Square for Retail Reviews

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.

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

The software is great to do all transactions, returns and exchanges. I like the fact that it prints a barcode at the bottom of the receipt so when a customer comes back for a return we just scan the bottom of the receipt and the transaction pops right up.

I end up getting the new square register in hope that it would act just like the retail app for the Ipad. The fact is that square won't update the new register. It has no exchange option like the Ipad app does and you end up needing to set up both the Ipad and register. Square has known about this issue for years now. You can see the complaints on the square forum page. Square also does not have a spot for barcodes so you end up having to put your barcodes in the sku spots. The loyalty point system also has some problems. When you do a return it doesn't automatically take points back from the customer account.

Square is an easy payment processing solution that we have been able to integrate into our retail store operations. I appreciate that it can keep track of inventory, but the process of adding items can be overwhelming. It's big strength is in it's reporting functions and it's ability to easily track YoY.

We have a lot of glitches with the program, despite updates. We will have to restart and re-login. It is also difficult to add individual inventory items. Also the register display format is not customizable, you are limited to the defaults.

Square easily handles transactions for our church book stall. It provides up-to-date inventory and online reporting for tax purposes. You can easily add sales, promotions, and other tailor-made functions.

What I like least about this software is the hardware. We utilize the Square Terminal, which was attractive as a portable register in that it takes credit cards via swipe and chip, but also prints receipts. The optional scanner is even nicer to use. However, for the scanner to work, the terminal must be plugged into an outlet, which robs it of its portable nature. Additionally, adding inventory via the Terminal is cumbersome and slow. Imagine typing in inventory titles using a small smart phone that is slower than a smart phone.

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.

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

I enjoy easily keeping track of my customer's info, including the ability to create my own custom fields and also group customers. These features make it easy for me to note a history with a customer, aside from just their purchases. Grouping customers allows me to enter a location, find the group of customers there, and know everyones name as a result of this reference

I wish it were easier to transfer my client lest from other software, but thats the nature of software I guess.

I love how easy it was to start taking credit cards and to use Square as my POS. It syncs to my accounting software automatically and keeps track of all my products, invoices and charges.

There isn't an automatic section for shipping and I have to add it manually as its own category. Not sure why they haven't built this into their invoicing platform yet even though so many people have asked about this.

In the past I've used traditional forms of credit card accepting machines and software provided by my bank. Very expensive and cumbersome. Square has made accepting credit cards cost effective and very easy. The retail setup has made keeping inventory easy along with sorting out sales taxes. The advantage of using AP on phone when not in store is extremely helpful and again very easy to use.

No real cons, If I were to get picky I'd say initial set up takes a bit of time but nothing really worth complaining about.

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.

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.

User friendly platform to load your storefront with products. Present templates that are also customizable to your liking. Integration of an inventory model to track what you have left on hand.

Have a plan for your products of offering multiple size and/or color options before entering on the site. It's much harder to edit and change the categories once it's set. Know what your page intent is as well ahead of schedule.

We use square daily to keep track of sold items / integrate inventory / keep track of customers purchases.

We do not have any cons that come to mind!

Square pretty much takes all the leg work out of setting up a POS system for any business, but I'll speak specifically as a small business owner.
-If you're a first time small business owner, save yourself the headache and just go with Square; you might be able to get a lower merchant fees rate with another service, but then you have to deal with the hassle of setting up a separate POS register, possibly a separate app you'd have to setup on an iPad if that's what you plan to use, setting up the merchant account, etc. With Square, it's all wrapped into one easy setup.
-Easy to setup on an iPad, create a catalog of items to sell and process payments
-The item catalog screen is very user friendly and customizable
-Doing refunds is easy
-Reports are incredibly easy to run
-Square integrates with QuickBooks online, so it's been seamless to link all my Square sales to my accounting books and makes my tax filings much more accurate
-Creating invoices is also easy and gives a professional look to my invoice emails
-Ability to create forms that require signature, so no need for another digital signature service (unless you need more details, see Cons below)

-I wish you could have the same virtual terminal on the iPad on desktop as well. There have been times when my iPad crapped out and had to use my laptop, and it's not the same experience.
-If you're using the signature service for forms that you need to send out, it only records the signature itself and nothing else. Either it's a user error on my part, or they need to update it, but it needs more customization.

I love that I can use my Square terminal anywhere. Whether I am at an event or in the back room, I can get paid.

I do find that sometimes the payouts can be confusing

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

The overall ease of use is great. But the real winner for our organization was that the merchant fees were so much more reasonable than our prior merchant. The ability to track inventory is also very helpful, and has simplified my life.

The void system being only for restaurant usage is a bit frustrating. The reporting system could also use more options for customization.

I love using my square register for my retail as a crafter and a writer. I go around to craft shows to sell my books and my products and I use Square all the time. It is a great product because it is so easy to use and I can use it right on my phone which makes it even simpler so I don't have to log a laptop or another credit card processing system with me.

The only problem I have with this product is the fact that the percentages for the processing fees keep going up. Not making very much as a crafter or a writer every penny counts. I wish there was a way to minimize the processing fee .

It is easy to use and I know exactly what my fees are going to be as it is not dependent on a certain type of card which may unknowingly charge me a higher rate. Overall the platform is easy to use.

I really don't have any thing bad to say about the software or platform except maybe I do wonder about if I ever have to contact customer service I have heard that is very hard to get problems addressed or make personal contact with a customer service representative.

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.

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

This feature is amazing, it takes a little time to set up, but time well invested. I no longer spend my days counting inventory, just look on the system and current count of all products right there.

cant say any cons here. We are a water sports concession. Offering hats, sunscreen, phone dry bags etc

I like how easy it is to create a great looking online storefront. Clean and simple design options, easy to add/delete items, keep track of inventory, and an endless list of benefits!

It is limited as far as page layout and imagery! The gift card function is not displayable on the product pages... or if it is I've not yet figured it out.

The ease of implementation of the square system was excellent. Once implemented, managing and controlling items and inventory is simple and efficient. The POS system is easy to manage and use, easy to train our staff on, and customizable for all of our needs. The reporting system gives us all the information we need to summarize our sales data, run sales tax reports, and more.

There is not much to not like. For our small business the software works wonderfully, if we had a large variety of items the POS system might get more complicated, but not for us.

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

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.