Square for Retail

Pros

It is reliable for customers and easy to use by our staff.

Cons

We haven't come up with any complaints other than minor difficulties with connectivity in certain situations beyond Squares control.

Pros

Square retail makes processing transactions and keeping tack of inventory so easy! I ran for a year with a different product and it was not a good experience...I couldn't wait to come back to square for al of my inventory and sales needs. I will never change from it again!

Cons

After running a year on another program, I honeslty can't think of any cons.

Pros

People understand how to use it, so it's widely accepted as a valid method of payment and no one is nervous about using it (they should be!)

Cons

Square permits fraudulent chargebacks against your company. A client purchased multiple packages totally thousands of dollars from my company, received the services, and then disputed the charges as 'unrecognized'. I provided the following to square:
Her signed contracts, with an anti-chargeback clause
Photos of us performing the services at the event, with her in the photos
A chain of her emails, including an email after her event thanking us for job well done
Despite this proof and legally binding contract, Square sided with her and removed the funds from my account. I had to sit with my bank to file a dispute with Square, put a hold on all charges by Square, and start using an entirely different payment processor just to avoid Square stealing my money.

Absolute fraud.

Pros

I like that square terminal is super easy to use and works every time. It is reliable and the fees are transparent and transfers are easy.

Cons

The terminal takes some time to start up and connect but once powered on it gets through all day.

Pros

We specifically use Square for Restaurants POS system for our taproom system, which also ties into our mobile payments, but we do use Square for Retail as the basis for our online ordering page through Wix, as it works best for hosting that site for orders. It works great, we can track inventory and orders and such, it does what we need it to do!

Cons

Honestly, the only thing I wish was different was that we didn't have to use Retail and could just use Restaurants for our online ordering, but the retails works for it better and it functions so it's fine.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Square for Retail

Pros

Its just the easiest system to use that I have tried. Good clear visual interfaces with great retail functionality

Cons

Strangely enough I don't have one. I could make one up for you but I would be lying.

Pros

It makes it very easy to use for a fast paced retail environment and it has lots of options to help add value for customers

Cons

The search function could use some refining in order to make it easier to find items that don’t have SKU’s and scannable barcodes

Pros

It is easy to use, easy to create an account, and simple to add inventory with pictures and descriptions!

Cons

It can be a little clunky and counterintuitive, but once you get the hang of it it can really get the job done.

Pros

I love using Square for Retail software. This software makes it easier for my customers to shop.

Cons

I don’t dislike anything about using this software.

Pros

EASY AND USER FRIENDLY, SIMPLE TO DO NIGHTLY ACCOUNTING

Cons

THE RESET BUTTON IS ON A WEIRD SPOT. SOMETIMES IT TAKES A VERY LONG TIME TO PROCESS A CARD.

Pros

Easy to understand and user friendly. Clients recognize the brand and are secure and confident in making mobile payments. It builds instant credibilty with the consumer.

Cons

Fees of course, and deposit timing is sometimes delayed.

Pros

While keeping operation and inventory counts synced seems difficult, Square for Retail delivers a great experience

Cons

Maybe some discount when purchasing annual licenses would be appreciated, but overall the performance and ease of use is great

Pros

Use this product for just 6 weeks, was very very easy to learn and had people using it that were generally not good at computers. They also had an easy time using it. Easy to change product description at one location or across all locations. Really enjoyed the reports, easy to manipulate

Cons

Really really challenging to use on a ipad for scheduling and adjusting people's time cards. Was very slow and would regularly crash. (This was specific for this app, all other functions on the ipad worked fine and quickly).
Online orders, loved that when they came through you could update the progressed. HATED that you could not undo it. Would like to see the function that you could go forward and backwards, not just forwards.
Online orders - customers would enter address online and it would go to the shop "closest" to their location. However this was closest as the crow flies, not closest for driving directions. Would love to see it function off of driving directions. Frequently, a people would make a curbside order and they would end up going to the second or third closest location to where they lived due to this

Pros

The interface is nice and straightforward to use

Cons

I did not enjoy order issues and payment issues on the square software. Regularly complications made it difficult to use.

Pros

If you are in an outdoor recreational type of business, Square works well because it does not require internet to complete a transactions. It's buffering capabiity provides 72 hours of time between a transaction and when it must be connected to the internet to "send" the transaction . This allowed us work near a riverbank where internet was not available and still accept credit cards. This was hugely important.

Cons

On one occasion, we had a transaction which billed double on the customer's credit card yet we only received payment once. Her bank directed her to us. Square's customer service was dismal. I ended up just eating the $150 transaction vs. attempting to work with them. Had I used a local bank, I think this would have been resolved with much more ease.

Pros

Square is free and easy to maneuver. With no experience, Square appointments made it easy to start my business and manage it. Customers can book on the platform and I can manage appointments and inventory, as well as run my website.

Cons

Square is easily the first choice for anyone trying to start a business. However, some features may seem a challenge to access without any guidance or guide. An example is learning about taxes being applied the first time I used the POS system. Coincidentally, the party I was conducting business with was a tax-exempt business and I had no idea how to bypass the tax.

