Pending Deactivation Notice from Square

[Mysticalhavenlj]

We received a notification this morning that we are "pending deactivation" specifically citing Section 3 of General Terms and Payment Terms. We have reviewed these extensively and haven't broken any of them.

Has anybody had an experience with a mistaken deactivation before?
Right now we're just very confused and to be quite honest, very scared.

Thanks

[TheRealChipA]

Hi @Mysticalhavenlj.  I’m sorry to hear this.  As I’m sure you know, Square has to periodically review accounts, especially those that are flagged by banks, Mastercard, Visa, etc.  If I may ask, what kind of business are you?  What products and services do you sell?  This might help me zero in on what might be the issue with your account, but there are no guarantees.  It sounds like you might have taken payments for something that Square is not allow to be party to, as their agreements with the card processors (Visa, etc) are pretty strict and don’t allow a lot of wiggle room or Square will lose their ability to process payments for all of use.  Hence they often exercise a lot of caution when red flags are raised.

Otherwise, I’m going to tag a few Square moderators here.  They will probably move this thread to a private discussion area as it no doubt involves very sensitive subjects.  But they might be able to help you zero in on what exactly is the problem.

Best of luck

@_Violet @JJ_ @MayaP @Summer2024 @RobynR 

[MayaP]

Hey there @Mysticalhavenlj, I understand having your business deactivated is frustrating and scary, and happy to help in any way. 

As @TheRealChipA mentioned since this is a seller community, but also since we are not a part of Account Services, the team that made this decision we are limited to the information that can be given. What kind of business are you? Did you receive any previous warnings from our team? 

[Mysticalhavenlj]

I'm a new age store. I sale herbs, metaphysical merchandise, books,... I found the part where I can't sell CBD, which I don't as I need a license in our state to do so, however I found that square has listed Blue Lotus Flower under CBD. This was new to me. If this is the item shutting down my store, I have deleted it. Seeing that it was legal without license to buy and sell I had no reason to believe it being like any other herb like lavender, valerian root,... Can I have this reviewed, or possibly be able to still keep Square as injust switched from shopify and begin using the POS. No I did not receive any warnings. 

[Amy222]

Hi there @Mysticalhavenlj, did you ever get any help? I am facing a similar situation, except I do not even sell Blue Lotus Flower. I have no idea why they want to shut me down. I never received any warnings either. Please let me know how this played out for you. I am desperate for guidance and I really don't want to start all over with a new provider. Thank you.

[TheRealChipA]

Hey @Amy222.  There is little we can do here in the Seller Community to help you.  But, if you’ll tell us about your business, what you sell, services you offer, etc, maybe we can give you some ideas where to look.  For now, here are a couple of links to Square TOS, and both of these list activities, etc, that can cause Square to do something like this.  Take the time to read them over and see if something jumps out at you.  Otherwise, you’ll need to get on the phone with customer support as even the moderators here don’t have the kind of access to your account needed to fully answer your question.

If you can’t get a satisfactory answer, it would be very wise not to wait and at least start researching your options.  Obviously something is wrong and Square is concerned.  They don’t want to “shut you down” but something raised a red flag that concerns them.  Since as a private company that “resells” card processing services they are under scrutiny as well they also have rules to follow or they will lose processing privileges for all of us.

I hope that you find your answers.

https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/5089-prohibited-goods-and-services-with-square-point-of-sale

https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/6386-why-can-t-square-support-all-businesses

[TheRealChipA]

@Amy222 I’ll add one thing here that has tripped up more sellers than I care to count, not just Square sellers, either.  First, keep in mind that I am NOT saying you have done this.  But lots of people don’t realize it is wrong and do it only to have big problems later.

The credit card companies prohibit business owners or their immediate families from using personal cards in our businesses.  This is because doing so is the same as getting a cash advance WITHOUT paying the much higher cash advance fees.  If the amounts get too large, they even consider it money laundering which can cause severe legal penalties.  If the card processing companies (Mastercard, Visa, etc.) detect this practice, they will notify Square (or Clover or Toast or whoever).  If doesn’t fix it to their satisfaction, then they could ban Square can be fined, penalized and/or even lose their ability to process cards on their networks anymore.  That would be disastrous.

