Accepting payment in Europe

[tattoo-mcr]

Hello.. I use Square reader in my tattoo studio, and the phone tap payment if the battery has run out on the reader.

 I do shows in Europe, specifically Finland a few times a year. Can I use the Square reader/ phone reader there? It's only connected to my UK bank account, as I have no bank account anywhere else.

Thank you in advance 

[Sam_400º]

Hey @tattoo-mcr - welcome to the community! 

You can only use your UK Square reader to take payments in the UK and not anywhere else in the world. (as governed by all the UK laws and regulations etc)

It is possible to use payment links from anywhere, so you could send your customer a payment link for them to make the payment on their own device online. This would show up instantly in your Square account. 

*this has been shown as wrong

Hope this info helps 👍🏻

[Sineaid · Accepted solution]

Hi @tattoo-mcr,

It's great to see you've already been chatting to a fellow Seller about this, thanks @Sam_400º.

It's true that regulation does mean that Square Point of Sale hardware is only approved for use, in the country for which it was intended.

And while Square Payment Links are powered by Square Online, unfortunately can only be sent from the country where your Square account was activated. 

It may not be ideal for your use-case, but as a work-around you could create a Square Online site with set value items or buy buttons, that you could then share with your customers and clients abroad through links or QR codes. If they then pay through your site, their payment would be reflected on your dashboard in real time.

Alternatively you could create a Square Appointments Booking Site that requires prepayment. Again you'd just need to share the link with your customer or client, and they would pay through your booking site rather than through a Point of Sale device. 

If you have any questions about setting up either options, just let me know. 

[Sam_400º]

@Sineaid - if a payment link with a variable value was created before leaving the UK would this work? 

I have one permanently set up for people to be able to make adhoc payments that works really well and they can enter the value they need. 

[Sineaid]

Hi @Sam_400º,

While you might be able to successfully send the link when travelling outside of your account registered country, capturing the payment would likely trigger a compliance review on the account. This could ultimately result in account deactivation, as Payment Links are only intended for domestic sales.

[Sam_400º]

Thanks @Sineaid - just to clarify though, I'm thinking of a checkout link not a payment link! 

So mine is https://pay.400degrees.co.uk (set as a redirect) and the customer can enter their own amount there. 

[Sineaid]

Sorry for any confusion around the verbiage, @Sam_400º!

As you'll see here, Square Online Checkout and Checkout Links are now known as Square Payment Links. The functionality for Square Payment Links has not changed, and all features included with the product will continue to be supported as is.

I believe an email was sent out about the re-branding of checkout links, prior to the terminology changing on the 7th of February last year. 

[Sam_400º]

Cool - but I guess my question still stands, as you’re not sending out a link while out of the uk but using an existing ‘product’. 

Just trying to fully thrash this out - as to me it *should* work without issue even given what you’ve said? 

[Sineaid]

In theory, both creating a payment link and sending a payment link should 'work' when located outside your account registered country @Sam_400º 

However, in my experience Sellers who send payment links when travelling abroad will ordinarily have their account activity reviewed by our Compliance team.

The usual outcome of these reviews would be an email informing the Seller that this activity is in breach of our Terms of Service. 

For the example you've provided, where a Seller is 'not sending out a link while out of the uk but using an existing ‘product’ - I don't see any issue. A compliance review would only be triggered if the pre-existing link was sent while the Seller was travelling abroad. 

Hope that makes sense!

[Sam_400º]

Thanks - I know I’m totally going at semantics and theoretical stuff here so appreciate you keep coming back with the explanations! 

[Sineaid]

No worries at all @Sam_400º.

I hope I've been able to provide some clarity at least!