Offer the 4% Flat Rate in the OrderOut Reseller Portal

What does the 4% on my Square link actually do — is it the merchant's rate or a fee on the customer?

The 4% is the merchant's card processing rate. A merchant boarded through your 4% Flat Rate link pays Square a flat 4% on card sales instead of Rack Rate (2.6% + $0.15 in the US; in Canada 2.5% on in-person credit and 0.75% + $0.07 on Interac debit). Nothing is added to the customer's total.

So on a $1.00 card sale the customer pays $1.00 and about 96 cents reaches the merchant. If a merchant expected the customer to be charged $1.04, that is the misunderstanding — the link changes what the merchant pays, not what the customer pays.

Passing that cost on to customers is a separate thing the merchant sets up afterwards in their own Square Dashboard, and today it is manual: a Cash Discount button the cashier taps on cash sales, or, in the US, Square's surcharge, which is automatic but capped at 3% and never applies to debit.

Source: OrderOut (official)

With the 4% program, is the charge applied automatically at checkout or does the employee select it?

The employee selects it. A cash discount on Square is a manual discount button: the merchant creates a discount in their Square Dashboard, and when a customer pays cash the cashier taps Discount and picks it before taking payment. The discount is not applied by tender type, so nothing happens on its own at the register.

What the 4% link does set automatically is the merchant's card processing rate — a flat 4% on card sales. It is not a charge added to the customer's total.

Square's separate surcharge feature does add a fee to card payments on its own, but it is capped at 3%, and it recognizes debit cards and will not surcharge them.

Source: OrderOut (official)

How does a merchant on the 4% Flat Rate actually run a cash discount in Square?

Three manual steps in the merchant's own Square Dashboard, then a manual tap at every cash sale.

• Raise the prices first — to cover the full 4%, every item price goes up by about 4.17%, not 4%: divide the old price by 0.96, so $10.00 becomes $10.42. The listed price is now the card price.
• Create the discount — go to Items, then Discounts, then Create a Discount; name it Cash Discount and set it as a 4% percentage discount. 4% off $10.42 brings a cash customer back to $10.00.
• Apply it at checkout — when a customer pays cash, the cashier taps Discount, picks Cash Discount, then takes payment.

The discount is not applied by tender type, so it does not happen on its own — it is a button someone has to press on every cash sale. Square's own video on setting up modifiers and discounts walks through the screens; search for it by name in Square's help center.

Source: OrderOut (official)

Can I use Square's surcharge instead of a cash discount, and what is the maximum?

Yes, on the counter — but Square caps a surcharge at 3%. Square's built-in surcharge adds a fee to credit card payments automatically, recognizes debit cards and will not surcharge them, and cannot be set to 4%.

⚠️ It does not run everywhere. Square applies a surcharge on the Point of Sale, Restaurant and Retail apps and on web invoices, but not on Square Online, Virtual Terminal, Square Kiosk, Connected Terminal or mobile invoices. A merchant who takes payments online or by virtual terminal cannot rely on it.

So a merchant on the 4% Flat Rate pays 4% and can pass on at most 3%. On a surcharged credit sale they still pay about 1% themselves; on a debit sale, which Square never surcharges, they pay the full 4%. Square's Partner Manager can separately offer that merchant a custom 3% card rate to pair with the surcharge — raise it through the OrderOut reseller team, ideally before the merchant boards.

Switching it on is not just a toggle. In the Square Dashboard under Account and Settings, then Payments, the merchant picks which locations it applies to and whether it is taxable, acknowledges a state and local law notice, and prints the signage kit Square generates — the sign goes at the entrance or the counter, and a merchant who makes their own must keep Square's wording and font size. Printed receipts then carry a surcharge notice on their own.

State rules on surcharging still apply. Square publishes which states it supports, and it states that compliance is the merchant's own responsibility; OrderOut does not advise on it.

Source: OrderOut (official)

What is the difference between a surcharge and a service charge on Square?

• Surcharge — a fee Square adds automatically to credit card payments only, capped at 3%. Debit cards are recognized and not surcharged. It runs on the Point of Sale, Restaurant and Retail apps and on web invoices, but not on Square Online, Virtual Terminal, Square Kiosk, Connected Terminal or mobile invoices.
• Service charge — a customizable fee the merchant adds to a transaction to cover business costs. It applies to any transaction regardless of how the customer pays, cash included, and the merchant sets it in their Square Dashboard. Square states that the merchant is responsible for following the laws on charging customers a service charge.
• Cash discount — not an automatic Square feature: a manual discount button the merchant creates and the cashier taps on cash sales.

