Sell CBD with Square
About the CBD program
With Square’s CBD program you can sell hemp and hemp-derived CBD products that have less than or equal to 0.3% THC in most states within the US. If you sell CBD products, including oil, flower, seeds, lotions, topicals, wax, etc., your business is required to be in the CBD program. These products must be produced and sold in compliance with applicable law, including, but not limited to, the 2018 Farm Bill, and relevant state laws. Hemp flower is permitted only if you provide lab certification confirming the THC level and ingredients.
Square doesn’t allow sellers to sell marijuana, marijuana derived products, products that contain more than 0.3% THC, illegal drugs, and products that otherwise violate Square’s Payment Terms such as kratom, kava, paraphernalia, bongs, or pipes.
Synthetically-derived cannabinoids, including hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) and tetrahydrocannabinol-o-acetate (THC-O), can’t be legally sold. Because synthetic cannabinoids don’t occur naturally in the cannabis plant, products containing them can’t be legally classified as hemp. The DEA classifies synthetically-derived cannabinoid products as Schedule I controlled substances.
Before you begin
Square doesn’t support payments for CBD products that are shipped to countries where CBD is illegal. You can’t process payments for CBD products that will be shipped to China, Hong Kong, Iceland, Iran, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, United Arab Emirates, and India. If we discover that you are shipping CBD products to any of the above referenced countries, your account will be subject to deactivation.
Square doesn’t restrict the card not present (CNP) sale of CBD-only vapes. However, we cannot support the sale of CNP age-restricted products, including e-cigarettes (please see Section 3 of the Payment Terms). Additionally, if there are local rules around selling CBD-only vaping products in your business’ jurisdiction, those must be complied with.
If we find an issue with any of your products, we’ll ask you to address the issue, or remove the items, and may suspend your account during this review. If you don’t remedy the issue, your account will be deactivated. If we observe continued violations of our CBD policies, your account will be subject to deactivation and future exclusion from the CBD program.
Our program is industry leading, which means we must be extra diligent about ensuring we have a robust CBD program framework. Medical claims are particularly important for CBD products, so we have strict standards associated with such claims and CBD products. Furthermore, we want our financial system to be fair to everyone, including to buyers.
While we can’t provide legal advice or a list of allowed or unallowed terms or phrases, we built our review process on FDA and other relevant guidelines. For example, Square doesn’t allow any claims that your CBD products may be used to cure, treat, or aid conditions such as anxiety, inflammation, depression, PTSD, ADHD, cancer, or other health conditions. For more information, review the FDA website and warning letters that the FDA has sent to CBD businesses regarding claims made about their products.
Apply to the CBD program
Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Account & Settings.
Select Pricing & subscriptions.
From the Optional Programs section, apply to join the CBD program.
Once you apply, Square will immediately begin our review process and request relevant documentation, such as information about your business and social media accounts, transaction amounts, your refund policy, bank statements, item descriptions, and a certificate of analysis confirming Delta 9-THC percentages for each item. All current and future Square Sellers must apply for the CBD program to be approved to sell CBD.
During the application review process, we may ask for additional information and documentation. To ensure that your application is processed quickly, please provide the requested information promptly to expedite your review process. Our team will then reach out to you directly when your application review is completed, usually within 2-3 business days.
You may also have a payment limit or rolling reserve applied to your account to continue processing with Square. Our team will contact you if a limit of reserve has been applied to your account. Square will monitor your account for any potential to change the terms over time.
All verification emails or information requests are sent to the email address associated with your Square account. Once approved, you can begin processing payments as soon as review is complete.
Review CBD transaction fees
Payment fees for transactions processed while in the CBD program, including non-CBD items, have slightly different fees from our regular payment processing rates.
Review our CBD transaction fees to compare across sales channels.
If CBD is only a small portion of your overall sales, you may qualify for a custom rate. To understand how adding CBD products to your business may impact your pricing with Square, request a quote and then we'll follow-up with you.
Leave the CBD program
Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Account & Settings.
Select Pricing & subscriptions.
From the Optional Programs section, select Exit CBD Program.
By exiting the program, you attest that you’ve removed all CBD products from your inventory and online presence. You also acknowledge that your account will be subject to deactivation if you continue to sell CBD products outside of our program.