Square Online Reviews

Pros

We were able to implement a digital gift card program for our restaurant clients in minutes. We don't use Square for regular in-person credit card processing at all we simply set up the online digital gift cards in the weeks leading up to Christmas and generated tens of thousands of dollars in cash-flow for the client and guaranteed business in the weeks that would follow our Covid-19 holiday lockdown.

It is so fast and easy every consumer facing company should do it. Your customer gets their digital gift card immediately and the business gets cash in about 48 hours. They make it super-simple to track the cards and redeem outside of your POS and conventional payment processing system.

It doesn't matter who you use for your payment processing. It is simple and fast to add Square just for their digital gift cards.

Cons

Wish I had discovered how easy implementing a gift card program was sooner. There are no Cons as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't matter what POS or payment processor you use now. There is room to add Square for gift cards to any operation.

The percentage they charge for payment processing is twice what the mainstream processors charge, but there is ZERO cost associated with selling or redeeming the gift card so for many companies it works out to be much cheaper than other gift card programs.

Alternatives Considered

DataCandy

Reasons for Switching to Square Online

Square offered instant set-up instead of 10 days wait and the ability to sell digital gift cards that could be redeemed inperson instead of (or inaction to) physical gift cards.

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

joe Point of Sale

Reasons for Switching to Square Online

Very helpful having everything in one place. Other shop owners in our co-op used Joe, but I talked them into switching to square.

Pros

Square Online is super easy to use, has low setup times based on product/service offerings, making it incredibly user-friendly.

Cons

Processing fees associated with Square Online transactions can add up over time.

Alternatives Considered

Stripe

Reasons for Switching to Square Online

Ease of Use and ease of initial setup and deployment

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

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

Shopify Plus, Shopify POS and Shopify

Reasons for Choosing Square Online

Wanted a closer integration with our shop POS and Online to manage inventory better

Switched From

WooCommerce and WordPress

Reasons for Switching to Square Online

At the time Shopify did not offer the POS functionality we needed

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

Shopify

Reasons for Switching to Square Online

Cheaper and has a free plan allowing me to start from 0

Pros

It helps my business by selling more products and classes with ease.

Cons

I cant think of any critical feedback Square is a very user-friendly app/website

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

PayPal

Reasons for Switching to Square Online

Easier to use with more reporting available to track orders/customers.

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

Great value for the money, templates make starting up easier than you can imagine, time saving and organization right at your fingertips.

Cons

Some editing features are difficult to understand when adding pages or sections to online platform. Would like to see more instructions or easier to understand instructions when adding products and customization to pages and sections.

Alternatives Considered

PayPal

Reasons for Choosing Square Online

I did not like the cost of the fees associated with PayPal nor did I like the invoicing as compared to Square.

Switched From

PayPal

Reasons for Switching to Square Online

Easier to use, better invoicing, better and more widely used devices for payment and a brand everyone knows.

Pros

I’ve lived using square products. They’re very easy to navigate and set up

Cons

Sometimes I wish the mobile app had all the same features as the web but doesn’t hinder me using it

Pros

Its services are available to almost anyone with no credit check.

Cons

Card and chip readers are not free and may require a smart phone

Pros

This makes my everyday life in my small business so much easier

Cons

There is nothing to dislike on square online

Pros

This is a great way to help me and my customers with easy payment. i have never had a complaint. I have also purchased stuff from others that use square and its just wonderful for everyone.

Cons

I dont have many cons, the easy of Square Online is so fantastic

Pros

Square is great at on-the-go ordering and managing. I love the simplicity of the app and the features it comes with for balancing receipts and metrics.

Cons

Other than it costing a bit more than most to start up, it's worth the money to do it!

Pros

It is great to be able to use Square to offer a credit card payment option for our clients.

Cons

It is not easy to navigate through the Square dashboard. There are so many things you can do. I often have to go to help or google to figure out how to make something work, for example a 'buy now button.'

Pros

Easy implementation for small business. Tracks orders & handles in person transactions well. Great tool for a small company getting started.

Cons

Designer is a bit more clunky than similar platforms like Squarespace or Shopify but it does the job well.

Pros

I enjoy using Square because it is so easy and user-friendly. My employees just get right on it no need to show them 1 million times because it is that simple I enjoy it and I love to recommend other people to use it as well it’s also inexpensive and I enjoy it because it just takes some money right out so I don’t have to worry about paying no fees at the end of the month it’s already done

Cons

The least I like is how my reader disconnects but it’s fine I’ll just reconnected every day that’s the only downside

Pros

Easy to use, inexpensive, integrates with square store easily.

Cons

Website templates are limited and square online stores start to all look similar. Offering discounts with multiple purchased items without using a coupon is not available. Having automatic shipping discounts without using a coupon is not available. Would like automatic discounts and be able to offer free shipping when minimum orders are met. Have to be careful about generating a shipping label because you only get one chance. If a shipment requires two or more labels, can only generate through square online via shippo. Then have to go to shippo to generate additional labels. That is a hassle.

Alternatives Considered

Shopify

Reasons for Choosing Square Online

Wanted to integrate my retail storefront with online storefront

Reasons for Switching to Square Online

I like square products very much!

Pros

I love that everything is integrated! The POS, mobile and website it is a GREAT value for the cost! I also love that the software is continually improved upon to make the systems even more seamless.

Cons

Amazingly, the con is also all of the integration. It took me several phone calls to figure out how I could allow a 3rd party to help me with the SEO aspect without giving them the keys to the ship! I did finally reach someone that helped me with that but in the end, I decided that putting so much thought into SEO is slightly overrated and I decided to just utilize the default and write great descriptions in the first place.

Pros

In the world of publishing, there are countless ways to access or sell books and magazines. Square makes it easy to place a book up for sale on our site, with full description. Too, the purchasers are able to access the book for purchase even if they are not very familiar with computers or purchase sites.

Cons

It might be a tad easier to work with a template that allows for some changes editorially. For example, there is not a Free Shipping button.

Pros

Easy to setup - and easy to train staff!

Cons

Customer merging issues, some reporting issues

Alternatives Considered

Clover

Reasons for Choosing Square Online

Cost and better tech

Switched From

Aloha Cloud

Reasons for Switching to Square Online

Easy to understand and could use on tablets

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.

Pros

As a small retail business that is growing rapidly, Square has given me the ability to start with basics and expand as my business has grown. Love that I can manage inventory, marketing, payroll, my online store and loyalty program all in one place. Such a time-saver.

Cons

The online store features have continued to grow this past year, but even being fairly knowledgeable about web design, it has taken some time to find ways to add bells and whistles that take the website to a more professional level.