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

Pros

This seems like the best program for small businesses. The program offers a very low credit card fee of 2.6%, from what I have noticed. The program also offers SKU and GTIN codes to be scanned successfully. You can have unlimited items in your inventory which makes this convenient for the user and the customer, especially when you can do next day transfers as well!

Cons

Square does not work on Android platforms for the Free or Retail Plus versions. But it does on the Square POS version. Only thing, if you do not have the physical card, it seems to have a higher transaction fee rate.

Pros

It’s very simple to use, everything is right there for you, walking you through every step.

Cons

Sometimes based on your internet, it can be a pain to work with. Make sure your somewhere with a good signal.

Pros

It has been a god send for taking electronic payment's & Inventory control

Cons

No negative issues at this time that I can see

Pros

Processing payments and a payout at the end of the day makes retail a breeze.

Cons

There is a free version but I think it is definitely worth it to pay for it especially if you have more than one location.

Pros

The ability to take Square from our main location, to mobile and take payment anywhere

Cons

Connectivity issues with WIFI occasionally

Pros

Square for retail is a very easy and inexpensive solution for any small business that uses a POS system.

Cons

There really are no cons. None at all. I don’t have anything negative to say about Square for retail.

Pros

We use this for merchandise sales in the gym, primarily for retail like hoodies and T-shirts. It’s also great for use offsite, anytime we might be doing a pop-up event and selling merchandise there as well. Very easy for both the consumer and seller to use.

Cons

I haven’t had any issues with this software. Being on both the end of the seller and customer, it provides a very seamless experience.

Pros

The mobility of Square is the most fantastic aspect of the Square service. If we don't end up using the fully-fledged POS system, we have the option to use a simple phone-attached card payment device. We can go anywhere and take our store with us!

Cons

The lack of ability to upload a stock of products with a CSV file. We have hundreds of items, each with different elements and aspects, no two items are the same, thus it is time consuming to transfer items from our other e-commerce platforms to Square.

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

The software is very user friendly. It is excellent for first time users to easily run when starting a small retail store.

Cons

I have not found a function that I do not like. There are many areas to explore.

Pros

It's so easy for me as a customer to make a quick purchase from small businesses, which I prefer to support. If they did not have this option, I would not be able to make a purchase when I choose not to carry cash, which is nearly 100% of the time.

Cons

I have not found any reason not to like this technology yet.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Alternatives Considered

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Square for Retail

Pros

I love that I do not need any other applications to manage my payments and inventory. I have everything at my finger tips with this application.

Cons

I know some people complain about the service charges. 2.6% plus $.10 per transaction at the time of this review.

Pros

Once its set up, it performs well. Aesthetically its great but only because I spend well over 20 hours editing to make up for the lack of user friendliness in positioning text and photos on the site.

Cons

This took way too many hours to set up. Its not intuitive. Its wireframes are clunky. The final product looks good but I could have paid a coder less to develop a site from scratch versus how much time it took to build a simple ecomm website with Square. Never again!

Pros

I love how it’s so easy to use and very user friendly. I have the Square Register which has a large screen for me and a small screen in the front for the customers transaction. It is easy to add inventory by name and barcode with the barcode scanner. You can set up alerts, and I can still use it for cash transactions. I have the cash drawer accessory so it opens as soon as soon as you complete cash sale. It is basically a very advanced and convenient cash register that isn’t large and bulky.

Cons

The price is a little steep for small businesses. You can get the system that requires an iPad but I didn’t see the point. If you don’t have an iPad you have to purchase that in addition. I settled for the standalone register.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Square for Retail

Pros

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.

Cons

I do find that sometimes the payouts can be confusing

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Square for Retail

Reasons for Switching to Square for Retail

Pros

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)

Cons

-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.

Pros

It is easy to set up and use. It is affordable and the customers never have a problem with it.

Cons

I wish they took bitcoin and the square terminal has quite a few quirks that should be worked out before charging that much.

Pros

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

Cons

We do not have any cons that come to mind!

Pros

I absolutely LOVE the ease of use of Square! The app allows you to literally set up your shop in mere minutes, and then allows you to input your products with prices for an easy tap to add it to your customer's cart. I especially love the Square business card that holds all my funds, which makes keeping business money separate from family funds so much easier!

Cons

I honestly cannot think of anything that I do not love about this software. It is designed in a way that allows even the least techy person to set up their store and products, and go through a checkout seamlessly.

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

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

The greatest thing about this software was the ease of access. The setup for the invoicing was so simple, and became the leading go-to for all of my business affairs

Cons

nothing ata ll can be thought of. The ease and effectiveness is great and cannot be trifled with.