Accidentally Signed Up for CBD Program

[cfcfrida]

The title of this thread has been edited by a Square Moderator from the original: "Has square stole from any of you as well"

I had made a mistake and clicked on to apply to sell CBD products at my business, because I do massage therapy and I would have liked to give my clients the option. Square sent me an email that I didn’t see asking me questions, and since I didn’t answer the questions in the email within a day or two, square has been holding my money I worked for, for more than a week. I can’t pay my rent for my business, or even for the place I live. I have called them multiple times and they just keep saying that my account is under review, all because I didn’t answer the 15 questions, that I can’t answer anyway, because I don’t sell CBD products, within a day of getting the email. Have any of you experienced this? To me they stole my money. Does anyone know of another company that doesn’t steal, to use as a new card reader?

[TheRealChipA]

Hi @cfcfrida.  Sorry to hear about your problems here.  Unfortunately, you are in a catch-22 here.  The simple fact of the matter is that you did check the CBD box..  This immediately put you into a high-risk category, because of federal banking laws as well as the fact that card issuers (Visa, MC, etc) scrutinize all business that say they are going to sell these products.  There are only a handful of processors like Square who will even touch businesses that sell CBD, and even if they do they carefully screen and then constantly monitor these businesses in order to keep out of trouble with the federal and state governments.

Square has not stolen your money.  They have hoops to jump through in order not to come in to work one day and find the FBI in their offices.  They MUST go through this process now, even if you just checked the box by mistake.  All you can do is wait while they go through their process, one that was caused by you checking a box that you should not have checked, it seems.  The only people who can help you now are the people you have been talking to at Square.

Also, you can do a web search for “CBD Merchant Services Providers.”  Lastly, until Square has completed their review, I would not recommend processing any more card transactions with them.  That’s only going to mean more money being held.

I wish you well.

[cfcfrida]

I have told them time and again I don’t sell CBD products, nor have I ever sold CBD products, and they don’t seem to care. I am going to get evicted from the space I rent for my business, and from my house, because I can’t pay rent. I also am a single parent, and can’t feed my child, and they don’t seem to care. I thought about selling CBD, but will definitely not be selling it at all. 

Thank you for your feedback, I really appreciate it. In the future I will be looking into using a different company for my card reader. 

[_Violet]

Hi @cfcfrida  - I'm sorry to hear that this issue with your account has brought you to the Seller Community.

I wanted to provide you with some additional information on our CBD Program, which I've grabbed from this Support Article: "In order to sign up for our CBD Program, you must navigate to the Pricing & Subscriptions in your online Square Dashboard under the Optional Programs section. Once you apply, we will immediately begin our review process and request relevant documentation, such as information about your business, item descriptions, and lab reports for your products. All current and future Square Sellers must apply for the CBD program to be approved to sell CBD products."

When we place an account under review, we temporarily suspend transfers to your linked bank account until the review is completed. Your funds have not gone anywhere, they are still in your Square Balance. We perform these reviews to ensure that all businesses using Square are operating within our Terms of Service. After you've submitted the requested information, our team will begin reviewing your account. Once the review is completed, your balance should reflect all current payments. In most cases, you’ll be able to use transfers again within 24 - 48 hours of resolving a review. Please follow the instructions in the email you received from our Account Services Team so they can proceed with their review of your account and work on getting you access to your funds again. 

If you no longer wish to sell CBD products you may exit the program by visiting the Pricing & Subscriptions section of your online Square Dashboard, and then click Exit CBD Program under the Optional Programs section. By exiting, you attest that you’ve removed all CBD products from your inventory and online presence. You also acknowledge that your account will be subject to deactivation if you continue to sell CBD products outside of our program.

I hope this information is helpful but please do let me know if you have any additional questions.