Help with taking payments for my school

[Montessorisouth]

Looking for answers about my new square card reader. I’m not selling anything just need to be able to collect tuition payments for my preschool that gives parents the options of Ach bank drafts to my business bank account as well as how to take credit cards & get that money into my business bank account as well. Help! 

[ryanwanner · Accepted solution]

Hello @Montessorisouth ! Welcome to the wonderful world that is Square! 🙂

I'd like to break down your question into two parts:

ACH Payments: This is something that is available via Square, but not through the square reader. There is a section of your dashboard called Invoices. You can set up an invoice that sends to your parent's email addresses so they can pay the tuition online. When you set up the invoice, you have the option to choose ACH bank transfer and/or credit card payment. ACH transfers only cost 1% of the cost of the transaction, so there is incentive to get your parents to go down that route. More info on ACH Payments via Invoices. Note: you may need to subscribe to Invoices Plus for continued use of ACH payments.

Taking Credit Cards: I assume you've already downloaded the Square Point of Sale App to your phone or tablet. This is going to be where you do the majority of your in-person payments. I recommend setting up an item called Tuition in your Item Library. (More info on creating items). From your app, just tap on that Tuition item and check out the parent!

This is all super easy to use once you get the hang of it! If you have any questions along the way please reach back out!

[Montessorisouth]

Thank you so very much for your help. So what kind of Square do I need to process ACH and Credit Cards! 

[ryanwanner]

@Montessorisouth  I'm happy to help!

Your main account details can be found on the Dashboard, accessible from any web browser: https://squareup.com/dashboard  Use your login email and password to access everything. To get to the Invoices section, just look for Invoices in the left hand column from the main page of the site.

For invoices you don't need to have any special hardware. Your parents will get an emailed payment link.

If you want to use the square reader you purchased, just head over to your phone or tablet App Store and search for Square Point of Sale. Download, install, and login with your email and password. Depending on the reader you have, either plug it into the headphone or lightning jack on your device and the app will recognize it instantly. If you have the contactless reader, you'll need to pair it to your device. Here are some instructions on how to do that.

Hope this helps!

[Montessorisouth]

You mention there is a section on my dashboard? Where do I find a dashboard ? On an app?