> ## 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. # Total Volume, Square > Total Volume for Square stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Supporting Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Payment Gateway](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) ## At a glance > The total amount that successfully **flowed through Square** in the period across all channels (in-person POS, Square Online, Invoices, Virtual Terminal, Tap to Pay, eCommerce APIs), gross of refunds, gross of Square processing fees, gross of disputes. This is the omnichannel "money the Square stack touched", not "money that landed in your linked bank account". | | | | ---------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **What it counts** | Every payment on `/v2/payments` where `status = COMPLETED`, summed by `amount_money.amount`, in each transaction's `currency`. Includes Square POS card-present captures (chip + PIN, contactless, magstripe), Square Online checkouts, Square Invoices, Virtual Terminal phone orders, and Tap to Pay on iPhone / Android. Crucially, both retail and ecommerce flow through the same `/v2/payments` resource; they are **not** separate APIs. | | **API endpoint** | [`GET /v2/payments`](https://developer.squareup.com/reference/square/payments-api/list-payments) on the Payments API. OAuth 2.0 with `PAYMENTS_READ` permission scope. Square's API treats POS, Square Online, and external ecommerce as a single payment ledger, this is the defining Square integration pattern. | | **VAT / tax treatment** | **Inclusive.** The figure is whatever the customer was charged at the till or at checkout. Square's order-level breakdown (where Square POS / Square Online provided the order context) carries `tax_money` separately, but this card sums `amount_money.amount` which is gross of tax. | | **Currency** | **Single-currency per location.** Square locations are pegged to one settlement currency (USD, CAD, GBP, EUR, JPY, AUD, IE EUR), set when the location was created and immutable. A multi-location merchant operating in two countries will see two currencies arithmetically stacked, no FX conversion. | | **Fees / processing cost** | **Gross.** Square processing fees (typically 2.6% + 10c card-present in US, 2.9% + 30c keyed-in / online, 1.75% UK contactless, 1.4% + 25p UK chip-and-PIN) are NOT deducted. See *Net Revenue (after refunds)* for the post-refund figure; for fee-net figures use the Square Dashboard Reports → Sales Summary export. | | **Refunds** | **NOT deducted.** Refunds live on the `/v2/refunds` resource and are tracked by [`squ_refund_volume`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square/refund-volume). A fully refunded $100 sale still contributes $100 here. | | **Disputes / chargebacks** | **NOT deducted.** Square Disputes (`/v2/disputes`) are tracked separately in [`squ_dispute_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square/dispute-rate) and [`squ_chargeback_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square/chargeback-rate). | | **Failed / declined payments** | **Excluded.** Only `status = COMPLETED` rows are summed. `status IN (APPROVED, PENDING, FAILED, CANCELED)` are excluded; declines are tracked in [`squ_decline_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square/decline-rate). | | **POS-vs-online split** | **Unified.** Square's defining feature is one platform across retail + ecom. The `source_type` field separates `EXTERNAL` (Square Online / external API), `CARD` (POS card-present), `CASH` (POS cash drawer), `CASH_APP` (Cash App Pay buyer), and `WALLET` (Apple Pay / Google Pay POS). For online-only, filter `source_type = EXTERNAL` upstream. | | **Tap to Pay on iPhone / Android** | Counted. Tap to Pay (Square's contactless-on-phone product) flows as `source_type = CARD` with no terminal hardware. Distinguishable via `card_details.entry_method = CONTACTLESS` and the `device_details` block being absent. | | **Cash App Pay** | Counted. Block (Square's parent) operates Cash App; Cash App Pay buyers checking out at Square merchants flow as `source_type = CASH_APP`. Common in US Square Online stores, \~5, 12% of online tender mix. | | **Square Invoices** | Counted. Customer-paid invoices flow through `/v2/payments` as `source_type = EXTERNAL` with the invoice ID linked. | | **Time window** | `30D vsP` (default 30D vs the prior 30D). | | **Alert trigger** | `drop >15% vsP`, driven by `sentiment_key: revenue_trend`. | | **Roles** | owner, finance, operations | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your Square data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example A US small bookshop ("Ravenwing Books") runs a single brick-and-mortar location in Austin, Texas, plus a Square Online site. The 30-day window covers 03 Apr 26 to 02 May 26. | Channel | Payments | Amount | `source_type` | `status` | Notes | | -------------------------------------------- | -------- | ---------- | ------------- | ----------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- | | Front-counter Square Stand POS (chip + tap) | 3,420 | USD 78,400 | CARD | COMPLETED | Card-present, \~80% contactless | | Cash drawer | 1,180 | USD 14,200 | CASH | COMPLETED | Tracked in Square but excluded from card-revenue P\&L | | Square Online checkout | 612 | USD 21,300 | EXTERNAL | COMPLETED | Local Texas customers + national mail-order | | Cash App Pay (Square Online) | 88 | USD 2,940 | CASH\_APP | COMPLETED | Block buyer-side product, \~12% of online tender | | Apple Pay / Google Pay (POS) | 240 | USD 5,200 | WALLET | COMPLETED | Express tap on Square Reader | | Square Invoices (author-event book signings) | 14 | USD 4,800 | EXTERNAL | COMPLETED | One-off author-collective trade orders | | Tap to Pay on iPhone (pop-up market) | 95 | USD 2,180 | CARD | COMPLETED | Owner's iPhone at a Saturday market, no Reader | | Refunds (period) | 42 | USD 1,840 | - | - | Tracked separately | | Disputes (period) | 1 | USD 78 | - | - | Tracked separately | | Failed / cancelled | 28 | - | - | FAILED / CANCELED | Excluded | ```text theme={null} Square total volume (this card): COMPLETED USD payments = 78,400 + 14,200 + 21,300 + 2,940 + 5,200 + 4,800 + 2,180 = USD 129,020 Note: cash sales (USD 14,200) ARE counted, Square's /v2/payments returns cash payments where the cashier rang up "Cash" as tender, with status = COMPLETED. Some merchants are surprised by this; cash is part of Square's "total processed", not just card volume. POS card-only subset = 78,400 + 5,200 + 2,180 = USD 85,780 Online + Invoices + CashApp subset = 21,300 + 2,940 + 4,800 = USD 29,040 ------------- Total = USD 129,020 (matches above) Net (after refunds) = USD 129,020 - 1,840 = USD 127,180 After Square fees (~2.4% blended) ≈ USD 127,180 - ~ USD 3,050 ≈ USD 124,130 ``` What the merchant might be surprised by: 1. **Cash sales count.** Ravenwing's owner sees "USD 129,020 total volume" and may expect that to be card-only, but Square's `/v2/payments` ledger includes any tender Square recorded, including cash drawer transactions where the till was opened and the cashier marked "Cash". For a card-only view, filter `source_type IN (CARD, CASH_APP, WALLET, EXTERNAL)`. 2. **POS and online appear in one feed.** On Stripe + a separate retail POS this would require two API integrations and manual reconciliation. Square's defining product feature is the unified `/v2/payments` ledger, the Austin store's chip-tap volume and the mail-order book sales sit in the same number. 3. **Cash App Pay attaches at the buyer side.** USD 2,940 of online volume came through Cash App Pay (peer-to-peer-style checkout). Block's strategy fuses the seller-side (Square) and buyer-side (Cash App) into one ecosystem; merchants on Square get Cash App Pay essentially for free as a checkout option, and US conversion is materially better than non-Cash App stores for Gen-Z + millennial buyers. 4. **Tap to Pay on iPhone is a hidden volume channel.** USD 2,180 came in at a Saturday pop-up market with no Reader hardware, just the owner's iPhone. This is a significant Square moat versus traditional POS; a sole proprietor can take card payments anywhere with no upfront hardware cost. 5. **Square fees are simpler than Stripe.** One blended rate per channel (2.6% + 10c card-present US, 2.9% + 30c keyed/online), no per-issuer pricing matrix, no interchange-plus complexity. SMBs prefer this even though it can be a fraction more expensive on Visa debit; the simplicity is the product. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why merchants reach for it next to Total Volume | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`squ_total_transactions`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square/total-transactions) | Transaction count over the same window. Volume ÷ transactions = average transaction. | | [`squ_avg_transaction`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square/average-transaction) | The per-transaction view. POS retail sits \~USD 25, USD 60; Square Online \~USD 40, USD 90. | | [`squ_volume_trend`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square/volume-trend) | This metric trended daily. Square retail merchants typically see strong day-of-week seasonality (Sat > Sun > weekday). | | [`squ_top_payment_methods`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square/top-payment-methods) | Tender mix (chip vs tap vs cash vs Cash App Pay vs Apple Pay). Tap-share is climbing 3, 5pp/year on US Square. | | [`squ_refund_volume`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square/refund-volume) | The amount to subtract for a net-of-refunds figure. | | [`squ_payouts_pending`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square/pending-payouts) | What's in flight from this volume but not yet settled to your bank. Square's default schedule is T+1 next-business-day. | | [`squ_avg_settlement_days`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square/avg-settlement-time) | The cash-flow-timing companion metric. | | Stripe [`stripe_total_revenue`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/stripe/total-charge-volume) / PayPal [`pp_total_volume`](/nerve-centre/paypal/pp_total_volume) / Viva [`viva_total_revenue`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/total-revenue) | Same archetype on competing PSPs. Multi-PSP merchants sum these for total payment volume. | | Shopify [`total_revenue`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/total-revenue) / BC [`total_revenue`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/total-revenue) | The upstream commerce view. Square should reconcile to (commerce\_total minus non-Square-payment-method orders). | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in the Square Dashboard:** Sign in at [squareup.com/dashboard](https://squareup.com/dashboard) and the closest comparable view is: > **Reports → Sales → Sales Summary** (filter by date range; "Gross sales") The headline tile on the **Reports → Overview** also shows period gross sales. For the omnichannel breakdown, use **Reports → Sales by Source** which separates POS, Square Online, Square Invoices, and external API channels. Other Square views that look similar but answer different questions: * **Transactions list** (Reports → Transactions). Per-transaction detail; this is the underlying ledger this card sums. * **Sales Summary "Net Sales" tile**. Net sales = gross sales minus refunds and discounts. *Lower than this card.