Create, import, edit and deactivate vendors
About managing vendors
With Square for Retail or Square for Restaurants Plus, you can create, import, edit and deactivate your vendor list, send and receive purchase orders from your Square Dashboard.
Before you begin
Vendor management is only available with a subscription to Square for Retail. If you don’t have a subscription, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial.
When you add a vendor code to an item, you can search your item library by vendor code using:
Search bar: Enter the vendor code in the search bar at the top of your item library.
Column filter: Click (+) to add vendor codes to your item library columns.
Vendor management also allows you to enter both SKUs and vendor codes. SKUs help you search and build your cart from the Square Retail POS app, as well as streamline inventory intake. Including both SKUs and vendor codes for an item will help you match the items in your library with the codes vendors use to identify their products. If a vendor code includes a barcode, you can Add stock from the Square Retail POS app for received orders by scanning the vendor code directly.
Create vendors
Set up your vendor list to help you keep track of purchasing and organise your cost with Square for Retail. There are a few places you can add a new vendor to your account.
- From your online Square Dashboard, go to Items & orders > Items > Inventory management > Vendors.
- Click Create Vendor.
- Enter details about your vendor, then click Save.
- From your online Square Dashboard, go to Items & orders > Items > Item library.
- Select Create item.
- Under Units, click Add vendor.
- Select an existing vendor or add the vendor’s name, cost and vendor code for the individual item.
- Click Save.
When you make a Purchase Order, you can create a new vendor on the spot.
- From your online Square Dashboard, go to Items & orders > Items > Inventory management > Purchase orders.
- Click Create.
- Select an existing vendor or create a new vendor.
- Fill out the rest of the order and item information, then click Create or Save as draft.
Edit, filter and deactivate vendors
You can add a default vendor to multiple items quickly and easily by bulk importing an Excel or CSV file from your item library. To do so:
- From your Square Dashboard, go to Items & orders > Items > Item library.
- Click Actions > Export library. If no inventory currently exists, you can select the download template.
- Open the “catalog-YYYY-MM-DD-XXXX.xlsx or .csv” file saved to your computer using Excel (XLSX) or another spreadsheet program.
- Add the applicable vendor for each item in the “Default Vendor Name” column. You can copy and paste an existing vendor name to update the default vendor associated with an item variation, or create a new vendor on the spot.
- Save the edited Excel (XLSX) or .csv file to your computer.
- Go back to your item library.
- Click Actions > Import library.
- Drag and drop the file or click browse file to manually select.
- Click Next to add new items and update existing items or select Overwrite entire item library to delete all existing items and replace them with your uploaded items. Click Next.
- Correct any columns on the Sync data page, then click Next.
- Review your changes and click Confirm Import to upload your new item library.
If the vendor name is removed from a cell, it will delete the associated vendor for the item.
When you create a purchase order with a vendor, the items added to the order will automatically list under the Item Library in their vendor profile. If you’d like to update or edit the vendor-specific item library:
- From your Square Dashboard, go to Inventory management > Vendor.
- Click on the vendor’s name.
- Select Item Library at the top of their profile.
- From here you can edit the unit cost or vendor code for each price point.
When you filter your item library by vendor, only items supplied by or associated with a specific vendor will appear:
- From your Square Dashboard, go to Items & orders > Items > Item library.
- Click on the All Vendors drop-down menu.
- Select a vendor to filter by.
Note: To view items in your library without an associated vendor, select Missing Vendors.
Deactivating a vendor will remove them from your recipient list when creating a purchase order. Learn more about how to manage purchase orders with Square for Retail.
- From your Square Dashboard, go to Items & orders > Items > Inventory management > Vendors.
- Next to the vendor, click ••• then click Deactivate. Alternatively, click on the vendor profile then click Deactivate vendor.
- Click Deactivate vendor again to confirm.
Inactive vendors will not be available when creating a purchase order and managing unit costs on items. If you choose to use this vendor again, you can always reactivate them.