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Does Square accept Canadian Debit cards?

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.

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Square Community Moderator

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Hi there, @WestsideYYC and @sqruserincanada! I hope this message finds you both well.

 

Wanted to reach out with some good news. 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 or the Square Terminal. ๐Ÿ‘More info on Debit & Pin availability is available here and you can visit our Support Centre to learn more accepting Interac debit cards cards

 

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

 

This post was updated in October 2020.

Joe
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I have been accepting a lot of e-Transfers, since I am not able to take debit payments over $100. They cost me less as a small business owner, and for anyone who does online banking, it's a convenient way to pay. It is a better option than having to resort to credit cards all the time, which have a much higher transaction fee. I have turned on "automatic deposit" with my bank, so a security question and password isn't necessary, and the money is automatically deposited into my account. Still hoping for Square to get the Chip & PIN technology in place, but this is a good option. 

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Good idea eclipse. Iโ€™ll have to see if my aging clientele are willing to go there.

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In response to the reply saying that square takes debit. I notice that you are writing from the USA. In Canada we do not have debit visa cards like you all do in the US.  Are the debit cards suppossed to work in Canada as well ? I am getting conflicting information on this subject. I was told that we do not accept debit in Canada. I am trying to find out what people in Canada, who use square, do to accept debit transactions. It is difficult using a system whose community forum is based in the USA, when the system down there is different then up here. Where do I get help from other Canadian Square users ?? 

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Square

Hi @Actionlock โ€” It looks like another seller had the same question, and received an answer. Check out this thread for more details. 


Sean
he/him/his
Product Manager | Square, Inc.
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My tap-reader accepts debit payments every other time.

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Admin

Hi @windsormassage, sorry to hear about the trouble you've been encountering. Some other sellers brought up a similar issue and got an answer. Have a look at Helen's reply in "Contactless reader isn't working" for next steps.

๏œ๏ธ Tom | he/him
Seller Community Manager | Square, Inc.
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My tap reader doesn't work at all in Canada

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Hey @CADEE

 

Have you tried any troubleshooting steps thus far?

 

Can you provide some details on what's happening when you try to use it? 

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Hey @BuyWise

 

All Interac debit payments must be tap transactions, and Interac debit tap payments cannot exceed $100 unfortunately. 
 

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Most of our transactions are over 100$, when will it be possible to support Chip and Pin?

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Admin

Thank you for checking in, @TheCryptoShop. We don't have a specific timeline for this request that we can share out right now, but we'll update our Support Center as soon as anything changes: Is there a transaction limit for Interac payments?

 

Please keep in touch and let us know if anything else comes up in the meantime.

๏œ๏ธ Tom | he/him
Seller Community Manager | Square, Inc.
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Can you invoice someone in Canada from the USA?  Are there extra fees due to the conversions?

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Admin

Hi @dannacruzan, thank you for your post! You are able to use Square Invoices to request payment for goods or services from your international customers. At this time, you canโ€™t issue invoices while traveling outside of the country in which you activated your account. For more information on sending invoices, have a look at our Support Center: Send Square Invoices Online.

 

Hope this helps make things more clear. Please let me know if you have any further questions. ๐Ÿ™‚

 

๏œ๏ธ Tom | he/him
Seller Community Manager | Square, Inc.
Find step-by-step help in our Support Center
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My 2 cents after having read this thread and trying Square for less than 1 month and processing in excess of $10,000 in Canada.

 

When it works it is GREAT and well received by customers and staff.  Unfortunately, the lack of debit chip creates so many unforeseen problems that the entire Square system comes in to question when it should not, as it is not the likely problem. It is just confusion and a general lack of understanding simply because debit chip is not accepted, when it is expected to be.

 

Just to be clear, chip in debit IS REQUIRED in Canada for a few simple reasons:

  1. The $100 dollar per transaction limit can be overcome by chip
  2. Apparently some people are limited to $100 tap PER DAY not PER TRANSACTION, again overcome by chip, and
  3. Some people just simply have tap turned off by their bank at their request.

If we can not accommodate the debit users above via Square then we are forced to get a terminal which begins to question the entire need for Square.

 

I can appreciate that Square makes more fees from credit transactions vs debit and if that is the reason for not implementing chip in debit then that is sad and scary.

 

If it is a technical issue then please let us know so we do not assume the worse.....

