Terms of Service Question

[Kwazzy]

Hello Square Community! I have a few questions regarding the square TOS!

I am planning on starting a PC Repair/Services company which one of the services that will be offered is: A "remote management" service where I make a one-time visit to the customer's house(excluding any other services the customer purchases), and install a piece of background software where I monitor, perform checks, run anti-virus etc, for a monthly fee.

I was reading through the terms of service and I have concern about two of the prohibited categories and whether or not this service falls into either:

subscription offers or services

&

Buyer or membership clubs, including dues associated with such clubs

and another question I have, is why is recurring payments a feature, however in the TOS subscription services are forbidden.

Thank you!

[isabelle]

Hey @Kwazzy! 

This is a good question. 

You are correct. Advertising your business as a subscription or membership (to a club) based business may violate our terms of service. This is why gyms typically do not seek out Square as a payment processor. 

However, you can use Square to set up recurring invoices which is not prohibited. This way you could send an invoice on a monthly schedule to your customers. Many of our sellers use this for their business. Let me know if you have any questions about this. 

[Kwazzy]

Hey thanks for the response @isabelle!

I'm confused. What exactly is the difference between a subscription and a recurring invoice? They sound like the exact same thing but with different wording..

Best regards!

[isabelle · Accepted solution]

Hey @Kwazzy!

I suppose a recurring invoice is what we've created to be able to charge a customer on a monthly basis, but be within our terms of service. Invoicing someone monthly does not fall into the description of:

• Buyer or membership clubs, including dues associated with such clubs
• Direct marketing or subscription offers or services

Thank you! 

[Kwazzy]

Thank you @isabelle! that's how I'll go about charging them for that service then. Thank you for the clarification 🙂

[guz843]

so does the recurring invoice get automatically paid or does the client need to do anything?

[MayaP]

Hello there @guz843, 

Welcome to The Seller Community! Happy to have you join 👋😊 If you set up a card on file for the invoice then yes it will automatically get paid. Otherwise, the customer would have to pay themselves through the invoice link that is sent to them. I hope that helps!