refund when it comes back undamaged, etc. Why can't I just do a hold?

Looks as if this has been asked for for a few years and Square hasn't taken any action..... 🙁

[ndb_bakery]

Not free... but Booqable is something I just found googling they seem pretty decent for rentals which is something I'm going to start implementing... I may end up just using them.

https://booqable.com/pricing/

There doesn't seem to be any good alternative other than charging the full amount otherwise and explaining to the customer their refund will take up to 7-10 business days. 🤕

[jasonbrumb]

I have read through numerous posts about cards on file, however i cannot seem to find information about how to keep card information attached to an open ticket and have the ability to charge the card info without swiping or dipping again to close the ticket?

We have a restaurant / bar using Square POS, and we have to physically keep their credit card in a box behind the bar to have an open tab. As we are counter service, if they have an open bar tab and the customer wants to order at our food counter, the register person has to walk to the bar to retrieve their card to swipe/dip. 

The larger problem is that a large number of customers forget their credit cards and we spend an unholy amount of time trying to coordinate card returns. Also, rarely, a card in the file box is handed back to the customer, which creates for incredibly fun moments with the (understandably) fussy customer.

Is there a way to swipe or dip for an open ticket and be able to give the card back to them and charge their open ticket when they decide to close it out?

Much appreciated in advance.

[nika]

@jasonbrumb Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback and your experience. This is still considered a feature request. I used to work in the restaurant industry so I can imagine the chaos this causes. I moved your question over to this board so we can continue to track the feedback, and you'll be one of the first notified if and when this is implemented!

[theship]

We've been asking for this feature for well over a year but they won't listen to us. I'd switch my $800,000/yr credit card processing over TOMORROW if we could keep open tabs. Que sera.

[ChrisCC]

I did leave for clover for this reason and this reason alone.   5 accounts,  $6m in annual cc revenue, cause they won’t listen to us.  I do think it’s related to legal stuff with being a 3rd party processor instead of a direct processor like the big guys.   Square is also heavily rumored to face a buyout soon, which could then mean those ‘no-contract’ rates could skyrocket under new ownership and nothing can be done about it.   

[Tmoore8]

How can I get pre-authorization for a customers credit card before running the card?

[camillecurro]

This is the stupidest effing thing ever. How hard can it be to take a security deposit WITHOUT having to email it to the customer who's standing right in front of me?? Square is making this way harder than it needs to be.  ADD THIS F*UCKING FEATURE ALREADY!!!!