How do you ensure you get the amount deposited to your bank is the amount your customer owes you?

[dlaront]

We are relatively new to using Square. We have used it for two events and have noticed  the amount that physically goes to our bank is always short the amount our customer actually owes us. Square support helped us set up the service fee in the business section of settings but regardless of what we do the deposit is always short. We have also been told by Square support that the Square service fee is based off the total transaction which if we are adding to our sale (as instructed), means we ultimately do not receive the full amount our customer owes us. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[VanKalkerFarms]

what are you charging for the service fee or how are you calculating it?

one thing people often forget is to account for the amount Square takes of the fee you are adding on to the sale.

[Candlestore]

@dlaront ;

The other things to keep in mind are the way Square calculates its total fee. 

Squares Fees calculation  : https://squareup.com/us/en/payments/our-fees 

The way Square calculates its fees are a % and a fixed per transaction fee.

The lower the overall total of the sale the Higher the % rate is for Squares fees.

Examples

You sell $1000 item..... Square charges you 2.6% with a card present and a $0.10 Transaction fee =  $ 26.10 total fee 0r 2.61% effective rate.

Now we will keep everything the same but sell a $1.00 item

$1.00 sale Square charges you 2.6% with card present and a $0.10 Transaction fee =  now you are at $0.126 Total fee or a 12.6% effective rate

This is why it is hard to charge a customer the actual rate (fee) Square charges and is why some small businesses have a minimum for Credit Card purchases.

The below all use the same Card Present at 2.6% plus $0.10 Transaction fee

And on a $100 sale the effective rate would be 2.7%   ((100 X .026) + 0.10) = $2.70 Fee   (2.7 / 100) =2.7%

And on a $10 sale the effective rate would be 3.6%      ((10 x .026) + 0.10)  = $0.36  Fee   (.36 / 10)  = 3.6%

And on a $5 sale the effective rate would be 4.6%         ((5 X .026) + 0.10)  = $0.23 Fee    (.23 / 5  ) = 4.6%

You can figure yours out buy using this (( {Total Sale} x {Squares Rate} ) + {Transaction Fee} = Total Fee

Then take the {Total Fee}  / {Total Sale} = your Effective Fee from Square

Squares Rate is the % depending on Card Present Not Present or How it is taken also DIP, Tap etc (2.6%, 2.9% and 3.5% Normally)

Transaction Fee is the Fixed amount Square Charges for Processing.  ($0.10, $0.15, and $0.30 again depending on how you took payment)

So you could charge a flat rate of 5% to cover these fees but you would still be short on lower $ amount sales say under  $5 plus you would have the added fee put into the total Square would charge you for the fee.

The alternative is just raise your prices by 5%, and you will net what your looking for without having to add a CC processing fee or Credit Card Convenience fee.  You would still loose a little in payments under $5. but actually do better on higher dollar amount sales.  People usually do not like paying more to use a credit card so you could add the 5% and then give a Cash discount of 5%, so that only people that pay with Credit Cards have this fee.   Some places make it illegal to charge more if paying buy CC but you can give discounts.... even though its basically the same thing, so check your local laws.