Save a customer's card for later billing at POS

Use this process when a sale at the register sets up a charge for later. The register saves the customer’s card with the payment provider without charging it, so it can be billed later.

For example:

• A membership that renews each month — the customer pays for the first month at the front desk, and the saved card pays each renewal.
• A membership with nothing to pay today — the customer joins and pays nothing at the register. The card is saved, and the subscription’s recurring billing charges it.
• A product billed later from Salesforce — nothing is charged at the register, and the price stays on the order to bill from Salesforce later. Sell it in a sale of its own.

An administrator decides which of these happens for each product. See Set up subscription products for sale at POS.

There are two ways to save the card:

• On a Square Terminal — if a Square Terminal is paired to the register, checkout adds a Save card for subscription step and the customer presents their card at the terminal.
• With a card capture link — if no terminal is paired, or the card is not saved at the terminal, the sale completes without a card. The order then carries a card capture link, shown as a card form and a QR code, which the customer uses to enter their card on a web page.

Saving the card does not change how a subscription bills. Renewals work the same as for a subscription sold online. See Subscription products.

:::note POS card capture is a beta feature. Read Limits and known issues before you rely on it. :::

Before you start

• The sale has a customer. A sale with a subscription or a save-card product cannot be checked out anonymously. Until you add one, the register shows “A customer is required to check out subscription items.” or “A customer is required to check out items that save a card for later billing.” See Add a customer to a POS transaction.
• The product is set up for sale at POS, and the register has a way to save the card: a paired Square Terminal, or the card capture link. See Set up subscription products for sale at POS.
• You know which payment provider to choose on the card form. Your administrator can tell you.

Save the card on a Square Terminal

1. On the register, add the product to the cart.
2. Add the customer to the sale.
3. Select Checkout.

4. If the sale has an amount due today, take payment as usual with any payment method. The sale is saved as an order. If a subscription on the order needs a card, the Save card for subscription screen opens.

   If nothing is due today, such as a sale of only Save Payment Method Only products, the Save card for subscription screen opens in place of the payment methods.

   A Save Payment Method Only product that is not a subscription gets this screen only when nothing is due today. Sold with items to pay for, it gets no terminal step and no card capture link.

5. Select Save card at terminal. The register shows “Waiting for card — follow the instructions on the terminal”.

6. Ask the customer to follow the prompt on the terminal. Square accepts a dip or swipe in the United States, and a swipe only in Canada and Australia. Tap and contactless do not save a card.

When the terminal reports the card saved, the register completes the sale and shows the order completion screen. The card is now saved to the customer and set on each subscription on the order, and the order has no card capture link.

If the customer pays for a mixed sale by card on the same terminal, they present the card twice: once to pay, and once to save it.

Stop or skip the terminal step

• To stop a request the terminal is still waiting on, select Cancel. The register shows “Card save cancelled” and you can select Save card at terminal again.
• To finish the sale without a card, select Complete without saving card. The button shows whenever the terminal is not waiting for a card. Use this when the terminal is unavailable or the customer wants to add the card later. The order and the subscription are created with no card, and the order carries the card capture link. See Capture the card later.

Sell without a Square Terminal

On a register with no paired Square Terminal, there is no terminal step.

1. On the register, add the product to the cart.
2. Add the customer to the sale.
3. Select Checkout.
4. If the sale has an amount due today, take payment as usual. If nothing is due today, the register shows Card capture pending. Select Complete sale.

The order completion screen shows a Card capture pending section with a card form and a QR code. Capture the card now as described in Capture the card later, or let the customer do it on their own device.

Sales sent with pay by link also skip the terminal step. Once paid, the order carries the card capture link in the same way.

Capture the card later

An order shows a Card capture pending section while at least one subscription on it has no card. The section appears on the order completion screen and on the order in the register’s order history. It holds a card form and a QR code that read “Or scan to enter card details on the customer’s phone”.

1. Open the order on the register. To find an earlier order, see Look up a customer’s order history.
2. In the Card capture pending section, do one of these:
   • Have the customer enter their card in the card form on the register.
   • Ask the customer to scan the QR code with their phone’s camera and enter their card on the page it opens.
3. Select the payment provider that saves cards for your store, then enter the card details and submit the form.

