Upload Your Item Library for the First Time Square

When information technology comes to online selling, Square is one of the biggest names out there.

Starting as one of the few means that people could accept "mobile" transactions on the go, Square revolutionized the market place with quick, affordable monetizing methods.

Now, virtually anyone, from and one-off sellers and small business organization owners, to budding businesses tin can launch their Square account and begin taking payments wherever they are. It's no wonder that Square is the go-to solution for POS systems and offline payments.

However, did you know that you can besides transform your digital transactions with Square also?

The fact that Square at present allows merchants to set up online stores for just the price of their payment processing, means that it's easier than ever to go digital.

But is this ecommerce solution all it'south cracked upwardly to exist?

Read our Square Online review to find out.

Foursquare Online Review: Features

Square makes ecommerce simple.

The store y'all get when y'all sign up for their digital plan is straightforward, intuitive, and functional – so that anyone can access a new manner of selling. Like the rest of the Square portfolio, this offering comes with ease-of-access in listen.

You don't need to know anything virtually web design or coding to get started – which is an excellent news for beginners. However, that also ways that the experience you get with Square might non exist quite as advanced as offerings from more than enterprise-focused designers.

👉 Despite a few limitations, Foursquare offers but well-nigh everything you need to get your online store up and running, including:

A gratuitous URL
Free unlimited hosting
Inventory direction and tracking
Responsive web blueprint
Inventory direction and tracking
Integrated and avant-garde reporting
Seamless integration with Square'southward other products
Support for in-store pickup

Endeavour Square Online for Free

Square Online Pricing

I of the things that take always made Square so appealing for merchants is its pricing.

💡 Setting up an online store with Square marketplace can exist as inexpensive equally you like. There's a free plan that means y'all just pay processing fees. In other words, you're paying for the payment processing (2.9% of each sale plus $0.thirty), and nothing else.

For business leaders who need a fiddling more functionality from their online shop, there are a few more options available. For instance, you can upgrade to:

Professional: $16 per month, or $12 per month annually
Performance: $26 per month, or $29 per calendar month annually
Premium: $72 per month, or $79 per month annually.

The divergence between the "gratuitous" plan and what yous get on the paid options comes in features and functionality. For case, the free plan doesn't include unlimited storage, but all paid plans exercise. Additionally, you'll have square ads on all of your content if yous choose the free selection.

The Professional programme, on the other mitt, comes with added features like custom domains, site statistics, and extra marketing features. If y'all ramp upwards to "Premium", and so you get admission to third-political party integrations, custom code, product badges, Facebook ads, pop-upwardly notifications, advanced ecommerce analytics and so much more.

Substantially, it'due south the departure between having a basic solution for your online store, and something tailor-fabricated for ecommerce.

Foursquare Online Pros and Cons

Square Online Pros 👍

Predictable pricing
No monthly fees for the free option
Foursquare Online is xcellent for small businesses
All-in-ane payment system
Piece of cake to load up products
Cracking for linking your POS and online store
Unique advanced features for paying accounts
Square Online integrates with other ecommerce solutions
Enough of great themes to choose from

Square Online Cons 👎

Terrible aircraft strategy with no adjustable rates
Account stability bug are common with Square
The client service could be improve
Some features are restricted to high-cost accounts

Foursquare Online Review: UI and Ease of Use

No affair what you pay for your Square Online, you're going to get great user experience.

The Foursquare Online system allows you to sell anything from concrete goods to digital products, carryout orders, result tickets, and more. Yous can even accept donations. Although, there are some prohibited business options and items you can't get involved with.

Once you've got an account with Foursquare, information technology only takes a few minutes to set upwards your site.

The most work you're going to need to do involves managing your inventory – and that'due south true for any ecommerce site. When you log into your dashboard, you'll run across a complete menu of your options on the left-paw side.

Just click on the "Online Shop" option to go to your welcome page.

Click on the "Get Started" push button, and you can dive directly into building the kind of site that y'all want to run. The great thing hither is that Foursquare really offers a broad range of fantastic themes to go you started. They don't look old or outdated, similar other free themes on WooCommerce or WordPress. Plus, you tin change your look at whatsoever time by clicking on the Store Editor.

As y'all would wait from a modernistic ecommerce store awarding, every design you choose is pre-built to be responsive, then you tin use it on any device your customers might take.

Once you've chosen the theme that suits you, you'll be asked to enter the information for your online store, which includes the URL you want, and the DNS settings. This can be a bit complicated, merely you can always check out Square's guides if you need extra help.

