Cannot have "Donation" in description?

[JTPets]

Hello Square Support Team,

I’m writing to report an issue with the validation rule that states:

“Ensure Description does not contain the text: donate unless it has the item type of DONATION.”

My business sells certain products (not purely charitable “donations”) that do include a charitable component. Specifically, a portion of proceeds is donated to local rescue organizations or nonprofits. Because of this, our product descriptions rightly mention the donation aspect to provide transparency and context for customers—e.g., “A portion of the proceeds is donated to local pet rescue organizations…”

However, the current Square system flags these items simply because they include the words “donate”/“donated.” We do not wish to mark these products as “DONATION” items because they are, in fact, physical goods; they just happen to have a charitable give-back component.

Issue Overview:

• We want to keep the standard item type as a physical good.
• The description must mention that a portion of proceeds is donated.
• The automated rule blocks us from listing or updating the item unless we remove or alter this wording.

Request: We kindly ask for one of the following solutions:

1. Allow “donate/donated” text in product descriptions for physical goods when clearly referencing that a portion of sales is donated.
2. Provide a way to label “charitable” or “cause-based” items differently so that we are not forced to mark them as donations to pass the validation.
3. Temporarily or permanently remove the restriction for items that are not purely donation-based but legitimately donate part of their proceeds.

@isabelle as mentioned during our chat

[Lou8]

Hi @JTPets , thanks for posting.

I imported a test item to the library of different test accounts (USA, UK, Australia, France, Canada) using the same item description as yours, and my Canadian account was the only one displaying the error message you mentioned above. This makes me think it's a rule specific to Canada and in compliance with local regulations, which we might not be able to override. 

Regardless, I've escalated your query to see if I can find more information. I'll let you know when I have an update. 

Thanks for your patience !

[JTPets]

I look forward to hearing back from you!

[Lou8]

Hi @JTPets , 

The team confirmed that there were some recent updates to Square's regulations around donations in Canada, meaning that unless the item type is "donation", you cannot use the keywords "donate" or "donation" in the item description. 

We've updated the relevant support articles (such as this one) with the following information: 

For now, points 2 and 3 of your requests would be feature requests. I'll make sure to let you know if I get any other updates or hear of possible workarounds.

 

[JTPets]

Can I get some legal explanation? Like there are real reasons I would use those words

[Lou8]

Hi @JTPets ,

I don't have further explanation to provide unfortunately. The decision was made internally to comply with donation regulations.

The team confirmed that donating a portion of your sales to charitable orgs would not be a violation of our T&S. But you're not able to use these keywords anymore in the item description anymore, unless the item type is Donation. So instead of writing "A portion of the proceeds is donated to local pet rescue organizations" you could say "A portion of the proceeds will go to local pet rescue organizations".

[JTPets]

I appreciate the suggested work around. I just don't like answers without specifics. I like to go down rabbit holes and understand the why.

Thanks for your help in understanding this issue