Manage Vendors with Square for Retail

Create and manage your vendor list, send and receive purchase orders – your online Square Dashboard is your new Back of House.

Note: 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.

Create Vendors

Set up your vendor list to help you keep track of purchasing and organize your costs with Square for Retail. There are a few places where you can add a new vendor to your account.

To create a new vendor:

1. Go to Items & orders > Items > Inventory Management from your online Square Dashboard.

2. Click Vendors > Create Vendor.

3. Enter details about your vendor, then click Save.

Via Item Creation

You can also create a vendor from the item creation page:

1. Go to Items & orders > Items > Item Library from your online Square Dashboard.

2. Select Create an Item.

3. Under “Variations,” click Add vendor.

4. Add the vendor’s name, cost and vendor code for the individual item.

5. Click Save.

Via Purchase Order

You can create a new vendor on the spot when you make a Purchase Order.

1. Go to Items & orders > Items > Inventory Management from your online Square Dashboard.

2. Click Purchase Orders.

3. Click Create.

4. Select an existing vendor or create a new vendor by typing in the new vendor’s name and pressing Enter or Return on your keyboard. 

5. Fill out the rest of the order and item information, then click Create.

Bulk Import 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.

1. Go to Items & orders > Items > Item Library from your online Square Dashboard.

2. Click Actions > Export Library from the top right of the page. If no inventory currently exists, you can select the download template.

3. Open the “catalogue-YYYY-MM-DD-XXXX.xlsx or .csv” file saved to your computer in step four using Excel (XLSX) or another spreadsheet program.

4. 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.

5. Save the edited Excel (XLSX) or CSV file to your computer.

6. Go back to your Item Library.

7. Click Actions > Import Library from the top right of the page.

8. Select Modify Item Library to add new items and update existing items or select Replace Item Library to delete all existing items and replace them with your uploaded items. Click Next.

9. Drag and drop the Excel (XLSX) or CSV file into the upload area or click Select it from your computer. Click Upload.

10. Review your changes and click Confirm Import to upload your new item library.

Note: If the vendor name is removed from a cell, it will delete the associated vendor for the item.

Learn more about item library management.

Edit Vendor-Specific Item Library

When you create a purchase order with a vendor, the items added to the order will automatically be listed under the Item Library in their vendor profile. If you’d like to update or edit the vendor-specific item library:

1. Under the Vendor tab > click on the vendor’s name.

2. Select Item Library at the top of their profile.

3. From here you can edit the unit cost or vendor code for each price point.

Filter by Vendor

When you filter your item library by vendor, only items supplied by or associated with a specific vendor will appear:

1. Go to Items & orders > Items > Item Library from your online Square Dashboard.

2. Click on the All Vendors drop-down menu.

3. Select a vendor to filter.

Note: To view items in your library without an associated vendor, select Missing Vendors.

Locate Items by Vendor Code

When you add a vendor code to an item, you can search your item library by vendor code in a couple of different ways:

• 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.

SKUs Vs. Vendor Codes

Vendor Management also allows you to enter both SKUs and vendor codes.

• SKUs help you search and build your cart from the Square for Retail app, as well as streamline inventory intake.

• Vendor codes are often used by vendors for internal reference.

Including both SKUs and vendor codes for an item will help you connect the dots between items in your library with the codes vendors use to identify their products. If a vendor code includes a barcode, you’ll be able to Add Stock from the Square for Retail app for received orders by scanning the vendor code directly.

Deactivate a Vendor

1. Go to Items & orders > Items > Inventory Management > Vendors.

2. Next to the vendor, click ••• then click Deactivate. Alternatively, click on the vendor profile then click Deactivate vendor.

Deactivating a vendor will remove them from your recipient list when creating a purchase order.

Learn more about purchase orders.