Beating a Dead Horse but it needs to be: Preauthorization

[FarmAndBar]

We need to be able to preauthorize credit cards when running a tab. Period.  We really enjoyed the low buy in and easy menu development and a couple of the other features, but a bar/restaurant needs to be able to run a tab and preauthorize a credit card.  I've gone back and looked at conversations about it and it appears that this has been a CONSTANT request by users that has gone ignored.

I'd like to know why it isn't available.

[#2]

Pre-Authorization for Bar Tabs Update ⭐
Hi everyone - I'm Hadley, from the F&B product team. First of all, thank you SO MUCH for continuing to share all the feedback here over the years, we know how important the Bar Tabs feature is. For anyone who is not aware, this feature is currently in beta in the US for both Square Point of Sale as well as Square for Restaurants POS. 

➡️ If you use Square POS, here are instructions on how to get started beta testing. 

➡️ If you use RST POS, you can join the beta community here and our beta team will enable feature to your account. You can find the support article for getting set up on RST POS here. 

As a reminder, when a feature is in beta, there is still some engineering work happening to iron out the smaller bugs and optimizing the experience for our sellers and their customers. If you choose to participate in the beta testing, please share any feedback (good or bad 😄) to our beta team at betafeedback@squareup.com so we can learn how it is working for you and your staff.  

Thank you!

[cantrellr]

Yup, same here

[Covegirl]

I have personally been waiting for this feature for over 3 years. Unfortunately, due to the nature of our rental business, I am going to have to start looking at other companies. Not being able to put a hold on a card makes our business look "shady" and out of date (ie asking for cash deposits), or hurting our business by having no deposit. I truly hate it because Square is so up-to-date on everything else and we love the register and ability to add devices. Please let us know if this feature is added soon so I do not have to change companies.

[crwnl]

Hi, we are looking into using Square for heating oil sales on behalf of a client whose website we manage.

A customer should be able to request a fill-up through the website and credit card details will be taken at that time. We want to ensure that we receive payment once the oil has been delivered.

What are the options for doing this?

One might be to charge ahead of time for a full tank, which can be $500+ (varies day to day), and refund the rest. Obviously this is not ideal.

The other might be to put some kind of hold on the max payment to make sure it will be paid upon delivery. If this is possible, how long can such a hold last? Ideally we want to allow customers to schedule the delivery some days in advance in case there are no delivery slots available on the current day.

Thanks

[JustinC]

Pre authorization or holding an amount on a payment card is a feature request currently. We're tracking on this thread I moved you to. Feel free to search through the thread to see what other sellers adopted for workarounds.  

@crwnl

[ClermontBoatR]

Just adding another voice!  We too have a rental business and need a security deposit option.  

[crwnl]

It is confusing because I had seen this thread and I couldn't tell if the topic is the same thing as holds/pre-auth/delayed capture, which I guess is possible according to https://developer.squareup.com/blog/a-deep-dive-into-authorization-and-delayed-capture/

[PaigeSpingle]

How do I hold and process credit card for rentals?  I will be renting equipment by the week and month, how can I get the square to work for me?

[ashc]

Hi @PaigeSpingle,

I moved your post to a thread where this question has been answered already.

Check out the Best Answer above for details. 

In the future, don't hesitate to search your question first here or on the Support Center for your quickest answer too!

[teeze]

Bumping this up I hope.

We would really like to see this feature implemented as well. 

Customers love the self-serve ordering, but absolutely do not like having to make a transaction with each drink they purchase. 

We've even had a customer have his bank block his card because he ordered 3 beers over 3 different transactions and that was marked as "suspicious activity" due to he always opens a tab here. 

Would love to get an update if this feature is in the works. 

Thanks.

[AshleyK]

Hi @teeze Thanks for reaching out about this and welcome back to the Seller Community! I checked with our development team and this is not something that is expected to be released soon. We are definitely aware that it is a popular feature request and it's being actively tracked, but I don't have a timeline or date for when we will have this available to our sellers.