None of the three changes the merchant's own card processing rate, which is set by the link they signed up through. A merchant who wants a fee that only card customers pay should read Square's own credit card surcharge rules first — Square's surcharge article sets them out.

Source: OrderOut (official)

Can a merchant get a custom card rate, and does it have to be before they sign up?

Yes, but only after the merchant has signed up. The onboarding link always boards the merchant on standard pricing, Rack Rate or the 4% Flat Rate; a custom rate is a separate custom-pricing review Square runs on the existing account afterwards.

Square asks for the merchant token, average ticket size, monthly card volume and the requested rate, then builds a quote, sends the merchant an agreement to sign, puts it through underwriting, and updates the rate on the account once approved.

It is case by case and never self-serve, and Square decides. Send your standard link, and once the merchant has signed up, bring the opportunity to the OrderOut reseller team rather than approaching Square directly.

Source: OrderOut (official)

What should I tell a merchant the 4% Flat Rate is, in plain language?

One line: you pay a flat 4% on card sales instead of 2.6% plus 15 cents, and your customers are charged what is on the ticket. For a Canadian merchant: you pay a flat 4% on card sales, Interac included, instead of 2.5% on in-person credit and 0.75% plus 7 cents on Interac, and your customers are charged what is on the ticket.

Then the sentence that removes the surprise: if they want card customers to cover that 4%, they raise their prices and offer a discount for cash — a discount their cashier taps by hand — or, in the US, Square can add up to 3% to card payments automatically as a surcharge. Square does not apply a discount by tender type today, and it does not add 4% to anyone's bill.

A merchant who hears this before their first test sale is not surprised by the deposit.

Source: OrderOut (official)

Is Dual Pricing coming?

Not yet, and there is no date. Square does not auto-generate two-price tags and does not apply a cash discount by tender type. We understand a true dual-pricing capability is being worked on, and nothing has been announced — do not quote a merchant a date.

Today a merchant on the 4% Flat Rate gets there by hand: item prices raised to the card price, and a Cash Discount button the cashier taps on cash sales. Or Square's surcharge, which adds up to 3% to card payments on its own.

Source: OrderOut (official)

My merchant is already boarded at Rack Rate and wants the 4% Flat Rate — can we switch them?

A merchant who has already signed up cannot be moved onto the other program with a switch on our side. Square offers two paths, and both go through Square.

• A rate-change agreement — Square builds a quote and sends the merchant an agreement to sign electronically. This is how an existing merchant reaches the 4% Flat Rate, and Square requires it even when the only change is the rate.
• A brand new account — the merchant signs up from scratch through the intake link for the program you want, which boards them at that link's rate.

For the agreement path, Square's underwriting needs three figures about the merchant's processing before it will build the quote: average ticket, card volume and card-present percentage. The OrderOut reseller team will confirm the exact form Square wants for each when you bring the request in.

Either way Square decides and the merchant has to sign — you cannot switch a boarded merchant yourself. Bring the merchant and those three figures to the OrderOut reseller team rather than approaching Square directly.

Source: OrderOut (official)

Is debit cheaper on the 4% Flat Rate, and does Square's surcharge cover debit sales?

No. On the 4% Flat Rate a debit card sale is charged the same flat 4% as a credit card sale — Square does not price debit lower on this program.

And Square's surcharge never applies to debit: Square recognizes debit cards and will not surcharge them. So on a debit sale the merchant pays the full 4%, even with the surcharge switched on.

• Credit, surcharged — Square caps the surcharge at 3%, so the merchant still pays about 1% of each surcharged credit sale.
• Debit — the merchant pays the full 4% on every sale.
• Cash discount — works the same whatever card the customer uses, because the listed price is already the card price; it is a manual button the cashier taps on cash sales in Square.

Roughly how many of a merchant's customers pay by debit tells you how much of the 4% a Square surcharge can actually pass on.

Source: OrderOut (official)

Does Square charge extra for cards issued outside the US?

Yes. Square charges an additional 1.5% international transaction fee on payments made with credit or debit cards issued in a different country than the location of the merchant's Square account, on top of Square's base processing fee. Square applies it to in-person, online and card-not-present payments, on all of Square's pricing tiers.

So a merchant on the 4% Flat Rate pays 5.5% on a payment made with a card issued abroad — about $1.10 on a $20.00 sale instead of 80 cents. Square does not apply the fee to non-card methods such as ACH, Afterpay, Cash App Pay, Bitcoin or EBT.

Source: Square — published pricing and policy

Does Square's surcharge apply to tips?

No. Square's surcharge article states that ACH, debit card transactions, tips, offline payments and split tender payments can't have surcharges applied. So Square does not surcharge the tip on a card sale.

Source: Square — published pricing and policy