> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Square audit profile, Vortex IQ

> What the Vortex IQ Square health audit checks: Square: omnichannel payment health across POS + online

**[Nerve Centre KPIs](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square) · [Audit Profile](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square/audit) · [Sentiment Settings](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square/sentiment)**

Audits the unified Square /v2/payments ledger that spans in-person POS, Square Online, Invoices, Virtual Terminal, Tap to Pay and Cash App Pay. Answers four questions: are checkouts succeeding (auth rate, decline-reason mix, 3DS abandonment)? are refunds and disputes under control before they trip Visa/Mastercard monitoring? is money settling to the bank on the T+1 schedule? and - where a commerce sibling is connected - are online declines causing real, recoverable checkout-funnel revenue loss?

## What this audit checks

### Authentication & access

* OAuth access token valid and auto-refreshing from refresh\_token
* Granted scopes cover PAYMENTS\_READ, DISPUTES\_READ, PAYOUTS\_READ (disputes/payouts cards empty without them)
* Environment (sandbox vs production) matches the connected merchant

### Transaction health

* Blended authorisation success rate vs 92% floor
* Online (source\_type = EXTERNAL) decline rate vs 8% threshold
* Top decline-reason concentration - any single failure\_code >40% share
* POS card-present decline rate >2% (terminal / chip-reader fault signal)

### 3DS & checkout friction

* 3DS challenge abandonment rate on Square Online (EU >15%, US >10%)
* Frictionless vs challenged 3DS mix
* Magstripe-fallback share >15% (NFC / chip-reader hardware flag)

### Refunds & disputes

* Refund rate vs 30-day baseline (>10% absolute, or +30% spike)
* Dispute rate vs Square's 0.5% review threshold and Visa's 0.9% VAMP cap
* Chargeback (LOST) rate trend over 90 days
* Open disputes approaching their evidence due\_at deadline

### Settlement & payouts

* Average settlement time vs T+1 baseline (>3 days)
* Oldest pending payout age (>3 days weekend/holiday-adjusted, >7 days review signal)
* Rolling-reserve hold present and its drag on settlement

### Cross-channel: recoverable revenue at risk

* Square Online decline spike vs commerce\_sibling checkout-completion drop in the same 15-min window (sibling = shopify/bigcommerce/adobe\_commerce)
* Soft-decline value (INSUFFICIENT\_FUNDS, EXPIRED\_CARD, CARD\_DECLINED) recoverable via dunning, sized against commerce\_sibling repurchase rate
* Dispute reason = NOT\_RECEIVED joined to commerce\_sibling fulfilment\_status in (delayed, lost)

## Severity thresholds

| Signal                      | Warn | Critical |
| --------------------------- | ---- | -------- |
| `decline_rate`              | 8    | 12       |
| `dispute_rate`              | 0.5  | 0.9      |
| `chargeback_rate`           | 0.9  | 1.5      |
| `refund_rate`               | 5    | 10       |
| `threedsecure_abandon_rate` | 15   | 30       |
| `payout_age_days`           | 3    | 7        |
| `success_rate`              | 95   | -        |

## Data sources

* `GET https://{api_host}/v2/payments` - Unified payment ledger across all channels - volume, success/decline, tender mix, decline reasons
* `GET https://{api_host}/v2/refunds` - Refund volume + rate
* `GET https://{api_host}/v2/disputes` - Dispute + chargeback cases, states, due dates
* `GET https://{api_host}/v2/payouts` - Bank-deposit payout records - settlement timing + pending balance