Square Online

Pros

That it integrates with all of the other Square Products. I love I can access it from my mobile device.

Cons

The connectivity can be spotty at times and it can crash on mobile devices at inopportune times.

Pros

Ease of setup and close integration with other Square Products

Cons

Its lost a lot of flexibility in terms of design, but this is improving. Also there is not a lot of basic marketing functionality easily available like customer acquisition tools, cross selling and upselling functionality.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Square Online

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Square Online

Pros

1. Integrates with POS.
2. Category creation is easy.

Cons

Terrible set of features for a business with > 100 products
1. If you set products up with Variations (think Red/Blue/Green shirts) you cannot archive a variation if its no longer available.
2. There is no import/export of images. All images must be manually uploaded and their meta data entered manually.
3. You cannot split an item (product) that has variations, into two products via import/export should the need arise. Get it right the first time or you are sunk. The only way is to duplicate a record and manually delete the variations from the two records manually.
4. Tech support is terrible. First they will get into the retail vs Web side of the house discussion, then once you get the right person, they never seem to know what features are or how to solve problems.
5. All variations must share the same description. Poor design.
6. You cannot launch a Coming Soon page without publishing the site first. This means you create a coming soon page as your home page, then you have to deactivate the nav, create other pages and sections, publish them and then turn the nav. on to test, then turn it off again.
7. You cannot create links to simple attached documents like PDF's (catalogs, help documents for your products etc.)
8. You cannot build an HTML block on a page to craft specific messages.
9. You cannot change your theme once the site is created. To do so, you have to reset the site and loose all your work.
10. The product design is to have a Shop ALL product page as the default. Totally impractical for large inventory retailers that would have traditional category trees.

Pros

Pretty easy to use. Love having my library easily integrated

Cons

Could be a little more customizable for businesses. Some features are on square online but not other parts of square - they are good features but I would like to be able to adjust them in other places too (like the order of how modifiers show up on the register). Also - this one is huge - there really needs to be a better way to make sure orders are seen/accepted by employees! We ended up adding a motion sensor to the top so that it makes a sound loud enough when an order comes in.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Square Online

Pros

Square Online is easy and simple to use. We only had two of us on staff that learned Wordpress to keep our old site up and running. Now, several people on staff can access and update our website, as needed. Our site looks great, and we receive compliments about it all the time.

Cons

Some specific functions (such as menu bar scroll time) are not customizable, but work as expected.

Pros

Square online offers sellers the opportunity to get online and selling almost instantly! The tools are secure and completely functional allowing you to scale your business from 0 to 100 at your own pace with minimal limitations

Cons

It’s not as flexible as tools like Shopify unfortunately but still takes its own space in the market

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Square Online

Pros

Square Online has a very easy to use invoice system - it also allows you to copy and edit existing invoices for customers that have similar needs.

Cons

There are a lot of steps to set up new clients. Also, the fees are a bit on the high side.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Square Online

Pros

All Square products are super dependable to have a great UI.

Cons

There was nothing I hated and my expectations were met.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Square Online

Pros

Lots of ability to add and customize products. It has been very successful for our lunch and bakery business.

Cons

There are some certain customizable pieces that just aren't there. The square online site can't be customized with pictures and images. It's very difficult to have different fulfillment times for different products. It would be great to have the ability to set different fulfillment times for various square online categories.

Pros

What I like most about Square online is it is beyond user friendly for me and my customers. It is a widely accepted software and my customers were able to pay simply by clicking on a link or invoice. Square also has donation links. This came in handy when I was raising money. Once I am paid, Square offers the option to be paid instantly or later that day via their card and checking account feature.

Cons

There was a bit of delay with payments in order to verify my identity. Once I submitted all required documents, funds were released.

Pros

I love almost everything about square. The way it catalogs all of my merchandise to the ease of access for customer info, do building my website to managing payroll and the loyalty program that engages my customers and makes shopping with me more fun for them.

Cons

There really isn’t much I can think of here, square really packs a punch but they could add a “processing fee” option where we can pass the credit card processing percentage on to the customer and remove it as a “cash incentive”

Pros

I loved how easy everything was and that it was very similar to the way Apple products work.

Cons

There are a LOT of hidden costs with Square. We were going to use Square for our entire operation as it has features for a food business that no one else in the market has. Unfortunately Square charge 50p per online order that is not explained clearly on their website. As we process thousands of orders per week that cost is huge compared to rivals. Square were unable to provide an explanation of what that 50p per order was for and as it can’t be justified we cannot transfer our complete customer base to Square.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Square Online

Pros

Its convenient to use and easy to set up.