* Use [`squ_refund_volume`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square/refund-volume) to bridge. * **Deposits / Balance** (Balance → All deposits). This is the *post-fee, post-refund, settled-to-bank* figure, NOT gross volume. Always materially lower. Square holds typically 0, 1 business day before next-day deposit. * **Square for Retail "Sales" report** (separate sub-product). If the merchant uses Square for Retail (the retail-vertical add-on), it has its own per-SKU sales report. It's a subset of this card filtered to retail-vertical locations. * **Square Online "Orders" tab**. Online-only subset. A subset of this card filtered to `source_type = EXTERNAL`. **Why our number may legitimately differ from the Square Dashboard:** | Reason | Direction | Why | | -------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Time zone** | Boundary days off | Square Dashboard uses each location's configured timezone (e.g. America/Chicago for Austin). Vortex IQ uses UTC for period boundaries. For a 30-day window the gap averages out; for "today" or "yesterday" cards a Texas merchant sees a 5, 6 hour shift. | | **Cash inclusion** | Ours often higher than card-volume views | Square Dashboard's Sales Summary sometimes defaults to "Card Sales" not "Gross Sales". This card sums all `/v2/payments` regardless of tender, including cash. Switch the Dashboard tile to "Gross Sales" to match. | | **Refunds same-day** | Ours unchanged, theirs may net | Same-day refunds in some Square Dashboard tiles get netted into the gross figure intra-day. This card always reads gross until the next sync. | | **Fee inclusion** | Ours gross, "Net" tile theirs net of fees | Square's "Net Sales" subtracts refunds and discounts but does NOT subtract fees. The "Deposits" view subtracts fees. This card subtracts neither. | | **Refresh lag** | Ours lower for "today" | Our index updates on a periodic sync; the most recent 5, 15 minutes of POS transactions may not be in yet. Yesterday and earlier are fully caught up. | | **API rate limits** | Ours lower for very high-volume merchants | Square Payments API caps at typically 30 requests/sec; for high-volume restaurants or retailers doing >50,000 transactions/day, the engine paginates at 100 per page and may defer the freshest minute or two. | **Cross-connector reconciliation, what should match what:** | Comparison | Expected relationship | When divergence is legitimate | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `squ_total_volume` ↔ [`shopify.total_revenue`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/total-revenue) | `square ≤ shopify` (online subset) | Shopify shops using Square as the gateway via Square's Shopify integration; Square's online figure should be a subset of Shopify gross. | | `squ_total_volume` ↔ [`bigcommerce.total_revenue`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/total-revenue) | `square_online ≤ bigcommerce` | Same logic; only the EXTERNAL subset reconciles. | | `squ_total_volume` (POS subset) ↔ commerce platform | No relationship | POS retail volume has no upstream commerce platform. It's pure Square. | | `squ_total_volume` + [`stripe.stripe_total_revenue`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/stripe/total-charge-volume) + [`paypal.pp_total_volume`](/nerve-centre/paypal/pp_total_volume) | `≈ total payment volume` | For multi-PSP merchants, summing these approaches the all-channels total. Square will dominate for retail-led businesses; Stripe for SaaS / digital-only. | **Quick rule for support tickets:** if a merchant says *"Square Dashboard shows USD 100k, Vortex IQ shows USD 110k"* in the same period, the most common cause for retail merchants is the cash-vs-card distinction (Dashboard tile set to "Card Sales", Vortex IQ summing all tender). For online-only merchants, time-zone is the most common cause for "today" complaints. ***
Documentation cross-reference (same archetype on other payment processors) The Total Volume / Total Charge Volume metric exists on every payment-processor connector with the same shape. This is *not* a reconciliation, your Square account does not have a parallel Stripe account to compare against. These references exist for agencies and CFOs running multiple PSPs: * [`stripe.stripe_total_revenue`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/stripe/total-charge-volume) * [`paypal.pp_total_volume`](/nerve-centre/paypal/pp_total_volume) * [`viva_payments.viva_total_revenue`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/viva-payments/total-revenue)
