Understand Square’s business restrictions
About Square’s business restrictions
Square is designed to empower companies to thrive by giving businesses the tools they need to fully participate in the economy.
As Square grows and adds more kinds of businesses to the platform, it’s important that we make sure we’ve built the systems that keep Square safe for businesses that use our platform. There are certain types of businesses and products we’re not able to support on our platform due to the nature of the regulatory system in which we operate.
Before you begin
Make sure you’ve reviewed Square Terms of Service and Payment Terms. Details of what types of businesses and products can’t be supported are listed in the Terms of Service, and all activity on our platform is monitored to ensure compliance.
Unsupported industries and business activity
In order to operate, Square must abide by a number of different laws, policies and agreements made to banks and other card networks. Many of these commitments are reflected in what is and isn’t supported in Square’s Terms of Service and, as referenced above, we have to take action when we come across any violations. Below are a few of the most common examples of what we can’t support.
Square must comply with state and federal law so, if there’s a product, service, transaction or related activity that’s illegal, it won’t be allowed by Square. This includes items that might be related to illegal activities, like counterfeit goods or paraphernalia.
Certain age-restricted products, like cigarettes, require that a card be present for the transaction to be processed. As result, Square’s Terms state the products may only be sold with a card-present tap, insert or swipe payment.
Selling certain age-restricted products over telephone, mail order or the internet is a direct violation of Square’s Terms, and we have to take action as a result. So please make sure a card is present for these types of sales, and appropriately check the buyer’s ID.
Square’s integrated point-of-sale and payment solutions were designed for the sale of goods or services. They were not designed to process person-to-person transfers, to facilitate payments between companies owned by the same people, to facilitate payments within companies or to be used as a cash advance-type service. Transactions of that nature violate many of the partnership agreements that Square has with different providers in the financial services industry, and put our entire business at risk.
As a result, sellers cannot use their own card to process a transaction with their Square account. We do allow for the occasional test swipe for a reasonable $1 to make sure the reader is working as expected, but otherwise, using Square for self-payments is not okay. Payments taken from family members can also fall into this category.
Understand why your business might be unsupported
Square regularly monitors all transactions on the platform to keep all businesses safe, and will take action on any account that violates the Terms of Service, regardless of when the infraction is identified. This helps make sure Square’s service remains available for as many businesses as possible.
In the event that something appears out of the ordinary with your account, Square will contact you to verify additional details, and will place a hold on any upcoming transfers. You’ll be notified via email, sent to the email address associated with the primary account holder, as well as by a banner that appears when the primary account holder is logged in to both Square Dashboard and Square’s Support Centre. Depending on the concern, we might need to review different information, but typically we’re looking for signed receipts, bank statements or other forms of verification.
The information you submit helps Square Account Services better understand your business and its transactions as a whole. Regulators require Square to understand the kinds of businesses using Square, and the products being sold. When you respond to a request for more information, the information you provide helps us understand what you do and puts us in a better position to help you avoid prohibited activity.
As mentioned above, and in the Square Terms of Service, transfers can be suspended until we can fully verify an account or transaction to make sure it complies with the law and Square’s Terms of Service. Our review process typically takes less than one working day, so the sooner you can get the requested verification documents, the sooner we’ll be able to complete the review.