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Set up Square

Events Manager Pro can take card payments through Square in two ways, and you can use either or both:

  • Square Web Payments — buyers enter their card on a form built into your booking page and never leave your site.
  • Square Checkout — buyers are sent to a secure Square-hosted page to pay, then returned to your site.

Both use the same Square account, so you only enter your details once.

Before you start​

  • Events Manager Pro installed and active.
  • A Square account — sign up free. You can build and test everything in Square's free sandbox before taking real payments.
  • Your site running over HTTPS for live payments (Square requires it for the embedded card form).

Step 1 — Get your Square credentials​

You need three things from Square: an Application ID, an Access Token, and a Location ID.

  1. Go to the Square Developer Dashboard and sign in.
  2. Click + Add application, give it a name (e.g. My Website), and open it.
  1. In the sidebar open Credentials, and make sure the toggle at the top is set to Sandbox.
  2. Copy the Application ID (it starts with sandbox-sq0idb-) and the Access token (click Show first).
  3. Open Locations in the sidebar and copy the Location ID.

Step 2 — Add your credentials to Events Manager​

  1. Go to Events → Payment Gateways and click Square Web Payments (or Square Checkout — the credentials are shared, so either is fine).
  2. Open the [Test] API Keys/Notifications tab for sandbox details, or [Live] API Keys/Notifications for live details.
  3. Paste in your Application ID, Access Token, and Location ID.
  4. Click Save Changes.

Events Manager sets up Square's payment notifications for you automatically when you save — you'll see a green "verified" message once it's done. You don't need to configure anything in the Square dashboard yourself.

Step 3 — Turn on a gateway​

Open the gateway you want — Square Web Payments and/or Square Checkout — and on its General Options tab:

  • Set Active to Yes.
  • Set Test Mode to Yes while testing with sandbox credentials, or No for live payments.
  • Set the Gateway Title your customers will see (e.g. Pay by card).

A couple of gateway-specific options:

  • Square Checkout lets you choose whether your ticket prices already include tax (otherwise tax is shown separately on the Square page), and whether to ask the buyer for a shipping address.
  • Square Web Payments keeps the card form simple — Square collects the billing postcode itself as part of the card form, where it's needed.

Save your changes.

Step 4 — Test it​

With Test Mode on, open a paid event on your site and book a ticket:

  1. Choose your Square payment option.
  2. Enter a Square test card — number 4111 1111 1111 1111, any future expiry (e.g. 12/30), any CVV (e.g. 111), and any postcode if asked.
  3. Complete the booking.

You should land on your confirmation page, and the booking should show as Approved under Events → Bookings. Square's full list of test cards lets you try declines and other scenarios too.

Step 5 — Go live​

  1. Paste your live credentials (from the Live tab in Step 1) into the [Live] API Keys/Notifications tab and save.
  2. On the gateway's General Options tab, set Test Mode to No.
  3. Make one small real booking to confirm everything works — you can refund it from your Square dashboard afterwards.

Troubleshooting​

The card form doesn't appear, or is blank. Make sure your site is served over HTTPS. Square won't load the embedded card form on an insecure (http://) page.

"Could not set up Square notifications" when saving. Your site needs to be reachable from the internet so Square can send payment notifications. This is normally only an issue on local or offline development sites.

A booking stays pending after payment. Square notifies your site when a payment completes; if that's delayed, Events Manager automatically double-checks with Square when the booking's payment window expires, so it resolves on its own shortly. If it keeps happening, confirm your credentials saved correctly (the green "verified" message in Step 2).

Refunds aren't showing on the booking. Refund the payment from your Square dashboard and Events Manager records it against the booking for you. If nothing updates, re-save your credentials so notifications are re-checked.

Need help?​

If you're stuck, post on the Events Manager support forum with the event and a description of what you're seeing.