Pros

It's easy to set up a sale and get paid quickly.

Cons

It is a bit expensive for the limited features you get. The app crashes a lot as well.

Pros

I like the ability to transfer inventory from one store to another. I like the ability to have employees clock-in/clock-out to keep track of pay and what items a specific employee sells. I like the ability to adjust quantities from the app instead of just the dashboard.

Cons

I don't like that I can't view another store's inventory from the app. Very often, I find myself saying, "We don't have that in-stock here, but I know it's in-stock at our other location." It'd be very helpful to be able to type in an item and view quantity in-stock for all locations. I also HATE that there are not "tickets" available anymore. I own a music store that offers instrument repairs and we also have special orders. For instrument repairs - the amount is variable depending on what needs done and I also notate the transaction with the instrument type, brand, serial number - what parts were used, and what was done under the "Quantity and Notes" section. I don't want to have to look up that information and type into a transaction with the customer standing at the register. In the other app, I could do all of that when no one was in the store and save it as a ticket. Then when they come into the store, all I had to do was pull up the ticket and they were good to go. Same with special orders. I don't want to add inventory into Square, assign it a price, add the SKU, put it into a category, set the quantity, etc., if I'm not going to STOCK the item. So for special orders, I like to just type in the information under "Custom Amount," but I do like to notate the transaction under "Quantity and Notes" with the title and SKU so I can look back and see what it was. I don't want to do that typing when a customer arrives, so I prefer to save it as a ticket. Now I can't do that.

Pros

Despite what I wrote in my "cons", this really is the best software I've found for card sales for my company. Most of them charge you a monthly fee in addition to a percentage of every sale, which thankfully is not the case with Square. It's very easy to use if you're not familiar with POS software. Customer service is also very easy to reach and quite friendly from my experience.

Cons

Unfortunately, you have to buy their most expensive software to only have 2.4% taken out from every credit card purchase. Otherwise, you'll be charged more. I know that's just how POS systems are... but it's too bad we are charged a percentage of every purchase to simply use their product, given it's not their money. I also wish there were more customization features available. I just used Quickbooks (which is compatible with Square) instead of Square itself to do all the customizing so I also didn't have to put Square advertisements on all of our receipts, which doesn't look very professional.

Pros

Square is user friendly and makes in person transaction a breeze. I am happy I could enter all my inventory, description and prices within the app. Making multiple sales is simple. Customer's recognize the square device on my phone and feel confident when I process their cards. The have the option to with swipe or tap.
Most customer's input their email address or phone for receipts. I can also offer discounts, rewards and gift cards from the App.

Cons

Overall Iam happy with the using Square and have not had any issues yet. I've heard other merchants complain of lack of support. Also, if and when my business grows I may have to look into another service since it is more small business friendly

Pros

It was easy to set up and my account rep was extremely helpful

Cons

My inventory numbers are always wrong. I have contacted Square twice so far and I don't know if they can figure out the problem. They never call me back. Items transferred from one store to the other don't always show up in inventory. We constantly count and fix the inventory numbers in the system and within days they're wrong again.

Pros

Square was very easy to navigate. It has many options to customize the software to fit any business’s needs. You can write a custom note about each transaction, making it easy to review the register at the end of the day.

Cons

I haven’t ran into any problems with the software. As a massage & wellness center, we often do events and need to take our ‘cash register’ with us. Square makes it easy using the same credit card reader for in house transactions or cell phones on the go. It is all tracked the same way.

Pros

What I like most is nearly everything! I get emails with updates to my deposits and I love the fact that my clients never have issues paying their invoices.

Cons

What I like least about Square is the fact that the client's name doesn't show along with their payment. This is the biggest headache when trying to apply the merchant fees and their payment into my accounting software.

Pros

We love that it is very user friendly; with ease you add or delete products or services, change the pricing, update the tax, add notes, and link to your accounting systems.

Cons

There is not a lot that we don't like about Square. It would be nice if there was a notes section for each customer on EFT though.

Pros

The fee structure is lower than some, and they send first time users a free mag strip reader. That's really the only benefit I can see.

Cons

-You can't manage your account from your phone. Most options are grayed out and say "desktop required."
-Once I got to my desktop, the site was really buggy and hard to use. For instance, little black dialogue boxes telling what kind of info to put in each field hover over the space you actually need to type in when you do your account set-up. When you hit the "X" in the corner of the dialogue box that is blocking your view of the typing area, a full-screen pop-up asks "Are you sure you want to leave setup?" No, I don't want to leave setup, I just need this box out of the way. My first form that I filled out was full of typos, because I couldn't see the field to type in through the black dialogue boxes.
-Their customer service is REALLY bad. When I had trouble signing up for the free card reader, I used the WORST customer service bot I've ever seen. It just kept sending bursts of 3-5 messages with links to broken pages on their website based on key words before I could even fully type my question. Then the human customer service rep I chatted with wanted to add things to my cart for me and kept trying to assume the sale before actually addressing my problem.

Alternatives Considered