On the register, the section changes to Card captured with “The subscription will be billed automatically.” On the customer’s phone, the page shows Card captured and tells them they can close it. The card is now set on each subscription on the order that had no card.

The QR code opens https://<your store domain>/pos/card_capture/<order reference number>. The page needs no sign-in. It shows only a card form, never the order or the customer’s details, and it stops working once every subscription on the order has a card. The link is not printed on the receipt and is not emailed, so the QR code is the way to hand it to a customer.

If the card is not saved

A failed card capture never cancels the sale. The order keeps what was charged, and the card capture link stays on the order until a card is saved.

What the register shows	What it means	What to do
Cannot connect to terminal	The register could not reach the Square Terminal.	Check the register is online and the terminal is on, then select Save card at terminal again, or select Complete without saving card.
Card save failed	The terminal did not save the card.	Select Save card at terminal to try again, or complete without saving the card.
“The card could not be saved.” on the order completion screen	StoreConnect could not verify or save the card after the terminal step.	Have the customer enter their card in the Card capture pending section.
“The subscription could not be set up.” on the order completion screen	The subscription was not created, so there is nothing to save a card against.	The sale is kept. Set up the subscription manually, or contact StoreConnect Support.
Card saved with “Sale could not be completed”	The card was saved but the order did not submit, such as on a dropped connection.	Select Complete sale to resubmit the order. The customer does not need to present their card again on this screen.

The failure messages show only for the rest of that checkout. When you open the order later, or on another register, the Card capture pending section is the sign that a card is still needed. A failed terminal capture is also logged against the order, which StoreConnect Support can use to investigate.

If a customer saves the same card more than once, StoreConnect keeps the newest copy at Square and disables the older ones. Any subscription of the customer’s still billing an older copy is moved to the new one, so the subscription keeps renewing.

Limits and known issues

POS card capture shipped as a beta. These limits apply at the register now, and several are being fixed. For limits that affect setup, see Set up subscription products for sale at POS.

• Square Terminal only at the register — the terminal step works only with a paired Square Terminal. Other card terminals use the card capture link.
• No tap or contactless — the customer must dip or swipe (United States) or swipe (Canada and Australia).
• Two card presentations on a mixed sale — a customer who pays by card at the terminal presents the card again to save it.
• Capture page provider list — the card form lists every payment provider your store uses on the web. Choosing one that cannot save a card fails with a general error. Some providers’ forms show a “Pay Now” button even though nothing is charged.
• Save-card products that are not subscriptions — the card capture link, and the Save card for subscription screen after payment, appear only while a subscription on the order has no card. A Save Payment Method Only product that is not a subscription never gets a link, and gets the terminal step only when nothing is due today. Sold with items to pay for, its card is not saved. Sell it in a sale of its own, and save the card on the terminal before you complete the sale.
• Unbranded capture page — a customer who scans the QR code sees a plain card form with no store branding or explanation, so tell them what it is for.
• Cached orders — after a card is captured, another register that already loaded the order keeps showing Card capture pending until the order is refreshed. Reopening an order whose card was already captured can also prompt for a card again.
• Leaving checkout mid-capture — leaving checkout while the terminal is waiting for a card does not cancel the request at Square. Select Cancel first, or the terminal stays busy until the request times out.
• Deposits — the register lets you set a deposit on an item that is not charged today. Do not set one; nothing is collected for that item at the register.
• Preauthorize Only products — these can be added to the cart, but the register blocks the payment.
• English messages — “The subscription could not be set up.” and “The card could not be saved.” are shown in English for all languages.
• Offline registers — a sale with nothing due today cannot be completed offline. The register shows “Sale could not be completed. Please check your connection and try again.” Select Complete sale once the register is back online. A sale with an amount due is saved offline as usual but skips the save-card step. After it syncs, open the order from order history to capture the card.

Example

A gym sells a Monthly Membership with Payment Capture Type set to Save Payment Method Only and Subscription Behavior set to Always Process, Always Charge, along with a $25.00 water bottle. A customer joins at the front desk.

The staff member adds both items and the customer, Sam Lee, and selects Checkout. The amount due is $25.00, for the bottle only. Sam pays by card on the Square Terminal. The Save card for subscription screen opens, the staff member selects Save card at terminal, and Sam swipes the same card. The register shows the order completion screen with no Card capture pending section, and Sam’s membership bills the saved card each month.