That is just one of a few “practices” that can hurt us all.  Just putting it out there, mostly for future reference for anyone who runs across this thread.

[Amy222]

Thanks for adding that information. Do you mean that, as sellers, we are prohibited from using our own personal credit cards for purchases related to our business? Or are you saying that we aren't able to pay for anything through Square with our personal credit cards? I'm not sure that I've ever paid for anything through my own Square account... Any clarification you could provide would be awesome! I have never heard this before, and who knows, maybe this is related to whatever I am doing to cause red flags to be raised?

[TheRealChipA]

I mean that we can NOT buy anything from our own businesses using our personal cards, or even our business cards.  Small ($1) test transactions are fine occasionally when we are testing or otherwise troubleshooting our accounts.  But that’s it.  We can not but FROM ourselves using our cards.  If we want to do that — say because we want to get our home products at cost — we must use cash, or just comp it to ourselves.  But never should we use our cards, personal or business, at our own businesses.

[Amy222]

Okay, thanks for clarifying. I haven't ever done that so I think I'm in the clear here. Phew.

[Amy222]

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply to me. I am a licensed massage therapist, certified peristeam practitioner, and herbalist. I sell apothecary tools, bulk herbs, custom teas and tinctures, pelvic steaming supplies, and offer massage in my apothecary. www.apothecary222.com is my website.

I have spent a lot of time combing through the terms of service in the past week and I cannot figure out what I have done wrong. 

I have spent hours on the phone with customer service over the past week and have basically gotten the run around. Not one single representative has been able to give me details about why my account is being deactivated. With my phone conversations there has been a language barrier and TONS of background noise that makes it almost impossible to hear what the representative is saying and that has been frustrating. I've been able to patiently navigate these conversations despite the challenges, but ultimately I'm told they "will escalate the issue," I'm given a case number, and told to wait for an email. Then the email comes and it isn't helpful. All they do is point me to the terms of service. This morning I received an email stating the decision was final, after I asked for more details.

Obviously I have made some sort of mistake or something but I honestly do not have a clue what I could have done to get cancelled. I was never given any warning or any indication that I was wrong in any way. The deactivation notice came out of nowhere and I am still completely in the dark.

[TheRealChipA]

@Amy222 You are welcome, of course.  That’s why we are here, after all.  Thank you for the detailed overview.

I’m curious.  Do you by any chance sell anything that could be considered a controlled substance, or something that requires a prescription?  Do you have any products or services that are regulated — either federally or by your state? Forgetting questions about right vs. wrong, is there any product on your website or in your store that could run afoul of federal banking regulations?  I’m thinking specifically here of CBD and/or THC products, even if they are legal in your state.

I’m throwing spaghetti at the wall here, obviously.  But knowing your business better, these are good places to start.

[Amy222]

I don't have anything for sale that could be considered a controlled substance. I do sell herbs that might sound "risky" to non-herbalists, but they were purchased legally by me, with the intention of reselling. These are Kava Kava root and California Poppy. I have removed both from my Square inventory in case they are the culprits, but they shouldn't be; they're both commonly used medicinal herbs. I also sell Lion's Mane mushroom tinctures and capsules. Lion's Mane mushroom is non-psychoactive, but again, could be considered "risky" by someone who isn't familiar. I do not sell any THC or CBD products; cannabis is not an herb that I work with in any capacity. 

[TheRealChipA]

@Amy222 Ok.  It was worth a try.  I’m going to scan over the links I sent you again and see if anything jumps out at me now that I understand your business a little better.  Stay tuned.  I am curious, though, if my other thought has any possibilities.  I’m sure you are working on a reply to that.

[Amy222]

@MayaP Is there any way that you can help me? I have attempted to get answers regarding a situation similar to this one five times since I received notice of deactivation and I cannot get any answers. I started a new thread in the community, maybe I can tag you there... I am confused and blindsided and frustrated and would love it if someone could actually help me instead of sending me an automated response. Please help me if you can, I am desperate for a solution.

[MayaP]

Hey @Amy222,

I replied to the other thread.

Let's continue the conversation there! 😊👍

[AskJas]

Hello This Also just happened to me after getting a loan from square the day before I’m so confused and sad.