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!

[EJ_]

Hi @Tmoore8

I've moved your post over to this existing thread that touches on this topic. Pre-authorizing payment cards isn't something we support at the moment. 

[rottie]

New to square...I have a bar and it looks like I could swipe the card to start a tab, but when checking out I needed to ask for their card again to close out the tab.  is there a way to avoid this and just run their card once?

[ProvTodd]

It’s pretty ridiculous that Square has not acted upon this request. I just read this post of the last 3 years. As a merchant that uses Square and a shareholder of Square I couldn’t be more disappointed in the company I’ve grown to love. Please do something about this NOW!

[kellyj]

@rottie

We've moved your post to a relevant board for this request. 

We do not have a pre-authorization option available at this time, but it is often requested and we'll continue to iterate this to the team.

Most businesses choose to physically keep the Card until closing the tab at this time.

[CarlooHeartsBee]

Nice work @kellyj , bury the discussion. You guys are great at that.

@rottie they do no have this feature despite requests for it spanning over several years. It is now the industry standard and Square is behind.

Toast, Clover, Upserve all have it.

If you can return everything and start over. Clover has about the same start up hardware fees and comparable transaction fees.

And no, I don't work with Clover. I'm a sad, sad (and angry) business woman that uses Square for two businesses and Square for payroll. I just don't have the time to switch at this point.  

[ciderco]

Any update on when either/both of these features might be coming?  I see both have been feature requests for over 3 years.  We need one or the other for our business as well.

Time to switch to Stripe or another vendor?

[isabelle]

Hey @ciderco!

I want to make sure I have a good understanding of the feature you're referring to, because we do have a deposits feature via our Square Invoices. 

Can you provide an example of how you would use this feature? Would you just put a hold on the funds for a deposit? 

[ciderco]

Hi Isabelle - We collect a damage deposit when we sell a keg of cider.  If the keg is returned in good condition, we refund the deposit.  Right now we charge it and then refund it so it goes through the system twice.

[isabelle]

Hey @ciderco. 

That makes total sense for your business. I can see the need for a security or damages deposit/hold. Unfortunately, I don't have a timeline for this feature right now. 

Take a look at this thread where other sellers have weighed in on that feature request. We will post an update in there when we have one.

Thank you for your patience, and your post! 

[TheEpicWPB]

We run a B&B. We have to take a pet deposit.  I need to be able to do this with square. It’s been on the feature request list since 2016?  Is it coming off of the feature request list? 

Right now, I have to take a written form, that authorizes charges, if anything is found, which is good, but not what I need.

In addition, we will be doing catered special events. I want to be able to take a refundable deposit to hold the space. People flake all of the time, and that would make it easier for us to be able to stop that.