Square Reader - Tricks & Tips

[Lin19687]

Thought we should have a thread JUST for the Square Readers and how they work.
Trick and Tips.

Like I just learned ( from @amd ) that you put the reader in AFTER to tally up the totals.

Item List - Yes do this, I was wondering how hard it was going to be for me to calculate a big order. I even put in a Buy 5 for 4. still tweeking but it is nice that you can Edit.

What other things did you learn on your way to using the Square ?

I want to post a clip from @amd about Etsy and Square that I didn't know.
"
So that prompted me to make the decision to keep my Etsy store, and takes some work off my plate because maintaining Square and Etsy was a PIA but I'm not ready to cut ties with Etsy yet. There is a sync function between Square and Etsy that they rolled out a month or two ago, but it screwed up the listings on the Square store, so I had to go back and reload pictures and make listings available again every time I added a new listing... It was an hours time suck. So now when the new website goes live there will be a button click to take you to the Etsy store for shopping, and then I'll add in all the other nonsense during the next weeks. "

 

[Misschief]

So, I have the Contactless & Chip reader but I can't get it to pair with my tablet. I did check compatibility and it is compatible. I figured I'd better get familiar with it before next weekend, right? Any tips?

HA! Finally got it. For anyone else, I turned the reader on so the orange lights were flashing, then opened the app and into settings to pair them.

 

[amd]

@Misschief So glad you figured it out! This is the one thing my friend struggles with at every show. (She has even called me if she knows I am not at a show, to help her mid-sale, lol)

Because Lin quoted me above regarding the Etsy to Square sync, I'm going to clarify just a bit in case you don't know. You can get a "free" website with Square - if I remember right it ends up being something like yourstorename.mkt.com or something like that. You can also buy your own domain and transfer the mkt store to your domain. I did the mkt for a year, and have done my own domain for almost two years. If you want a basic functioning online store, this works very well.
https://squareup.com/online-store

I've had an Etsy store for a year and a half-ish (my mind set is to sell in as many places as possible). As mentioned, Etsy and Square teamed up this spring so you can sync listings. This is more of a benefit to Etsy users who were trying to use Etsy's in person sale tool (which sucked). The sync was really not made for users like me who may have both Etsy and Square stores already. So if you have an Etsy store and want to have a Square store too, be prepared for tons of maintenance as quoted by Lin above.

Honorable mention: I have made the decision to sell only using Etsy. My website directs my customers to my Etsy store. I've indicated to my regulars that they can use Etsy to review what I have and in what quantities (Square online store does not show available qty), and then personal message me. Which is what 99% of my customers do anyways. I still use Square for in-person sales at shows (which is synced with my Etsy account) and invoicing. I wish they had done a better job of integrating the two sales channels, but I'm a small fish in a big pond.

 

[cerelife]

Another thing I like about the Square app is that you can program in discounts! I have a 'co-worker' discount of 15% for anyone who works in the same healthcare system as me. And an 'arts appreciation' discount of 20% for actors, artists, and musicians. My nephew is a professional actor and so I know those guys work hard for often minimal pay!

 

[Misschief]

Another thing I like about the Square app is that you can program in discounts! I have a 'co-worker' discount of 15% for anyone who works in the same healthcare system as me. And an 'arts appreciation' discount of 20% for actors, artists, and musicians. My nephew is a professional actor and so I know those guys work hard for often minimal pay!

I found that option and have programmed in a 10% off your entire purchase discount.

 

[Lin19687]

TY @amd I am not looking forward to trying to figure out how my Website will work with Sq or Etsy . I don't have Etsy yet but want to try it out.
I really wanted my Website to just do the Sq payment, not go to their store website. But, Le Sigh, I better figure out how to make a Button to send people to Sq store.
I have to get a separate bank account for Biz/Sq/Etsy/paypal just to make things easier .

The free Sq reader is so tiny. I was thinking of putting Velcro on it and then on the back of my phone so I don't lose it at a show
Maybe I need to velcro it to myself

 

[amd]

@Lin19687 depending on who you have a website with and the level of the website subscription, I think most have an option to integrate with Square. Tipsy Sherry went with WordPress in a spur of the moment decision, but Sober Sherry discovered the level needed for a cart plug-in is the top level - which at this time my online sales can't support. I have this morning off work, so if I get caught up on the forum I am going to checkout a few other platforms. If I find something affordable that integrates well with Square, I will probably kill my WordPress site and make a clean switch. I have 30 days to get my money back from WordPress.

 

[Lin19687]

I have 1&1, and it tells you how to have SQ as your store.
I didn't fully read it and just did the #'s in the DNS, but it got a bit wonky and I didn't want to leave it like that and then forget.

I need to find out if I can just have a "Button" at the 'CART" that sends over to SQ to just pay or if I need to just have the "Buy Products" button and it shoots over to the SQ store.
I just have not played with it lately. Not focused I guess

@amd https://www.1and1.com/website-builder-packages
Shows the packages, for $12 the 1st year I paid for a year, then it goes to $10 a month. When I get close to that I will figure out what I want to do.
I had previously bought my Domain of RusticLifeFarm.com before I decided to just get the website because it was so cheap. Had I known that they had this "deal" for a long time I may have waited.
Aslo I spent a full week googling reviews on 1&1 and they seemed good, a few issues but nothing that the others didn't have.

https://squareup.com/i/RUSTIFARM1
I think this is a referral link for anyone that wants to use it ?
"Invite friends and merchants to use Square. When they activate a Square account through your referral link, they‘ll receive free processing on up to $1,000 in sales"

Bummer wish I had asked someone for this when I joined

 

[Misschief]

Here's a question for those of you who use Square. I will be offering my scoops for purchase at my next market. Right now, I have three varieties... BRV, Lavender, Champaka... and they're all in there as variations. I'll be pricing them at $2.00 (they cost about .60 to make) but would like to offer 6 for $10. I'm not sure how to set that up. How do you set up your scoops in the Square app? Individual variations or just as Bubble Scoops, with price variations?

