Update 3:39 p.m.: Square reports that all issues have been resolved but have not disclosed what caused the outage. The company said in a statement:
We can now confirm that the disruption impacting Square services has been resolved.
Please be aware that sellers may encounter delays in the updating of certain product/services:- Offline Mode Payments: Payments are being uploaded, but there will be a slight delay before they appear as completed.
Any new Offline Mode Payments will be completed as normal in the coming hours.- Square Reporting Tools: There is a possibility of delays in updating new billing and transaction information across all Square reporting tools, including those in all Square Point of Sale apps and the Dashboard.- Transfers: we anticipate slight delays for some transfers on Friday, September 8.
However, we want to reassure all our US sellers that you will receive your transfers by 12:00 PM, PDT on Friday, September 8.We understand how important it is to have your business tools fully operational, and for this reason, our engineering team is currently engaged in discussions to prevent similar disruptions from happening in the future.We sincerely thank you for your patience as our team worked to resolve this issue, and we apologize for any inconvenience this disruption may have caused to your business.Once this disruption has been fully investigated, we plan to publish a full review of this issue and determine what steps we can take to prevent it from happening again.
Original report:
Square, a company that supplies point of sale (POS) systems to small businesses that allow for credit card processing, has been down all day Thursday, affecting users in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, France, and Spain. Square is one of the largest suppliers of POS systems to all kinds of businesses, like restaurants, salons, tattoo parlors, boutiques, and much more. According to the website, Square is “Trusted by millions of businesses worldwide.”
Without the ability to process credit cards, many businesses have reported turning away customers who don’t have cash—or taking an enormous risk and writing down credit card information to process later, not knowing if the card will go through. Despite Square’s customers losing thousands of dollars per hour, their customer service line was shut down and goes directly to a voice message that says the service line is unavailable.
Square has posted very few updates on its Twitter/X account, with no information about what caused the issue or when it will be fixed. “We are currently experiencing issues with multiple Square services,” they wrote on Twitter/X. “We understand how important it is for your business that our services be up and running, and we are actively working toward a fix.”
We are currently experiencing issues with multiple Square services. We understand how important it is for your business that our services be up and running, and we are actively working toward a fix.
We’ll keep you updated at https://t.co/tZnnkr57aK as we learn more.
— Square (@Square) September 7, 2023
Customers are starting to panic.
So @Square goes down completely leaving every business using their service effectively shut off from payments and they close the support during this? How many of my fellow small businesses are shopping for new merchant services today? #square
— Ken Obloy (@VoudouxKen) September 7, 2023
“So Square goes down completely leaving every business using their service effectively shut off from payments and they close the support during this? How many of my fellow small businesses are shopping for new merchant services today?” wrote Ken Obloy.
“So for past 7 hours you guys haven’t even found the ‘root’ of this issue? I mean business are losing thousands and thousand’s of dollars today due to this issue,” wrote Twitter/X user Sergio.
So for past 7 hours you guys haven’t even found the “root” of this issue? I mean business are losing thousands and thousand’s of dollars today due to this issue. @Square @CashSupport @SquareSupport #square #cashapp pic.twitter.com/PRREKPXb6l
— Sergio (@jama34110) September 8, 2023
The threat to small businesses due to this outage is real and scary. “We’ve lost so many sales today and @square is not even communicating how they are fixing this outage. Small businesses cannot be down extended periods of time! Businesses will need compensation to cover the losses – and they can’t even pay their employees for last week!” wrote Rob Boyland.
We’ve lost so many sales today and @square is not even communicating how they are fixing this outage. Small businesses cannot be down extended periods of time! Businesses will need compensation to cover the losses – and they can’t even pay their employees for last week! #square
— Rob Boyland (@rboyland) September 7, 2023
PJ Media reached out to Square for more information on what happened but did not receive a response as of the time of publishing. If they do respond, we will update our article.
Square isn’t the only credit card processing service that is down. CashApp, which is owned by the same parent company as Square, was also down on Thursday, along with reports of Venmo, Apple Pay, Zelle, and other digital payment apps that were reported to be malfunctioning.
What’s going on here? And why isn’t it national news? I’ve found only three stories about it from local news in San Francisco, Kentucky, and Alabama. But this outage affects the entire country, and no major national news outlet has picked it up. That’s strange, in my opinion.
With no information on how long this outage will last, I advise carrying cash. Don’t stop frequenting the businesses you normally do, but bring cash instead. No one should have a problem working with cash. You’ll help keep a local business afloat and save yourself the credit card processing fee.
It should be noted that this situation is why a cashless society that relies on digital currency is doomed to be a massive failure. Cash is king. Don’t let them convince you otherwise unless you want to be trapped with no way to pay for what you need, no way to access your funds, and no one answering the “customer service” line.
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