Is it possible to pass on Square's fees to customers?

[Wembleycricket]

We are hoping to pass on square's fees to our customers when they pay with card, is there an easy way to do this in the app?

[Bormsa]

We are also a sports club and have added the surcharge as a "tax" and renamed it "credit card processing fee" 

[Seamus]

Hey @Bormsa,

Just a heads up that if you have GST turned on, any custom tax you apply to the cost of what you're selling is based on a pre-GST amount, not the entire amount of a sale. This option is intended for things like alcohol/tobacco tax that is applied on a pre-GST basis.

[pizzeriaarlos]

hi what happens when people pay cash? as i did the same with a tax but now it appears when people pay cash

[Arie]

Hi @pizzeriaarlos,

I noticed it's your first post, welcome to our community! Thanks for writing in. 

We don't have a workaround for this scenario at the moment. We generally suggest to factor card processing costs into your overall pricing structure like other overhead costs e.g staffing, or rent. We're still tracking automatic card surcharges as a feature request, and will keep you updated via this thread. 

[splurben]

90% of my customers pay by Direct Bank Transfer. So I don't have to raise my rates to compensate for the few transactions that have the very fair Square surcharge. I can't really see a way around this at this point. If the surcharge is added on to the transaction from Xero invoices, then the customers' invoices won't match their payment amount, that's just making more similar work for your customers. I just add 5% on the the invoices for my customers that prefer to use credit/debit cards. I'm charging for the extra administration time it takes to get Square to reconcile to Xero as every single transaction has to be adjusted. I charge $90/hour and it takes about 5 minutes for each one, so that's fair. It's on the invoice as an Transaction Administration Surcharge.

[MiaBB]

I am baffled by this. How can a POS and technology company not be able to provide businesses with the option to add credit card surcharge to transactions. Most POS' are able to provide this and charging a credit card surcharge is common practice. This is really disappointing.

[Dynamo]

Do you acept cash aswell and if so how do you make the card tax only apply to card transactions and not the cash ones

[Laurie_]

Hi @Dynamo this is a great question!

You can certainly process a cash payment using Square. You can select cash as a payment type and Square will make a record of the transaction, however, it's important to note we don't capture the payment as this is a physical exchange in this instance.

You can easily remove tax from cash transactions by following these steps:

1. Once you've entered in your custom amount/items, select Review sale.
2. On the next screen we will see your custom amount/items and tax underneath. Press and hold on to the tax and this will load another screen displaying the tax.
3. Select the red 'x' to remove the tax, then select Save.

4. You will return to the previous screen where the transaction will show as Tax (Off).

Let us know if you have further questions here.

[PRT2021]

I think the idea that surcharges should be factored into operating costs is not really a realistic answer for everyone. If a business would like to pass on card processing fees, it is their choice. A scenario that comes to mind would be factoring a process fee into your items which then make them a couple dollars more than the shop down the road (who may have another POS system that supports automatic surcharges) and losing business this way. 

The current workaround provided by Square is actually more likely to put an operator at risk of breaching ACCC obligations on the basis that it systematically adds the "card processing fee" to every transaction regardless if a card has been used and relies on the operator to manually remove this fee. I can think of several scenarios where this removal may be missed, especially in high pressure, fast paced environments.

[Kaz100]

Need to easily add fee for card charge. Square is a signifcant additional cost to business since 2020, the bank terminals were a lot less, Square fees at 1.5-2%+ of all your takings is a  big extra cost of doing business. if you retail $1m it might be $15,000 of your sales per annum. Thats over $1k per month in card fees.  I know that every bun i buy at the bakery, or hotel i stay at, add the cost of the card fees. Whilst Square say they are tracking this, its been over 4 years, and its not available. In the world of massively increasing costs, the consumer needs to pick this up, and be aware of the costs to the business. If more than half the places i shop at add a card fee% - why cant i? Just because Square doesnt like it? Maybe it time to look further into terminals and systems that can provide this facility. As it seems like its only Square users that cant do this and everyone else in the world can. 

[BillyEdwards]

Being unable to surcharge for Credit cards is a BIG issue for many, WE NEED TO REWARD THOSE USING CASH OR WE WILL LOSE IT

I am calling square for a solution, if not I will change to other system. I am very disapointed that a POS would be doing this.

Building these costs into you overhead is a Stupid and naive response, its all about going cashless.

I will go to great lengths now to ensure Square is avoided for this reason, including the full might of social media.

Rebel against this big brother now.

[kush1]

Hi is there any updates with the card surcharge process?? we have transfer from impos to square and we used to do card surcharge, but i couldnot find anything on square for card surcharge.

[Yokoscatering]

It was so easy when I was using Tyro and their automatic surcharging feature. Since swithing to Square I've had to train my staff to take off the credit card processing fee when customers pay cash, but it is still annoying. 

[Slixx]

All I am asking is that you provide the same options that you competitors have available.  Both SumUp and Commonwealth Bank provide these options out of the box.  Also, I don't really understand the difference between you offering this option as an automatic surcharge and us using a calculator to have work it out manually (inc GST) and then adding it manually?

You offer this option on a retail level as a surcharge on face to face transactions, but not as an invoice to be sent and paid online or as an invoice to be paid face to face using your square reader.... It is also available in the US, but not in Australia

So many questions and yet the only answer and explanation is "This is currently not an option in Australia, but we appreciate your feedback and hopefully it will be available soon'

[Slixx]

Also, this just isn't credit card surcharges.  In my business I need to be able to charge a 20% surcharge on After-hours services.  Again I cannot do this, I need to work it out and add it as a separate line item. 

My customers need invoicing with all the details included of the service provided.  I can do this using the checkout function and the surcharge options, but I would have to sit there and type all the details out, while my customer waits and eventually misses their plane.

You already have the surcharge option available, just extend it to be used for invoices like in the US