Does Square accept Canadian Debit cards?

[sheldon]

I would like this question answered before applying for a Square.

It would save a lot of time if Square had a customer service number for potential clients to call and get their questions answered.

[NAIF]

Why don't they update their current card reader with an 'insert debit' option to accept those debit cards which don't have tap, I don't think there is a security issue with it, rather insert is more secure. It will be convenience for both merchant and customer and also it will make Square much better option.

[Joe]

Hey there, @Csmith! I hope this message finds you well.

Wanted to reach out with some good news in regards to your post back in April. As of this week, I am happy to report that we're able to offer full Interac acceptance in Canada! This means that you can now accept chip and PIN payments using the Contactless & Chip Card reader 👏More info on Debit & Pin availability here. 

Thanks so much for your patience while we brought this feature to fruition! We appreciate you being a part of the Square Community. 

[QueensFlorist]

Add our name to the list of customers who need proper chip and pin support. This is a major problem that is the one thing that could drive us away since having to pay for an alternative as well as square seems a bit backwards; otherwise we are quite happy with your service.

[Actionlock]

Thank you for this answer. If nothing else it is good to know that square can track Debit. 

Kim

[Hardcore_Games]

One headache Canadians have is that the big banks all operate like a cartel and they do everything they can to block upstarts.

Square has no monthly fee, while other solution can be extremely expensive at $10 or more a month.

[Actionlock]

Sean - I am unable to find my way back to my last thread with you. I have just finished reading posts that Australia has debit processing on square. I hear that you are looking into this, and trying to resolve this. I see some frustrated square users have had to stop using square because of this. I am wondering if I am going to have to be one of those people. I simply can not run a business and not accept debit cards. I have read and heard varied numbers on Debit sales in a business in Canada, but it appears 35-55% of our sales up here are on debit cards. I do not want to loose a customer, who will go and complain to another potential customer that we do not have that option available. I can not find anywhere in the posts what the actual problem is. Why do we not have Debit in Canada ? What is the issue ? Is it because of the government, or the bank system, or with square itself. I know that it is not your fault personnally, I just wanted to know if you knew what the actual problem was?

Thank You for your help. 

[Sean]

@Actionlock - This is definitely a popular feature request. While I can't speak to the business reason behind our inability to offer debit in Canada right now, it's definitely something that is top of mind for us. I'll update this thread in the future if I hear any news on this front. 

[Actionlock]

Thank You for any and all your help with this matter. 

Look forward to hearing about any progress in this area in the future.

Best wishes for 2017

Kim 

[twinmom7]

Do i invoice them in my US funds or in their canadian amount?

[Sean]

Hi @twinmom7. Dollar amounts will always be calculated in the currency of your country of activation (US - USD, CA- CAD). 

[Lo7]

Best answer

[thecorkery]

Wondering when Square is planning to offer the chip reader in Canada? The mag stripe is most certainly not a flawless technology and I have customers actually telling me that they could simply reverse the charge and contesting it would be virtually impossible. It's LONG overdue. I have to use Square and another payment provider in order to accept debit. Frustrating. It's why I'm looking into other options for my POS.

[thecorkery]

Oh! That's wonderful! So you've managed to give me the EXACT response I was anticipating...Why, if you're working on delivering this to Canadian customers, are there absolutely zero timelines? Surely, if there's teams of employees working towards this goal, there must be some kind of information you can offer us instead of the canned "Congratulations! We're working on it!" response. That helps in no way whatsoever. In fact, it just inspires me further to switch to a different POS system.

[EJ_]

I hear your frustration, but it's important to remember that we don't disclose timelines on any launches or product updates until they are released. 

While I get that you need more information to determine whether or not you want to stay with Square, there simply isn't any information that we can provide to you at this time. 

The best we can do is assure you that we're aware that this drastically impacts Canadian Businesses and we are most definitely working toward a solution for you. 

Also, we don't enjoy giving canned responses and vague timelines, so it frustrates us as well. 

Hang tight and hopefully we get this out for you sooner rather than later. 

[aas]

can i use square for debit cards or just credit cards?

[VanKalkerFarms]

where are you located?   Yes, you can accept Debit and Credit cards with Square.  Depending on your locations Square runs Debit cards as a credit not requiring a pin.

[aas]

hi, thanks for your advice.

i'm in canada and my square reader doesn't accept debit cards.

[Helen]

I just moved your post here @aas. Please see Kelly's Best Answer on page 1 for information about accepting Interac debit cards with tap using the new Square reader! There is additional information about accepting Interac debit cards in our Support Center. Hope this helps! 

[Actionlock]

Hello I am looking to add Debit to my system. What do people do in Canada for Debit with square? What do people in Canada using square do for Debit transactions ?

[Tom]

Hi @Actionlock, handful of sellers had similiar questions, and received an answer. Check out the reply from Sean and let us know if that helps!

[Braeheid]

Just go rent a debit terminal. It's $70 a month and you can accept debit & credit on the terminal. 

Then all payments in square are processed as "other - debit/credit". 

The only money square is making off me is from my employee tracking and log in fees. 

They'll make money on me again when they offer loyalty program. 

I've done 1.3 +/- M in sales in the last 5 years while using square, and because they don't allow us to use debit, they haven't seen a penny of it. 

Edit: 

Just ran a report. I've actually processed 7k using the built in square swiper. 

So of 1.3 Mil, square has dipped in to $7k from the odd invoice sale that was paid via the customer online, of the odd trade show.  Seems square would have some incentive to ACTUALLY out some development staff into the Canadian economy.