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs > Reconciliation questions ("why doesn't this match the Square Dashboard / my bank?") are answered in the **Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard** section above. Below are the questions that aren't reconciliation. **"Square is owned by Block, what does that mean for me as a merchant?"** Block (formerly Square Inc., renamed 2021) is the parent company of Square (seller-side), Cash App (buyer-side), TIDAL (music), Spiral (Bitcoin), and several smaller bets. From a merchant perspective the practical implications are: (1) Cash App Pay as a checkout option for free, which lifts conversion meaningfully for Gen-Z and millennial US customers; (2) Bitcoin acceptance via Square is genuine (Block is a public Bitcoin holder); (3) Square's product roadmap is unusually buyer-side-aware compared to Stripe / Adyen, which are pure seller-side. Day-to-day API behaviour is unchanged. **"Why is Square cheaper than Stripe for my US retail store?"** Two reasons. (1) **Card-present pricing.** Square charges 2.6% + 10c flat for card-present US transactions. Stripe charges 2.7% + 5c for in-person via Stripe Terminal, very close, but Square's hardware ecosystem (Square Reader, Square Stand, Square Register, Square Terminal) is materially cheaper than Stripe's BBPOS / Verifone offering and easier to set up. (2) **Software bundling.** Square POS, Square Online, Square Invoices, Square Marketing, Square Loyalty, Square Payroll, Square Banking, and Square Capital are all included or available as add-ons on one account. Stripe's equivalent stack requires Stripe Connect + Stripe Terminal + Stripe Tax + Stripe Atlas + several third-party tools. SMB merchants prefer the simplicity even when the per-transaction rate is a fraction higher. **"Square is US-first, can I use it in Europe / UK / Canada / Australia / Japan?"** Yes, but with regional caveats. **Supported markets (as of dd MMM yy):** US, Canada, UK, Republic of Ireland, France, Spain, Australia, Japan. **Not supported:** most EU/EEA countries (Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Greece, etc), most of LATAM, most of APAC ex-Japan/Australia. UK Square has reduced product depth versus US Square (no Square Banking, limited Square Capital, limited POS hardware). Cash App Pay is US-only (and selected UK pilot). For pan-European retail-plus-ecom Mediterranean merchants, Viva Payments or Stripe + Adyen are typically a better fit. **"What's the difference between Square POS, Square Online, Square Stand, and Square Terminal?"** * **Square POS** is the iOS / Android app that turns any phone into a register. Free. * **Square Stand** is a countertop iPad-based register dock (\~USD 149) with a chip + tap reader. Most permanent retail merchants use this. * **Square Register** is a fully-integrated all-in-one register (\~USD 799). Premium retail. * **Square Terminal** is a handheld portable terminal (\~USD 299). Restaurants and pop-ups. * **Square Reader** is the original USB / Bluetooth contactless reader (\~USD 49). Mobile sole-proprietors. * **Square Online** is the ecommerce site builder. Free tier; paid tiers for custom domain + advanced features. * **Tap to Pay on iPhone / Android** turns the phone itself into the contactless terminal, no Reader needed. Newer (2023+). All of these flow payments through the same `/v2/payments` API, so this card sums every device. **"Cash App Pay, will my non-US customers see it?"** No. Cash App is a US consumer app (with limited UK pilot). Non-US shoppers checking out at a Square Online store won't see Cash App Pay as an option. Plan checkout-conversion expectations accordingly: a US-only DTC site can lean on Cash App Pay; an international one cannot. **"What about Square's API rate limits?"** Production tier: typically 30 requests/sec, with bursts. The Payments API specifically returns up to 100 transactions per page; for very high-volume merchants (>10,000 transactions/day) the engine paginates and may show 5, 15-minute lag on the freshest data. Higher rate-limit tiers are available for marketplace / developer-platform partners on request. **"My online subscription rebills, do those count here?"** Yes. Square Subscriptions (the recurring-billing product) creates `/v2/payments` records on each rebill with `source_type = EXTERNAL` and a linked `subscription_id`. They're indistinguishable from one-time payments in this card, both contribute. For subscription-specific MRR/ARR analysis, Chargebee or another billing layer above Square is the typical pattern. **"Why is the customer-paid total higher than what's in my Square balance?"** Three deductions between this card and your Square balance: (1) Square's processing fees (2.6, 2.9% blended), (2) refunds processed in the same window, (3) deposits to your linked bank (Square's standard schedule is T+1 next-business-day, so the last 24 hours of activity sits in Square balance, not bank). Use the Balance → Deposits view to bridge, or [`squ_payouts_pending`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square/pending-payouts) to see what's in flight. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Total Volume* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Square and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. 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