Take card payments with Square, straight into your own account.
VenueBookr connects to your Square account. Bookings taken online, sales rung at the counter and refunds all run through it, and the money settles to you. We never hold your takings and we never take a cut of a booking.
Two ways in, and both are ordinary
Plenty of venues we speak to already run Square. Plenty have never used it. Neither is the awkward case.
You already use Square
Connect the account you have. Nothing moves.
- In VenueBookr, open Settings → Payment Settings.
- Press Connect Square Account.
- Sign in to Square as you normally would and review what VenueBookr is asking for.
- You are sent straight back, and the card shows as connected.
- Switch it on, and set it as your default if you want Square taking card payments.
Your existing takings, customers and card machines stay exactly where they are. Connecting adds VenueBookr to the account you already run. It does not migrate anything, and it does not close anything down.
You are new to Square
Open an account first, then connect it the same way.
- Open a Square account. It is free to set up, and the Payment Settings screen links you straight there.
- Come back to VenueBookr and open Settings → Payment Settings.
- Follow the five steps beside this one.
Square will ask you the usual questions any card processor has to ask about your business before it can settle money to you. That part is between you and Square. Once you are through it, connecting takes about a minute.
What runs through Square once you connect
The same account covers the website and the counter, so a day's takings reconcile in one place.
Online bookings
A customer books and pays on your booking page, and the payment lands in your Square account. Deposits and balances work the same way.
The counter
Square card machines pair with the till, so the amount goes to the machine instead of somebody keying it in. Cash, gift vouchers and account credit sit alongside.
Refunds
A refund goes back the way it came, against the original payment, and unwinds in the right order when a booking involved a voucher or credit as well as a card.
Cards on file
A customer can choose to save a card, held by Square rather than by us, so a balance can be settled later without anyone reading a card number over the phone.
Reconciling
Every payment carries a reference back to the booking or sale it came from, so a day in Square lines up with a day in VenueBookr without matching by guesswork.
Your money, your account
VenueBookr never sits between you and your takings, and there is no commission on bookings. Square's own processing fees are between you and Square.
Questions we actually get asked
Do I have to use Square?
No. VenueBookr also connects to Stripe, and you can connect both and choose which one is used by default. Square is the one that drives the card machines at the counter, so it is the more useful of the two if you take money in person as well as online.
I already have Square running on another system. Will connecting break it?
No. Connecting authorises VenueBookr to work with the account. Whatever else you have connected to it carries on as before.
Does VenueBookr hold my money at any point?
No, and it never will. Payments go from the customer to your Square account. We do not have a payout, a float or a settlement account, and there is no commission on a booking.
What does Square charge?
Square sets its own processing rates and publishes them. That agreement is between you and Square, and VenueBookr does not change what you pay.
Do I need new hardware?
Not to take payments online. For the counter you need a Square card machine; if you already have one, it pairs with the till. A receipt printer and cash drawer are optional and the till works without them.
Will I have to reconnect it every month?
No. The connection renews itself in the background. If it ever does need attention you are told, rather than finding out from a failed payment.
What happens if Square has an outage?
If you have Stripe connected as well, VenueBookr moves card payments to it until Square recovers, and tells you both when it switches and when it switches back. If you only have Square, card payments wait for Square, and you can still take cash or record a payment at the counter. And if you switch on Temporary Reserve, a customer can still hold their slot without paying while no provider can take money, and you email them a link to pay by card.
Can I disconnect it?
Yes, from the same screen, at any time. Your Square account is yours and disconnecting does not touch it.
Stuck on any of it?
Connecting a payment account is the one step where being left alone with a screen is genuinely annoying, so we do not leave you with it. If something is not behaving, or you would rather someone walked you through it, tell us and we will. Every VenueBookr venue has a person to ask.
There is also a full guide inside VenueBookr under Help, and a setup list under Settings → My VenueBookr → Getting Started that tells you what is still outstanding.
Show us how your venue works. We'll show you how VenueBookr would run it.
Book a 30-minute live demo. We'll use your activities, pricing and operational rules so you can see how the system would work in your venue.
We'll only use these details to answer your enquiry.