Cons

Customer service is terrible and not easily accessible.

Pros

I know of caterers that have used Square and it makes things so simple for the purchase of their services or items. Also, there is peace of mind there as far as security goes. I have never had an issue with square whether I am the provider or the customer.

Cons

I have nothing negative to say about Square

Pros

Clients could access & view plan options, as well as, request appointment times. I could send invoices & waiver contracts with my signature for clients to sign before appointments. Financial analytics as well.

Cons

Probably my own fault but not a real website & not searchable. Great for getting started on a small scale. Problem-solving took lots of time, I found answers but it was never easy to find them.

Pros

I used the card reader in person and it was very useful. I didn't have the need for buying any other items. My remote clients would pay by entering their card as well, which was very simple. I have been a customer of many businesses that have used square and have always been happy when seeing it in other places.

Cons

Their website features weren't very easy to set up. It really wasn't a big issue because of so many sites that let you create your own websites for free.

Pros

Square Online is a great option because of its ease of use and excellent support team. The templates were designed to look good on both desktop and mobile devices. It's very modern and intuitive. It's very easy to set up and learn. It's good that Square Retail catalog is integrated with it.

Cons

I would love to be able to copy design elements from one page to another. The template layout is very restrictive. It would be nice to be able to fully personalize. I would like the item description to sync with Square Retail.

Pros

Nothing. It blocked the very first transaction and we had no chance to experience it. No reason was explained to us other than technical difficulties.

Cons

Malfunctions from the very first use and for almost a year. Scary. Over $20000 kept by Square for no reason and with no explanation.

Pros

I love that Square Online allows for inventory integration across the website and the app. I sell both online and in-person and it is critical that the software removes sold items from the site automatically if I get an in-person sale.

Cons

The website editor is a bit clunky. It is hard to find item listings previously listed, even when doing a search for the exact item name. I also have problems when trying to add inventory numbers to the item listing. I need to save and refresh several times before I can add this information.

Pros

The software was very easy to setup. I was able to configure a website, add items to sell, and get up and running quickly.

Cons

Inventory management is a mess if you want to provide bundles or bulk discounts automatically. Square Online has coupons, but the user must apply them. There is no way to provide bulk discounts or bundled discounts. Manually creating such bundles is possible, but adds to inventory complexity. My Square inventory never matches my real counts because I have to manually adjust for bundles.

Pros

Online ordering and inventory are most impact feature.

Cons

The feature that I feel could be improved are set up, it was hard to understand how to add items. Variation was hard to set up. An explanation that could pop up when you click over it would be helpful to understand what the feature is used for. The feature page online I would like to be able to manipulate more to make it my own, would like to see more options in this area like adjusting logos that I uploaded and being able to move the boxes that you click on to use.

Pros

For how feature-packed the product is, It's very user-friendly to navigate and set up. For how great the complete product looks, it shouldn't be so simple to use.

Cons

Connecting my Square Online site a subdomain was not a simple task. Establishing the SSL certificate credentials with my web host took a little extra time.

Pros

It's easy to use. We use the free version.

Cons

I wish it had a ticket sales/box office report function. I also wish they had a better fee structure for nonprofits.

Pros

The ease of setting up my website was amazing!!! I had no website design experience prior to setting mine up. It was so easy. I just followed the prompts and read some of the tips and voilà! I have an amazing website!! I get compliments from my customers all time on how nice my website looks. They are absolutely amazed that I didn’t myself with no prior experience. If I can do this anyone can!!

Cons

I can’t really think of anything that sticks out to me that I don’t like. The few issues that I’ve had were usually my error or not quite understanding what was needed. Just like with any computer software once you learn it and get familiar with it it’s a breeze.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Square Online

Pros

My business features both a retail store and a distribution branch, and being able to manage both areas of my business through Square has been wonderfully helpful, especially during my first year of business. The user interface is intuitive and easy-to-use for my staff, and adding and deleting items from the sale screen is quick and easy. Keeping my distribution items separately categorized and off of the retail display makes managing both parts of my business even easier.

Cons

I’ve had some issues with taxes being calculated properly, as I have tax applied to some items and not others. When I calculate what this should be on my own versus what Square says, the numbers haven’t always matched up. Also, getting photos to appear on the same item across devices (Square register, Square app, Square online) hasn’t always worked and has required me to upload the image for a second time or to change the image format.