Using charge-back as a deposit

[Seattle_AYLI]

We lend books, much like the old-fashioned video stores. I'd like to charge the borrowers, and then give them a charge-back when they return the book.  Is that something Square would let us do?  Is there a limit to the number of charge-backs we can have?  Is there a fee for charge-=backs?

[sayra]

Hello @Seattle_AYLI.

Good question regarding chargebacks. Take a look at this article that talks about our Square chargebacks. 

I also recommend saving your customer's card information to provide them with an invoice estimate, should your customer not return a book you will be able to convert your invoice estimate into a payable invoice and use the card on file to automatically charge them. You can get more details on that here. 

While I can't say how many chargebacks Square allows you to process, we don't recommend you constantly doing this. 

Let me know if you have any other questions. 

[Seattle_AYLI]

thank you, that was very helpful.  I haven't begun to fully digest the invoicing post, but I'm working on it.

One question I have is what "invoice" means when you suggest invoicing them using their card on file.

Would that mean they need to click on something to add the charge to their card, or does "invoice" mean it is charged to their card?

Can they get out of the charge by ignoring it?

[AshleyK]

If you save their card on file, you can charge the card without the customer being present. Also, an invoice is a bill that is emailed or texted to a customer for them to pay at a future date. You can charge a customer with their card on file through an invoice. Check out the help articles linked to get more descriptions on what I mean. 🙂