Hi there @lynne4.. You can not add a blanket service charge directly to all cards that are processed through Square. This is because the card issuers (Mastercard, etc) prohibit convenience fees for prepaid cards, debit cards and gift cards. They only allow them for most credit cards. Square currently does not have the capability to only add convenience fees to only the cards that allow them. So, as is stated in the Square help documentation:
Do not despair, however. There are ways to do what you want. The simplest one — and the one that I have used for over a decade — is to just include the 3% fee into my cost of goods calculations when I’m setting up prices. I know, I know. That means that all customers are paying this fee, even cash-paying customers. But, for the record, all customers are paying for my utilities, my employees, my rent and every other expense needed for my business to stay open. This is really no different. Also, by having it as just part of our price, this means that we actually can come out ahead, depending on how many cash-paying customers we have.
Another option is this, depending on your state laws which you’ll have to research. You can still add the fee to the sales price, but you can offer your cash-paying customers a manual discount. I mentioned you’ll need to do research because some states don’t allow cash-only discounts, and some that do allow this require that prominent signage be displayed so that everyone knows about it and has the option before they pay.
I had read at one point that Square was looking at ways they could automatically add surcharges to cards that allow them. But so far I’ve not heard that this has been done, especially since the help documentation still has the statement I included above.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Hi there @lynne4.. You can not add a blanket service charge directly to all cards that are processed through Square. This is because the card issuers (Mastercard, etc) prohibit convenience fees for prepaid cards, debit cards and gift cards. They only allow them for most credit cards. Square currently does not have the capability to only add convenience fees to only the cards that allow them. So, as is stated in the Square help documentation:
Do not despair, however. There are ways to do what you want. The simplest one — and the one that I have used for over a decade — is to just include the 3% fee into my cost of goods calculations when I’m setting up prices. I know, I know. That means that all customers are paying this fee, even cash-paying customers. But, for the record, all customers are paying for my utilities, my employees, my rent and every other expense needed for my business to stay open. This is really no different. Also, by having it as just part of our price, this means that we actually can come out ahead, depending on how many cash-paying customers we have.
Another option is this, depending on your state laws which you’ll have to research. You can still add the fee to the sales price, but you can offer your cash-paying customers a manual discount. I mentioned you’ll need to do research because some states don’t allow cash-only discounts, and some that do allow this require that prominent signage be displayed so that everyone knows about it and has the option before they pay.
I had read at one point that Square was looking at ways they could automatically add surcharges to cards that allow them. But so far I’ve not heard that this has been done, especially since the help documentation still has the statement I included above.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