 

[shunt2011]

Here's a question for those of you who use Square. I will be offering my scoops for purchase at my next market. Right now, I have three varieties... BRV, Lavender, Champaka... and they're all in there as variations. I'll be pricing them at $2.00 (they cost about .60 to make) but would like to offer 6 for $10. I'm not sure how to set that up. How do you set up your scoops in the Square app? Individual variations or just as Bubble Scoops, with price variations?

What I do so it tracks everything by scent is just enter it and list it as variable. Then just key in the amount when you click on it. So, just enter say Vanilla and 1.66 then Peppermint 1.66 etc..... or if full price just enter 2.00 that's how I do my soap. Or you can make two entries one for full price and one for 1.66. Either way works

 

[Misschief]

Thanks Shari! That makes sense and I do like tracking by variety so I can see which is more popular.

 

[amd]

Here's a question for those of you who use Square. I will be offering my scoops for purchase at my next market. Right now, I have three varieties... BRV, Lavender, Champaka... and they're all in there as variations. I'll be pricing them at $2.00 (they cost about .60 to make) but would like to offer 6 for $10. I'm not sure how to set that up. How do you set up your scoops in the Square app? Individual variations or just as Bubble Scoops, with price variations?

Are you keeping track of inventory? If so I would do it like this (which is how I do it):
Create your library items with the inventory count.
Create a discount library (mine needs to be cleaned up as I don't use most of those codes). When you create a discount library you can do a % discount, a set dollar amount, or leave it blank to enter at the time of sale. The only downfall of the discount library is that you can only apply 1 discount per transaction, so if someone were to buy two sets of 6 and you wanted to give them the $2 discount for each set, you would be better off to have it as a variable amount rather than set at $2.
When making sales and bundling items (what I call it when I give a discount for buying a set number of multiples, not sure it's an industry term, lol) I use the library to add up the amount so that my inventory is correct, then use the discount library to punch in the amount of the discount. Let me see if I can screen shot what I do...

 

[Misschief]

Unfortunately, I have to run but I'll reread your post when I get home tonight, AMD. I haven't even explored discounts yet.

 

[Lin19687]

I like the variable discount . That would work on all sales if you wanted to do that.

I won't be having SQ keep my inventory of all I have in stock, only what I bring to the show. After the show I will adjust inventory once I get SM3. So knowing about this "discount' is great for keeping track of that inventory from the show !
TY AMD !

 

[amd]

I didn't like SM3 functions for sales and record keeping in general. I use it for storing recipes, keeping track of supplies inventory and cure dates, and exporting for ingredient labels. I use Square for tracking all of my sales and product inventory. I found it much easier to separate the two - one for production and one for sales. I tried all of 2017 to maintain both and it just didn't work.

 

[shunt2011]

I don’t I use SM3 for sales or record keeping either. I use square for stock and sales.

 

[Lin19687]

Hmmm, TY both of you. I had not bought SM3 yet and inventory would have been the Main reason for it.

I'm kinda a more pen/paper ledger kinda Gal. maybe I should just stick with that for now.

 

[amd]

Hmmm, TY both of you. I had not bought SM3 yet and inventory would have been the Main reason for it.

I'm kinda a more pen/paper ledger kinda Gal. maybe I should just stick with that for now.

I didn't mean to discourage you from buying SM3 - I have found it to be an amazing tool for soapmaking (just for ingredient labels alone, but also for everything else related to the process of making soap). I don't think it works well for tracking inventory and sales, although that could be how I use it too. I found it cumbersome.

@Misschief did you get a chance to try out discounting on Square?

 

[Lin19687]

No, it didn't discourage me, I am SO glad you all said something. That would have been the Main reason for buying it.
I started to put each scent in the SQ but found that to be a bit slow when trying to check someone out. I think I will just update it after the FM.
I also put in a Discount, but not on a sale, in the Items list. I left the amount blank so I could add it in if I wanted.

 

[amd]

No, it didn't discourage me, I am SO glad you all said something. That would have been the Main reason for buying it.
I started to put each scent in the SQ but found that to be a bit slow when trying to check someone out. I think I will just update it after the FM.
I also put in a Discount, but not on a sale, in the Items list. I left the amount blank so I could add it in if I wanted.

First... I'm not sure I understand what you mean by putting the discount in the Items? Do you mean you have an item with a variable amount to be entered at time of sale? Like, say someone buys 4 bars and you want to discount from $24 to $20, instead of using each item and subtracting the discount, you use the variable item and enter $20? If so, I can see that would work for someone who isn't using Square to track inventory.

The advantage to using the discount method I mentioned in post 12 is that when square does your sales report for the day, it totals up the amount of discounts given. I've been told that this can be written off in taxes, although I haven't researched that to see if it is true and do it on my own taxes. Anyways, I really like to see all the numbers laid out as they really are in the reports so I know where money is and isn't coming in. If I'm discounting too much, this is easier to see with a clear number on the report.

Second: For entering each item at the sale, I discovered that it doesn't take as much time as it seems while doing it. I know for us it feels inconvenient to have the customer standing there, but most of the time they don't notice it. The only problem I have is when they are trying to talk to me while I'm doing it, because I don't multi-task very well, especially if they are asking me very specific questions. If your DD is with you, take advantage of her and have her ring up the sale while you're bagging and chatting. I did that at my last show with my son and it worked so slick.