Manually Enter Card Payments Without a Square Reader

If your customer or a payment card isn’t present, you can manually enter your customers’ card information without a Square Reader on a supported device or send an invoice from your online Square Dashboard or mobile device.

For manually entered transactions, Square’s fee is 3.4% + 15 cents. Learn more about Square fees and how processing fees are calculated.

Note: You are unable to manually enter payments while in Offline Payments.

Steps to Manually Enter Payments From Your App

To accept payments on a supported device using the Square app without a reader:

1. From the navigation bar at the bottom of your screen, tap More > Settings > Checkout > Payment Types.

2. Toggle on Manual Credit Card Entry.

3. Ring up a transaction by adding items or entering custom amounts using the keypad.

4. Tap Charge to process the payment. Note: If you’re using a mobile device, or your tablet is being used in portrait mode (vertically), tap Review Sale > Charge.

5. Tap Manual Card Entry > enter the card number, expiration date and security code/CVV. Most card issuers also require a postal code. Note: if the card numbers turn red when entering them, confirm the card details with your customer.

6. Tap Charge.

7. If you have signatures enabled, have your customer sign with their finger. If you’re using an Android device, you’ll skip the signature screen entirely. Your customer can also leave a tip if this feature is enabled. You can write Phone or Internet Order in place of a signature when your customer is unavailable to sign. If you want to cancel the payment, tap the X in the upper-left corner.

8. After the customer taps Done Signing, they can enter their preferred receipt delivery method.

9. You’ll see a final screen that reads All Done after the payment completes.

Tap New Sale to take another payment.

Take a Payment with Virtual Terminal

You can process payments from your computer with Virtual Terminal:

To manually enter a payment using a computer:

1. Log into your Square Dashboard using a supported browser.

2. Navigate to Virtual Terminal > Take a Payment.

3. Select Quick Charge to charge your customer a single dollar amount or Itemized Sale to add an item, modifier, discount and tax to the sale.

4. Add an optional note to the sale.

5. Under Payment Method, select Manually Enter Card.

6. Enter the card details provided by your customer.

7. Click Charge.

Once you see Payment Successful, you are all set and you can view your payment in your Dashboard Sales Report.

Learn more about accepting payments with Virtual Terminal.

Required Information for Manual Entry

We require all of the following information for transactions entered manually:

• Complete card number

• Expiration date

• Security code/CVV

Note: most card issuers also require a billing postal code. If any piece of information is entered incorrectly, the card will be declined. If the card numbers entered turn red, review Square’s payment troubleshooting.

Learn more about how merchants protect themselves from fraud and chargebacks with safety tips for manually entered transactions.