Square for Retail Reviews

Pros

Square for Retail enables you to easily create an online eCommerce store, list your products, and sell them. It's quite simple to use, and this is perhaps what is the best reason to use Square. It is particularly useful for small businesses trying to build sales via social media and other online avenues. At the same time, it is useful for brick-and-mortar stores as well. While I use it for online sales, several of my colleagues use Square in their stores.

Cons

A big drawback is that Square (as of the writing of this review) is unable to process payments from outside the United States. Thus, if you anticipate worldwide sales, Square may not be the best solution for your business. A second drawback is that it can be difficult to reach a live customer service representative. Unlike most companies, in which one simply phones in for service, Square requires that you first create a trouble ticket (at which point you will be assigned a case number). You then use the case number when phoning customer service. It's not horrible but in today's business world it's kind of annoying and time consuming. Square also lacks live online help, which is another downside.

Pros

How simple it is to set up. You know exactly how much you are being charged. There is no hidden extra add ons. Square updated the os, so now if your customer wants to return 1 item and they purchased two, you just pull up the item and hit return.

Cons

Just make sure you do all the updates for square and os system for any pad you are using. We use an Ipad and it works great! Not much to not like.

Pros

The software is very easy to install. The pairing of the software with either the magstripe or the contactless reader is quite fast. Processing payments is a breeze and both readers can be used on the go or a set location.

Cons

I don’t have any problems with the software itself. It would be nice to have a better rate for card processing.

Pros

I love the app that goes with this product. I hold many pop up events for my shop and the square is fantastic for this. Adding inventory and processing payments is fantastic. I set up the app in very little time and thought it would take so much longer. I really like being able to use it with my phone and ipad and it has made payments so much easier. I will only use this software for my pop up shops.

Cons

Sometimes I have wifi issues, but they have a great feature that will still accept payments offline. So even though its a pain, I still receive payment later.

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

The Square plugin was super easy to use and fit most devices. The application is simple and adjustments were easy to make changes to. Paperless receipts are the best way to go about transactions.

Cons

The price was a little high for the software. Using the plugin had its disadvantages if you use a phone and that phone has a protective case. The application sometimes froze.

Pros

The ease of use for this product is amazing. I love how you can make a sale with the virtual terminal by either swiping a card or sending an invoice.

Cons

The fees per use can be cumbersome. However all pay portals have some sort of fee to use their product.

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

I really like how sleek, modern, and clean this method for receiving payment works. It has a very modern GUI, with large clear numbers and values as opposed to the majority of credit card readers that have much more pixelated appearances and significantly smaller font sizes in comparison. Also, the ease of the option of signing when required with a finger on a touchscreen device is better than the alternatives available today such as signing with a physical pen or a stylus for digital screens. These features save time at checkout which in turn increases efficiency, and as my time is very valuable to me, I greatly appreciate these factors that contribute to the ease of use.

Cons

While there is not much to dislike, I have noticed that sometimes cards are not read as easily with this software at times. While this is perhaps more a function of the hardware used to swipe or scan credit or debit cards, I have noted a bit of a trend with this when using Square with certain cards while performing with other card types have been flawless. This makes me suspicious if it is related to a software issue. Otherwise, I have no complaints about Square.

Pros

Square is a payment processing system with supporting systems such as Point of Sale. We initially did the trial period to determine if it meets our requirements. It was very user-friendly and easy to use. The training was easy for the staff. If we had any issues, customer support from Square was always available. Sometimes we did have a short wait, but issues were always resolved.

Cons

Square didn't have a many features as other Point of Sales software. Reporting and analytics were pretty limited. The software did have some, but not as much as we needed.

Support was available, but sometimes we had to wait to get help.

Pros

The most favorable feature in using square is its simplicity. In less than 10 minutes I was all set up with full understanding of how the software worked. It was quick and clean and practically effortless. When I was all finished I couldn’t believe it I said “ wow, really? That’s it? I’m done?” Great interface with extremely user-friendly and modern design.

Cons

I honestly have no complaints. I have yet to run into any bugs or performance issues. Which, when there’s money involved is hard to come across and a very crucial detail. I had to speak with an operator one time and that was a fault entirely of my own and was user-friendly and convenient. He was helpful and the issue was rectified within minutes. Sorry but really can’t say a bad thing yet.

Pros

I love the integration with Big Commerce so I can easily sell online and in store with inventory syncs immediately. We do a lot of volume so the immediate inventory sync is very important to us or we would oversell items.

