how can i accept ebt payments?

[143Jerrywhite]

Hi I am new to Square and I am curious on how can I use my Square to receive payments from EBT in the USA ?

[TheRealChipA]

Hi @143Jerrywhite.  Square currently does not offer EBT functionality.  Requests have been made to add this, but I have not seen any product announcements or beta tests for EBT.

[RobynR · Accepted solution]

Hey @143Jerrywhite , welcome to the Community!

I am jumping in to add-on to @TheRealChipA 's response.

Currently, Square does not support electronic benefit transfers or other benefit cards.

Instead, we offer TotilPay, which integrates with Square to allow EBT-authorized merchants to use their existing Square merchant account and card reader and seamlessly accept credit, debit, SNAP, WIC, and loyalty cards.

You can check out more about TotilPay here.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

[TheRealChipA]

Thanks for that @RobynR.  I did not know about that. I don’t think. Lol. I will from now on. 

[MooseCreekTrade]

What you DON'T tell the OP is that not all Square hardware integrates with TotilPay.  For example, if you have Square Register, you have to use a separate Andriod or iOS device using TotilPay Go and the TotilPay card reader, and the payments have to be recorded separately in your Square Register.  VERY MISLEADING DOCUMENTAITON!

[RobynR]

@TheRealChipA You're welcome!

[TheRealChipA]

@143Jerrywhite I’m researching TotilPay for my own information. 

Here’s a link summarizing the TotilPay/Square integration. I’m including it to point out a few things you definitely want to know, such as:

• TotilPay is a POS app that you’ll use to enter items and accept EBT payments that are sent to Square to be included in your balance. 
• You’ll need to use their reader for EBT and Square’s for everything else. 
• The TotilPay app is not currently compatible with the Square Register or Square Stand hardware.

I’d recommend that you contact them to be sure how they sync with your Square item catalog. That’s not clear to me. Maybe @RobynR knows.

I hope that helps. 

[MooseCreekTrade]

Too bad Square's documentation doesn't tell you that TotilPay won't work on Square Register or Square Stand.  It simply says that TotilPay integrates with "your existing Square account and hardware".  I already had Square Register as a general merchandise store, but when we switched to groceries and were EBT-approved, I signed up with TotilPay, only to find out I had to buy new hardware in order to use it.  It made my $1,000+ investment in my original Square hardware meaningless, as I now have to buy something that WILL work with TotilPay, since it's the only vendor that works with Square to handle EBT.

[_Violet]

Hi @MooseCreekTrade - Thanks for sharing your feedback. I'm sorry to hear about this frustrating situation.

TotilPay is an application that you would need to download onto a compatible device to use, such as a mobile phone or tablet/iPad. Apps from the Google Play or Apple App store cannot be installed on the Square Terminal or Square Register.

I'm sorry this was not made more clear. I can escalate your feedback to our Content Team to see if they would consider updating our resources to specify that Totilpay cannot be supported on Square Terminal or Register. If you still need to return any of the hardware you purchased, you can do so within 30 days by following the steps here.

Please do let me know if you have any additional questions.

[Hackettsorchard]

Square needs to be able to accept EBT cards through their own registers.  As a farmer this is a big disappointment and from all the other forums I've read this has been a request for years. 

[GJJHarris]

I would agree...it is a shame that we have to have a separate credit card processor just to run EBT

[ssebz9]

Totally agree. It is a pain to have a separate processor and not to be able to add to square which items qualify for EBT so that it automatically sorts out the items for payment. 

[ADP1]

Would like to know how to add the option to accept Ebt payments 

[nika]

Hey there @Hackettsorchard . We integrate with a third party app to be able to accept EBT. You can read more about that here.