Alternatively, in that location are a few alternative options you can use to set-up your store also. For case, the solution integrates with Weebly and BigCommerce then that you can set up up your online store through those applications as well. Yous'll even exist able to employ the Foursquare API if you want to create a custom environment for your site.

How to Set up Up Your Foursquare Online

So, how practise you really prepare a successful Foursquare Online?

Well, the skillful news is that it'due south a lot simpler than you might retrieve. Loading upwards a new account, credit card processing, accepting orders and listing products are all designed to be easy activities with Square. Best of all, you get a gratis online store included with your business relationship when you sign up for the Square POS, and so you basically anyone who'southward active with Square tin use one.

Here's a step-by-stride of what you'll need to do.

Step ane: Set Up Your Square Online Account

The kickoff affair you need to do is fix your free online business relationship.

Your business relationship is where you go to get access to all the beneficial features of the Foursquare dashboard, including store controls and essential information about your products. You'll only demand an email address and password to get started. However, Foursquare will ask for where you're located.

Stride 2: Creating your URL

Once you're successfully logged in, information technology's time to make sure that people can find you lot online. That ways choosing an URL for your store. Using the "name" section in the Settings Screen, enter the title of your ecommerce website, and you'll automatically get an URL hosted past the Square domain.

Step 3: Fill out the Of import Data

In the Settings screen of the Square Online, you'll as well demand to complete some other important details. For instance, if you're going to exist shipping and delivering orders placed online, then you're going to need to set upward delivery details, shipping fees, and related information.

If the prices of the items you're selling needs to include a markup to cover aircraft and delivery, yous tin select free shipping. Almost customers prefer this choice, so it might exist a skillful way to boost your chances of some extra online sales.

Forth with your shipping details, information technology'due south as well worth entering information about your Render Policies and Business organization Hours. Adjacent to the Shipping section, yous can choose to brandish your return policy rules, and include some basic information about your returns.

While your return policy will requite your customers some extra peace of mind when buying from you, your business hours show that you're a reputable company that tin can be contacted past your customers.

Step 4: Set up upwards Your Online Shop Theme

Once yous're done filling out the "Settings" section of your Square Online, it's fourth dimension to start creating an appearance for your website that really makes y'all stand up out. Fortunately, Square simplifies the process of adapting your store's design. All you lot demand to do to get started is click "Edit Store" in the dashboard.

The first step is to choose a theme or blueprint for your shop. You can attempt unlike online themes and blueprint your website to suit your make image. You lot'll also be able to switch to other themes once your ecommerce website has successfully launched.

The main divergence between the available themes on the Square Online, is the size of the header and the featured images included. Foursquare recommends using specific images sizes for each theme to help you out.

If you have a logo that yous want to include on your store, then you'll demand to lucifer the size of that prototype to the specific theme specifications on your website. You'll also exist able to insert your shop's proper noun every bit text too if you adopt.

Stride five: Transform your Website

With your theme selected, y'all tin can begin editing according to your needs. Foursquare will walk you through the procedure of editing your theme with a series of unproblematic instructions, so you lot don't have to worry about learning how to build a store from scratch.

If you have logos to add for case, it's as unproblematic every bit clicking on the infinite that says, "Add Logo". You tin can also upload the hero image of your website to the Feature Epitome infinite. This becomes the principal home screen image for your site. Once you're prepare, roll to the bottom of your Shop Editor screen. In this part of the website, upload your product images or other pictures to appear abreast your Business organization Hours and Contact information.

In one case you're done bringing your theme to life, y'all'll be prepare to commencement adding products to your shop so y'all can begin making a real profit.

Pace v: Start List your Products

As with nearly things in the globe of the Foursquare Online, calculation detail listings to your ecommerce website is easy. With Square, all your products will be tracked with a central detail library, so no affair where yous choose to sell your items, your online sales and data will be available within the Square POS.

The centralized approach that Square takes to online shop management is part of what makes it so easy to successfully sell with your Square Online. You tin even change settings with each of your items for auction as and when you cull. Y'all'll too be able to pull items into your online store listings directly from your Shop editor screen.

Step half dozen: Launch your New Online Store

Finally, with all your products successfully listed, y'all'll be set up to launch your online shop. Once again, this is a simple process, just scroll upward to the top of the Store Editor page and click on the green "Launch" push. Square will automatically upload your store and get in alive within seconds.

From there, selling is easy.

