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Will Square ever be able to accept Electronic Benefit Card (EBT) payments?

Will Square ever be able to accept Electronic Benefit Card (EBT) payments?

Will Square ever be able to accept Electronic Benefit Card (EBT) (food stamps) payments?

1 Verified Answer
Verified Answer

Re: Will Square ever be able to accept Electronic Benefit Card (EBT) payments?

For those who might be interested, here is our set-up for EBT.

 

We use a third party company for running EBT, which has a card reader and a pinpad. The companies vary by state, we use FIS. 

We hold an Arizona restaurant/hot meals EBT license and can accept just about everything on EBT except energy drinks and retail items like coffee mugs or keychains.

 

We use the code "E" in the notes section to be able to track which sales are EBT. We still record everything in Square so that we have data for all sales in one place.

 

Here are the steps we provide for our cashiers.

  1. Remove non-eligible retail items from ticket for a separate transaction. Tell the customer “I will ring these up separately for you.”
  2. Remove tax from ticket.
  3. Take payment on EBT machine for total of eligible items and offer customer receipt.
  4. Choose “CHARGE” on Square.
  5. Choose “OTHER PAYMENT TYPE.”
  6. Type “E” in “Notes.”
  7. Choose “TENDER.”
105 Comments

Let me be more clear. SNAP is a federally regulated assistance program. Due to transaction costs a merchant or private company may decide to provide hardware or a physical way to accept SNAP payments for whatever system you are using but they may also place a restriction on sales requirements as in your case Clover. This is for several reasons. Most that are allowed to accept SNAP fall into the two categories of farmers or brick and mortar with established POS systems. The first typically wont have any items not eligible to be purchased with SNAP and the grocers with the POS systems (most function off the same processor/software) those items not eligible are easily programmable out or excluded based on the not having to reinvent the wheel. 

 

It then becomes a question of training. Are you aware what items are eligible? Did you know that if you pick up a rotiasery chicken from the deli but it's in the cold case after the day it's been out it IS ELIGIBLE for SNAP but as long as it's being heated it's not? Do you carry items that would be eligible on a WIC program as well? And if employed beyond just yourself what training will you implement for SNAP and fraud. SNAP also is one of the highest reported assistance programs in terms of Fraud and Discrimnation based on any factor. How do you address that what systems or training do you have in place? If you dont do enough business for clovers requirements to issue you JUST the payment solution it's likely for good measure having the ability to have expansion of SNAP markets is really good but as a grocery industry we have to be careful to make sure we do it right, without hefty fines, and not kill it before it even starts.

 

I called SNAP last week wanting to launch this next week because on thier website site I'm not a market and I'm not brick and mortar for just groceries (b/m for services) they indicated I was not eligible because I lacked oversight (unless for an errand service I itemized inventory of an entire grocery store). And there was no system of training. And accepting SNAP payments on the go inserts an entirely new set of issues for SNAP to address and check. I GET IT I REALLY DO TRUST ME. 

 

Clover told you no but even if they said yes you still have to get approval from the govt to take it as payment. It's not a magical switch that flips and I would be extremely leary of ANY processor that says they would handle all of that. If that processor isn't in your store they dont know what you've got set up, posters, required clings, etc. They dont know your not running an EBT for cash exchange. (Yes that's a thing).

 

I've accepted I likely wont ever be able to take it as payment. It's not an access question anymore. My question to you is clover said no but what are YOU doing to make YOU ready for uncle Sam to say YES? Three years from now you swap out your hardware decide to go a different company entirely. You repeat this process of asking and denial. What did you change? We really need to stop making this an access question and start making this an improvement of my business/industry question. Accepting SNAP payments ancillary has been a thing for DECADES. Be the change. Dont be a sales goal.

Beta Member

I have 3 brick and mortar locations and we accept SNAP/EBT at all locations but have to use a different processor.

 

You cant be able to accept snap just through a processor. you have to be authorized by the USDA. In order to qualify, you are required to meet stock requirements set by the USDA. after authorization, you will receive an FNS number. you give this number to your merchant processor and then you can accept snap/ebt. Keep in mind you have to use a merchant processor that is authorized to process snap/ebt payments. as these payments require a the customer to enter their PIN number in order to process the transaction, and square doesnt have a pin pad, it seems like it would be a long ways away as this would not only require software implementation, but would also have to incorporate new hardware. I wish i could have it all with square, but at the moment, it seems like a longshot.

Square Community Moderator

Thanks for adding your personal experience and insight into this feature, @JackSulaiman. There are definitely a lot of moving pieces and processes that need to fall in place for us to be able to bring SNAP/ebt benefits into the fold.

 

Like most Feature Request threads, we will continue to push out any new updates here on these threads when we have news to share. Thanks for your patience!

I read an article about TotilPay, an app that allows a Square retailer to accept EBT payments without purchasing an expensive EBT card reader unit. I spoke with a TotilPay rep today, and she indicated that TotilPay uses a small bluetooth EBT card reader, similar in size to the Square credit/debit card contactless/chip reader we currently use. We currently use the Square stands with the chip reader and printer, both with wired attachment to our Square stand.
 
We are a farm stand and have been an authorized EBT retailer for two years, but we were sent a reburbished EBT reader that we often have to restart, which slows us down, plus it has a separate pinpad which takes up even more counter space.
 
Is it as seamless between the TotilPay app and the Square app as they claim? It's $19.99/month for the TotilPay app, but it would sure free up space on our counter if we didn't have to use the bulky EBT reader we currently have. My question is have any of you tried TotilPay yet?

We listened to the webinar the other day.  Tomorrow we have a phone appointment with Suzanne Black at TotilPay.  We did have questions about it all.  Will know more then.

 

This is the first time I've heard the app is a monthly cost.  The costs seem to be adding up if Square still does the cc processing and then we add on $20/month for the app and then add on costs for doing the EBT.  We're a small brick and mortar health store up in the mountains and the budget isn't very big.  A donation helped us get Square POS and some researching got us second hand ipad and printer. 

 

Hopefully tomorrow's call will help. 

Beta Member

I may be wrong but the way i am understanding it is that TotilPay is a standalone POS app that can process EBT transactions and also has the ability to use Square as a payment gateway within the TotilPay POS app. If that is the case, then it is counter-intuitive to what users of Square POS/Register users want. The ideal scenario would be EBT payment integration into the Square POS/Register app and hardware.

We were already authorized as a SNAP merchant, so I applied via Nova Dia to receive a Totilpay EBT card reader. We received it and tried it out. First, let me say that the entire process, including their support site and instructions, are complicated and frustrating. I have processed one transaction so far, using their EBT card reader, but the transaction did not show up automatically in our Square system. If this is the case - providing I connected everything correctly - this set up isn't any better than when we used a traditional EBT card reader, because we had to manually enter those traditional EBT transactions into Square.  Except that the Nova Dia card reader is small and the traditional reader we had was the size of a traditional credit card terminal.  I am not yet convinced that this is the answer we've been looking for.

Seems like a pretty common need from a lot of customers...why doesn't Square process EBT cards?

Since Square is not accepting EBT processing right now, which processing company do other small businesses use?  We are a small business that consists of a garden center and a retail space for bakery products and other grocery items. We would like to accept EBT payments but our current processor is expensive. Any advice?? 

Just got approved for EBT at my convenience store.  I have a square ipad and stuff.  How do I do the EBT thing?  I read on google that I need another machine through a third party, that charges per transaction.  Wondering if anyone found a square friendly solution.