 

Looking forward to this being a viable solution!

 

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interac flash is still best for coffee shops etc

 

bigger fish are SOL untill square manages to get chip and pin working 

 

 

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First off, I don't work for Square so you can't hold them accountable for anything I say.

 

Second, I see alot of people on this thread putting the blame on Square for not having chip and PIN capability on their readers in Canada. I have two responses. First, many banks have added partner functionality free of charge to their debit cards. If the customer has VISA-debit, they can swipe without a PIN with no limit. Second, the rest of the problem is not specifically in Square's hands. Canadian debit cards are different than debit cards in any other country. In Canada, every debit transaction requires a PIN code to be entered for every transaction. This is from the Government of Canada's website on using debit cards. "

In-store purchases

When you use your debit card in-store, youโ€™ll need to insert your card or swipe it in the payment terminal, or tap it on the terminal. If you insert or swipe your card, youโ€™ll need to enter your PIN on the PIN pad to authorize the transactions."

 

The only exception to this is VISA-debit. That's why a VISA debit card can be swiped using the Square reader.

 

Further complicating the issue, with Canadian debit cards, the PIN number is not allowed to be verified through a wireless connection. That means the number pad has to be built into the chip reader AND specialty encryption has to be used to protect that PIN while it is transmitted back to the POS app. Square's mission statement reads "We believe the economy is better when everyone has access. When everyone has room to grow. No one should be left out because the cost is too great or the technology too complex." That says they attempt to provide COMPACT, CONVENIENT, AFFORDABLE payment solutions to users that would otherwise not enter the market. Once you integrate the number pad into the reader, you lose the compactness. When you have to plug it into the iPad with a cable it is no longer convenient. The amount of money they would have to charge to cover the cost of providing the necessary encryption and hardware upgrades removes the affordability. It breaks the very foundation of their company.

 

The only people Square's system doesn't currently work for are people who regularly process debit transactions that are higher than $100 and whose target market is unlikely to be willing to use a credit card to pay. That is a very small percentage of the market and unfortunately that means for a small percentage of us, we have a necessary cost of doing business. Square has said they are working on it and I believe them. The fact that they have brought debit transactions to other countries shows that they ARE, in fact, working on this and are overcoming the easiest hurdles first. Once they are able to overcome Canada's more difficult hurdles, we in Canada will get the same convenience. In the meantime, lobby the government and banks to change the legislation about transmitting PIN numbers over wireless connections. They could require that it be transmitted in a VPN which protects it from others on the same network and then there's no issue. Until the government and banks get on board, Square cannot change anything quickly.

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I do not blame anyone, I only inquire as to availability. Wireless is as secure as the app can make it with TLS 1.2 RSA same as a browser which people use for everyday banking now.

 

I suspect the big banks are the ones who pressured the regulations to block mobile POS systems mostly so they could maintain profits.

 

I wish thank you for clarifying the situation and I will see if I can fix the problem here in Canada for you.

 

 

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I bought the Square contactless reader months ago but the first day we set it up is the same day we took it off our counter. Seven of our customers had deactivated the top function on their cards for various reasons. They figured, as did we, that they could insert the chip on their card and a pop-up window on the screen would provide a pin pad. But it didn't! I couldn't believe how disappointing this was for everyone who wanted to see us get up-to-date technology. So now the reader sits off to the right of my desk as a reminder of what could be. Does Square have any intention of enabling the contactless reader to take the chip instead and have a customer put their pin in? Without that ability we, as a busy coffee shop, find the reader useless and find ourselves carrying on with taking credit cards through the swipe function on our Square system but still using our bank pos system for debit transactions.

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Square Community Moderator

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

 

Wanted to reach out with some good news in regards to your post back in January. 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 ๐Ÿ‘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. 

Joe
Community Moderator, Square
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This reply created from merging an existing thread: "When will full debit be available in Canada, not only tap?" The author has been notified via email.

 

I want to be able to take full debit card payments. A $100 limit is way to low for my business. When is Square updating to full debit use?

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Square Community Moderator

Hi there, @HCB - I hope you are doing great and that this message finds you well!

 

Wanted to reach out with some good news in regards to your post back in May. 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 ๐Ÿ‘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. 

Joe
Community Moderator, Square
Sign in and click Mark as Best Answer if my reply answers your question.
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