Your costless store will exist open for business concern, and you'll exist able to commencement selling in no time. At that place are even marketing tools built into the Square POS, like the Foursquare email marketing feature that tin can help y'all to catechumen your customers going forward.

Square Online Review: Designs and Templates

Foursquare is specifically designed to offer business leaders a simple manner to get online and offset selling. Creating a store with the templates and themes available is uncomplicated and straightforward. However, Square Online doesn't offer quite as many templates as some other companies to choose from.

square online design and templates

When you kickoff begin using the platform, you'll be directed to an surroundings where you tin can start designing what your site should look like. Square allows you to choose the preferred colors for your site (based on your make). Yous tin import a logo, and switch between layouts too.

Although there aren't many templates to get you started, you do accept a lot of freedom to create a site that's unique to you. If yous're familiar with Weebly'southward website architect, and so the Square Online store environment should wait pretty similar – equally Square actually uses Weebly'southward software.

Square encourages business owners to build websites that are uncomplicated and compelling. Yous don't have to push the boundaries of pattern to stand out online. A clean and professional looking website is usually all it takes to convince your audience that you're worth their consideration.

Once you lot have a basic layout and a range of colors that you like, Foursquare volition allow you lot to build your site ane page at a time. You lot tin re-create/paste page designs and add or remove blocks depending on the modules y'all need. The building cake strategy makes it pretty like shooting fish in a barrel to get started if you don't have a lot of prior cognition when it comes to site-edifice.

Of class, content blocks aren't the perfect tool if you want a lot of freedom to play around with your website's appearance. For instance, you tin can't practise much nearly changing the size or location of text boxes, and there are a lot of changes that you simply tin can't brand if you have a specific blueprint image in listen.

Another indicate to note nearly Foursquare is that adding a slice of content to your site requires you lot add an existing block from Square's list of options. You tin't just add a text box to your website. There aren't fifty-fifty options to edit CSS or HTML, so y'all can't bring a developer or web designer in to make changes for yous.

Square Online's designs and layouts do good from being easy to use, and flexible – as you lot can change how your layout looks whenever you lot want. But the lack of customization volition bulldoze a lot of customers abroad.

Square Online Review: Integrations

Although many online store builders similar Foursquare come with a wide diversity of features to relish for your website, it's worth remembering that at that place are going to be limitations to what you can do with this tool. That's why it's and so helpful to find a website builder that includes integrations and add-ons from other third-party providers.

If yous experience limited only the eCommerce features that you lot go with Foursquare Online, don't worry. The Square online shop environs will integrate with a host of other tools to permit you to do various different things. There are more than 100 add-ons and 3rd-party integrations available so far, including those for real-time POS solutions, accounting, invoicing, souvenir cards, loyalty, and marketing.

Although Foursquare's list of integrations isn't equally large as some of the alternatives on the marketplace, information technology'southward withal a respectable selection. You lot tin can even integrate your Foursquare Online store with Instagram. This means that when someone clicks on your products in Instagram, you can transport them straight to a Square checkout.

Don't forget that Foursquare too integrates with a host of other eCommerce companies and software solutions too, like WooCommerce, 3DCart, and BigCommerce. This means that you can choose to create your online store and domain name with some other provider, while using Square as your payment processor. If you want a more than high-performance plan for your store, then using Square alongside another eCommerce software choice might exist the all-time choice.

Square also offers admission to a multifariousness of APIs, or Application Programming Interfaces, which gives a piddling more flexibility to developers. If yous know the right development professionals, you might be able to build custom connections and add-ons for your store from scratch.

Square Online Review: Product Direction

The nearly complicated part of establishing an online store is importing and managing products.

The practiced news with Square Online is that your inventory will automatically sync upwardly based on any pre-existing Foursquare solutions you have. In other words, if you lot're already using a Square POS, then y'all tin just sign into your business relationship and start pulling in items.

However, if you're starting from scratch – this is yet a big benefit. Information technology means that when you commencement selling products, Foursquare volition update your inventory for you – without you having to worry almost constantly tracking how much you lot have a unmarried product.

💡 When yous set up your store, Square volition inquire yous to brainstorm adding the items yous want to sell equally quickly every bit possible. Notwithstanding, you might need to figure out what kind of Sales Tax you're going to be implementing offset, and whether y'all need whatsoever "Modifiers." For instance, Square allows you to offering your clients "extras" along with their purchase. You might offer a spare makeup castor with a cosmetics package, for case.