Cons

The retail app needs some work but I understand they need more time to update the software. Once the bugs get worked out, I would love to have a complete retail POS solution. In my mind it would include, physical inventory counts using scanners for tons of inventory -preferable to have multiple people doing different parts of the store at the same time. Included in retail should be a report for the inventory status/financial which would include total count, total cost, and total retail price of the entire store/warehouse. Also, a better integration for Quickbooks online. I'm scared to add this integration because it gets horrible reviews.

Pros

I love the convenience of swiping a card, I love that it pays out quickly (far quicker than over my website) and it keeps peoples information from past square interactions they've done so you can send them a receipt.

Cons

I would love to have an offline setting so it could save the cards and charge when you reconnect. I don't always have a connection at the markets I'm working. I'm working currently with the smallest square phone connection so I also look forward to updating to the version that accepts debit cards too

Pros

Both interfaces are very easy to use. There are many features to make your business look professional, like sending receipts via email and text and asking for feedback after a transaction. Adding line items is very easy, which is convenient for businesses that are changing prices or items frequently.

Cons

As much as I love this product it could definitely still use some tweaking. The biggest complaint is the fact that you are forced to buy multiple card readers for your iPad because they stop reading cards after a while which subsequently forces you to enter the card manually which you are then charged more money for.

Pros

Super easy to set up, easy to process payments, easy to generate receipts, and easy to track sales. Plus it's a very reasonable cost and lets you be much more accessible as a seller - no more juggling tons of loose cash!

Cons

It can sometimes be glitchy, and obviously only works if there's a good internet connection. I had some initial problems with my chip reader that forced me to hand-enter a lot of cards, which is time consuming. But on the plus side, that option exists for when there's a problem with the reader.

Pros

Its very simple to use and train new employees on. Reports are easy to run and can get most data that you need. Allows you to communicate with customers.
They are continuing evolving and adding new features.

Cons

Wish there was a way to take a deposit for future orders (placed online or on the phone) so the sales are applied to the date they are picked not the day we take the payment. For advance orders, available pick up times are based on your hours of operations. Wish we could limit that depending on what is being ordered.

Pros

Very easy to use. Quick email confirmation / almost instant at times. Fast turn around when actually getting the money into my bank account. I use it A LOT for credit card purchases over the phone (no card present). Yes, the fees are about .5% higher but always very FAST and very Reliable.

Cons

Nothing. I only use the remote card swiper when at a seminar or speaking engagement.

Pros

I use Square almost daily for my coffee roasting company. Its easy to use, easy to train others to use, and easy to customize for my ever changing inventory.

Cons

Sometimes I wish the Square app had the same functionality as the Square website. For example, invoices are easier to work with on the web vs. working with them on the app. You can't print invoices from the app, yet you can from the web interface. Just little things like that. Not huge, but minor annoyances.

Pros

Super easy to use. Every kind of report that you can want is available.

Cons

I wish that the fee was a bit lower. The switch to a blue tooth card reader has been interesting. 1/10 times that I try and connect it takes extra time which is a pain if the customer is there waiting.

Pros

The software is user friendly, quick and easy. I love their simple and straight forward layout. They literally contributed to my business growing!!!!

Cons

I can't think of any negative thing to say, except at the beginning I had some problems that turned out to do with poor internet connection.

Pros

We love the ease of use for both us and the client. We used to have to wait for payment via check and sometimes we'd have to follow up with clients for months without getting paid. Now when our technicians are wrapped up in the field.. they have the client pay instantly using their mobile phones with card reader. No more waiting for payments!

Cons

Square is a great software and clients trust it. There is nothing that is negative about Square. Love it.

Pros

I love that it's so easy to send invoices in just a second! It keeps track of your clients names and client info, services, invoices etc which is such a timesaver! I can look st a glance and know what invoices have been paid and which ones need to send again.

Cons

I would love there to be a way to enter services in so you don't have to type it in each time when making an invoice.

Pros

Easy to use! Functional! Minimal time to receive critical business information. Ability to pull up current sales is just seconds behind the transactions at the retail location! Very impressive!

Cons

The steps that are showing up at the top of my feed for Square retail. Mobile app is par, much better to use desktop version. iPad and iPhone software make some features inaccessible.

Pros

I liked the interface of the software. Very user friendly and easy to do transactions with. I also have used the manual entry multiple times with no problem.

Cons

I would say the only thing I dislike is the extra charge for instant deposit, that's it. Nothing else stands out to me.

Pros

The FREE software and low cost processing fees are GREAT. Money gets deposited FAST and deposited by 1am the next business day. No wait. No hassel.

Cons

Customer Service of you need to actually talk to a human is very lacking. They want to communicate by email and as a business some times you need a human right away.