Feature Request: Charge customers in different currencies using Square Point of Sale

[Zephyr]

The title of this post has been edited from the original: USD transactions in Canada

Is it possible to open USD account in Canada such that I can conduct all transactions in USD either in Canada or the US by phone AND have the proceeds deposited into a USD account at a Canadian bank?

[#2]

The ability to charge your customers in different currencies using Square Point of Sale is not available at this time, @Reefertilizer.

We're constantly working to bring payment processing to more countries, and will definitely announce any changes related to currency acceptance here in this thread.

[Spenser · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately not, @Zephyr. You can only process transactions in the currency of the country where your account was activated; so an account created in Canada will process all sales in CAD. 

It is up to the cardholders bank to determine the conversion rate and any applicable fees. Hope that info helps. 

[JonathanGlobe]

Do you have an estimate of how much the banks could charge?

As an example, I'm going to accept $500 USD from a customer's Amex in the U.S.

Our business is in Canada so the $500 will be converted to approximately $635 CAD in our bank account.

I wonder how much our customer will be charged.

Thank you.

Jon

[LouenhideNA]

That is the problem, very confusing for your customer, I can guarantee they will NEVER be charged exactly what you sold to them at, and will commonly call you on it.   Not to mention if you ever try to do a refund it will end up at a different amount for sure, customers will call you for even the tiniest difference in this and you will have NO way to rectify it with NO control over the exact conversion.   I refuse to use Canada processing for US sales or vice versa because of this, I use a different processor to charge each because of Square rule about only having one account and one currency.  

[klchatel]

I also have the same issue. I need to invoice US customers in US funds (from Canada). This is the only restriction that is holding me back from changing my invoicing over from PayPal. I hope you find a solution soon.

[Joe]

Thanks for this feedback, @klchatel. This feature request seems to be a very popular one. When there is an update to share, we will be sure to let you know! Thank you.

[malibuclub]

This thread is over two years old and there's still no change to this rather instrumental aspect of doing business outside of the US.

At very least being able to program taking a cash tender that is in a different currency.

Not being able to do invoicing or having it integrate with platforms like Cognito or Wufoo for taking online payments in USD when we are outside of the US is why I have not moved everything we do from Stripe to Square. And why we haven't moved our larger store with considerably more sales to Square POS because we would die in a pile with at least 50% of our customers showing up with nothing but USD cash. It's legal. It's possible. You're just not putting your developers on to prioritizing something that you yourself say is in high demand.

Americans continue to insist that the USD be accepted as a global currency wherever they go. Either change the entire culture of your country so that they don't expect to be able to use USD cash in stores in foreign countries, or give your clients outside of the US the ability to take in more than one cash currency as tender through any of the POS systems that you have (regular and Retail). It's kind of a no-brainer which one is easier.

[alosam]

So much this! 

[DawnR]

I am in the same boat!  I would much rather invoice in USD to my US customers.  I would rather not use PayPal but feel restricted to them at this time.  I hope Square figures it out soon!

[Encoder_955]

Majority of posts in this thread reference sales processed through POS systems, so I just want to confirm that it is also not possible to charge customers in USD with funds settled to a US dollar bank account in Canada through Square's virtual terminal/ online invoice payment feature? 

[Joe]

You are correct here, @Encoder_955. Your Square account will opt into processing the currency that is used in the country of origin from when your account was created.

[Encoder_955]

@Joe Thank you for confirming. Does the country of origin of the account have any other restrictions? I am wondering if it is possible to process sales via virtual terminal/ online invoicing  through a US account while physically being in Canada?

[Joe]

Hi there again, @Encoder_955 👋 Your customer can fulfill an Invoice while they are physically outside your country of origin - and you can process a card from a separate country on the Virtual Terminal. The payment will only decline if you physically try to process a payment while you are outside of the country of origin. 

[LouenhideNA]

Can I ask why this is so difficult to offer?  With so many websites selling in two currencies (especially Canadian and US for North America).    We charge USD into our US bank account to our US customers and CAD into our CAD bank account to our Canadian customers.    Pretty common, totally legal, and I don't see why it's so important only originating account country can determine funds.  We would never use conversion rates and confuse our customers like that so we just use Stripe for our US processing.  You are really missing out Square.

[4directionsart]

hi there i just set up square in canada with a canadian bank and my business is within canada, can i not simply open a USD account with a canadian bank and then with a second square account accept USD payments from USA customers? 

[k_atie]

Hey @4directionsart, thank you for your post. Unfortunately, it is not currently possible to open a US Square account if you are based in Canada. You must be based in the country you are operating your business in. 

You should still be able to take payments from US-based customers even if your business is based in Canada. We can process cards bearing a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, JCB or Discover logo.

In order to process an international card manually, enter the card number, expiration date and CVV.

You can learn more about manually entering transactions by visiting our Support Centre.

Also, keep in mind that processing of internationally-issued cards is subject to issuer approval and that the fee per transaction for manually-entered transactions is 3.4% + 15 cents. Cardholders may be charged for currency conversion by their card issuer since payments must be processed in Canadian dollars.

Hope this helps. 

[4directionsart]

it helps very much thank you

[Chad]

Hello @JonathanGlobe, I recommend contacting AMEX directly. Transaction fees and exchange rates change on a regular basis. They should be able to give you an accurate estimate. 

[harcottr]

I need to be able to add the US exchange rate onto my Canadian sales.  For instance if an item is $20 US, I need to add the rate I paid to it -- so add 30% for the Canadian conversion -- how can I accomplish this?  I tried to add it into the sales tax but I don't get to add in a descriptive name, and the modifiers are an amount not a percentage.

thanks in advance

[Helen]

This reply was created from merging an existing thread: “Configure US Exchange Rate”

Hi @harcottr, I've moved your post here as another seller had a similar question.

It's not possible to change the currency in the Point of Sale app. As a Square seller in Canada all transactions will be completed in CAD. I'll share your request to process payments in USD with the Product Team. 

[RCIC]

Any news on this front? The inability to process transactions in USD for certain Canadian businesses is a major shortcoming.