Square too allows you to separate products into categories, which makes it much easier to manage. If you lot import your items and don't add together a category or sales tax info straight away, you tin detect the options to do so in your Foursquare Dashboard.

Overall, adding products to your shop is pretty simple. Yous can create unique sections with specific products and place everything in ane part.

Under each section, click on "Add together Item" to run across a new box pop upward.

The more details you can include for each production listing, the better.

Think, you're going to need a description, photos of your items, pricing, tax information, and any variants – including different colors and sizes.

The more than "advanced" options are at the lesser of the page, where yous tin can enable or disable an item'due south visibility in your store if yous're non quite fix to launch it yet, or you run out of stock.

The thing that makes Foursquare specially impressive is the fact that you tin import your entire product library directly from the Register App, just past clicking on the "Add Item" button, and choosing to import from your library. You can besides import directly from CSV files if yous've got hundreds of items to add at once.

One time you've got your entire product library set in the Square Online, you tin can actually go to work on bringing your digital venture to life.

Foursquare has plenty of features to make running your business a fiddling simpler. For case, you can set depression-stock alerts that requite yous emails whenever y'all're about to run out of an particular. You lot can as well quickly cheque on inventory levels just past visiting your dashboard.

Foursquare Online Review: Shipping

💡 If you're selling digital items in Foursquare, like eBooks and downloads, and so this part probably won't apply to you. Even so, if you're going to be aircraft products, either in-country or overseas, then you're going to need to bank check out the Square Shipping features.

Unfortunately, some people find this aspect of the Square Online to be the nigh frustrating. Y'all'll have to choose either complimentary shipping for every item in your store or set a apartment rate for all of your products upon setup. That's a major trouble if you're selling pieces of a different weight or size, where the price may vary.

The easiest style to manage this trouble is to but offer the "free aircraft" option for all of your products. That way, you can adjust the pricing of your items to cover the fees associated with aircraft. That might get out y'all with some slightly bizarre prices, but the lack of shipping fees might appeal to your customers – even if it means paying more.

While the selection to add "additional shipping" costs is bachelor in Square's online store, it doesn't expect very practiced:

That petty "+ $5" is sure to rub your customers the wrong way.

Y'all'd be far more than likely to become skillful results if Foursquare could simply combine the two numbers and present your audience with a basic fee. However, for now, this seems to be one of the major areas where Foursquare falls short with its digital strategy.

I judge everything can't be perfect on a free online store later all.

Foursquare Online Review: Completing Online Orders

Shipping issues bated, one point that you lot'll observe is that in that location's a lot of ways to manage your orders and make sales on Square. If you're running a restaurant, you can fifty-fifty let your customers gild online and option their items up in person – as long every bit you lot take a Square Bespeak of Sale integration set up.

For companies selling services, you lot can also permit clients to pay online by merely clicking a push to add a specific option to their cart. Although honestly, it seems simpler to just take payments on your Square POS in person instead.

When you're running a Square Online, clicking into your dashboard will present y'all with a list of pending orders – whether those are food orders, product requests, or something else.

1 slightly frustrating thing here is that you need to mark each lodge as "fulfilled" if y'all want to get payment from information technology. Until you've completed the social club officially, Square will concur onto the money from the client. On the plus side, however, this does mean that you can offer your customers a better level of service by property yourself to a certain processing standard.

For example, Square automatically assumes that y'all'll accept an order dealt with in seven days or less. You can modify this number yourself, but if you don't complete the order past the deadline, then Foursquare will refund your customers automatically.

Additionally, when an order is completed, yous can add together tracking information to the transaction. However, to do that, you'll need to find the information y'all desire to ship and contact the customer individually. In that location'southward no i-click option to update your customer. That'southward a bit of a headache if you lot're trying to update dozens or even hundreds of customers at once.

💡 For people who don't have the actress fourth dimension to spare, at that place's the option to integrate the ShipStation feature, which will automatically rail and manage electronic orders for y'all. Square also automatically generates confirmation emails for you when y'all've completed a transaction. If you're selling a digital download; however, the e-mail won't include the download; yous'll need to deal with fulfillment yourself.

Overall, processing payments isn't the almost streamlined experience with the new Square online – but it'south not terrible, particularly when you're not paying annihilation for your shop. Additionally, if you're selling in-store items, things are a flake simpler, considering you have the option to automobile-accept orders if you desire to.

Square Online Review: Customer Service

So, how nearly if yous demand some extra assistance setting up your online store?

