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!

[neverwhere200]

When I pre-authorize a card lets say $75, Will the remainder of what wasn't spent return to the cardholder automatically? How does this work as I am in the process of starting to use appointments? 

Also, I was wondering If square had a way to set-up a monthly membership like an app or a way to do this so I could possibly add it to my website? We are in the process of starting a membership program with our business and I would like to add a signup page a way to be direct with square if possible or would it be something Id have to do on the back end?

[millsdmb]

I need this functionality

[katieand]

Hi @neverwhere200 - Thanks for your questions about Appointments. It turns out that you can't preauthorize a card with the app. You can require pre-payment in full or set up no-show protection as sort of workarounds. You can find all those settings in your dashboard. 

Also, Square doesn't have a specific program for memberships, but I have seen some merchants set up recurring invoices into a membership like program. Read more about that here: https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/5096

[Jean-City]

I provide rentals and would also like the option to hold and refund a deposit through the Square app. 

[AthenaUp]

This reply was created from merging an existing thread: Pre-authorization

I have a hotel, I want to know if I can use to check and lock the money on the card once someone has booked me on Booking.com (booking send me a numbers of the card )

Thanks

[VanKalkerFarms]

there is not a way to pre-authorize a card.  if your swipe or manually type in a card number for a transaction it will charge the card.

[AthenaUp]

And if after I want to cancel the transaction? How much is the cost?

[VanKalkerFarms]

@AthenaUp, there is 0 cost to refund a transaction, you get your fees back and everything.  It's like it never happened except you can see it in your transaction history.

[EJ_]

Unfortunately @AthenaUp there isn't a way to pre-authorize a card. 

To add on to that, we don't recommend using the refund feature as a pre-authorization workaround for payments and deposits. Refunds can tie up your customer's money for up to 7 - 14 days (depending on their bank). The best workaround would be to charge a percentage up front as a down payment, and then subtract this amount from their final bill. 

[flashbulb]

Add me to the group who would like to be able to Hold Funds for a security deposit.  To use the refund process to return a customer's funds is too long and certainly not going to endear us merchants to customers.