Manually enter card payments with Square
About manually entered card payments
If a customer’s payment card isn’t physically present during a transaction, you can manually enter your customer's card information with your point of sale app or Square Virtual Terminal.
Before you begin
To manually enter a card payment, ensure you have the complete card number, expiration date, and the security code/CVV.
If any part of the payment card information is entered incorrectly, the card will be declined.
It’s not possible to manually enter card payments while processing offline payments.
Learn how to accept card payments safely and prevent payment disputes.
Manually enter card payments
Ensure you’ve enabled manual card entry for your point of sale app by tapping ☰ More > Settings > Checkout > Payment and drag Manual card entry to Main payment types.
While completing a transaction:
- At checkout, select Manual Credit Card Entry to enter the customer’s card number, expiry date, and security code.
- Select Charge to process the payment.
To enable manual card entry for Square Virtual Terminal:
- Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Orders & payments (or Invoices & Payments or Payments) > Virtual Terminal.
- Click Settings > Checkout.
- Toggle on Manually Enter Card.
- Click Save.
While completing a transaction on Virtual Terminal:
- At checkout, select Manually enter card to enter the customer’s card number, expiry date, and security code.
- Select Charge to process the payment.
Alternatives to manually entered card payments
Manually entered card payments have higher processing fees and higher risks for fraud. Square offers more secure methods of taking payments. The options below have lower processing fees and are available on all Square accounts.
If your customer can pay in-person, you can use Square hardware or your compatible iPhone or Android device’s Tap to Pay feature.
- Accept chip cards (EMV), contactless cards (NFC) and mobile wallet payments (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Afterpay Card) with Square hardware, such as the Square Reader.
- If you do not have Square hardware, you can use Tap to Pay on iPhone or Tap to Pay on Android to accept contactless cards (NFC) and mobile wallet payments (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Afterpay Card).
If your customer can’t pay in-person, you can send a Square Payment Link or a Square Invoice to accept the following payments: Debit or credit card, including digital wallets like Apple Pay or Google Pay, Afterpay and Square Gift Cards (physical or electronic).
- Payment links can be created from your Square Dashboard or your point of sale app. You can send payment links to individual customers via text or email or share payment links online for multiple customers to use.
- With Square Invoices, you can request payments for goods or services by sending an unlimited number of digital invoices, estimates or recurring invoices that you can send via text or email. You can schedule the initial deposit and split the remaining balance into multiple payments.