The chances are that yous'll demand at least some guidance, particularly if you lot're starting to sell your products digitally for the first time. The good news is that Square does requite yous a few options to get in affect. For instance, yous can tweet @SqSupport, or fill up out a form to contact the sales team.

Clicking on the "Contact Sales" pick on Foursquare'southward page might exist a bit confusing at first, as it takes y'all to a Weebly (read our Weebly review) contact form, not something branded by Square. This ways that the website building functionality comes through Weebly and isn't a proprietary solution for SquareUp.com.

💡 If y'all would prefer to have the DIY approach to getting your support, then you tin can try visiting the Foursquare Knowledgebase. It's a pretty comprehensive database for people who are getting started in the sales marketplace. There are plenty of manufactures to browse through, screenshots, and other useful tidbits. Plus, you can visit the robust seller community for extra guidance as well.

Square Online vs Shopify

While the Square Online offers simplicity and like shooting fish in a barrel admission for people with all sizes of business, it might not be the right tool for everyone. There are all the same people out there who might prefer an culling option, like Shopify, for instance.

Foursquare has Shopify beat when it come up to price, making it more affordable for small businesses to get started online, every bit there are no transaction fees to worry nearly. Nevertheless, it's safe to say that Shopify provides a much wider range of templates for users to choose from when they're getting started with a new online presence. What's more, Shopify can easily allow both physical and digital stores to be sold.

Because Shopify is offered as a hosted online store, you don't need to worry most buying your own spider web hosting separately or purchasing additional software to install. Everything you need to build a Shopify store is available to you out of the box. However, Shopify does seem to rely a little more than heavily on basic coding noesis than Square, which could mean that it'due south better suited to people with a piddling groundwork knowledge in website building.

Square Online vs BigCommerce

BigCommerce is another hosted ecommerce solution that offers a compelling culling to the Square Online. This solution allows business concern owners to set up their own online presence and start selling products online with ease. Equally an effective SaaS service, you don't need to ain software to use BigCommerce.

BigCommerce, like Shopify comes with a wide variety of customizable templates to choose from to aid you design the perfect store, and you can sell both digital and physical goods. At that place are even some basic tools provided to help you market place your products too. Like Foursquare'due south Online Store, this product is aimed at people who don't have a lot of technical or coding knowledge to speak of. However, there are options to tweak CSS and HTML if you demand to.

All of the plans available from BigCommerce come up with access to unlimited staff accounts, which means that BigCommerce offers fantabulous value for money, peculiarly compared to options like Shopify or Wix. However, information technology doesn't come up with the same wide selection of POS offerings that Square can provide.

Square Online vs Squarespace

Finally, Squarespace is an splendid tool for companies that need to build quick and professional-looking websites with minimal coding. You can apply this tool to build a professional-looking website without coding, edit your website with a user-friendly CRM, and more. Squarespace has much better blogging tools than Square, but information technology's worth noting that it does take a while to get used to this platform.

Squarespace isn't about as easy to use every bit Square Online. Nonetheless, it does merits to be "the" best option for building portfolio sites and blogs. Like the other options mentioned above, you won't necessarily need to learn how to employ CSS and HTML to use Squarespace. Nevertheless, at that place are a lot of additional awkward features to this architect that might be confusing for beginners.

Even with the additional features, Squarespace withal won't be plenty for companies that want to go really granular with their website design strategy either.

Is the Square Online Right for Your Ecommerce Business concern?

And then, should y'all attempt the Square online?

If you're merely starting in the current marketplace, the new Square Online solution is an excellent launching pad to help you get your digital business up and running. At that place's no need to build your technical or coding knowledge before yous get started, and it's easy to get your inventory gear up too.

You tin can utilize your Square solution to process payments, integrate with other online shopping cart options, and create some impressive looking production pages. Yet, yous will need to upgrade to a more professional person package if y'all're looking for advanced options like tracking and analytics.

Of course, Square's online store doesn't have everything. You lot won't exist able to instantly link your store with your social media accounts unless you lot're paying for a premium package for case. Additionally, it can be a little challenging to manage some aspects of customer support and club fulfillment too.

1 particularly pregnant trouble with the Square Online is it's approach to shipping charges. Ultimately, yous tin can't set dissimilar prices for items that are going to toll you more to send, without making it wait like you're simply piling extra fees onto your customer for no reason. Maxim that it's all the same worth giving Foursquare'due south online store a go if y'all're new to digital selling. It's free, to begin with, excellent for beginners, and a great way to get control over your eCommerce strategy.