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Set up items for your online store

Who is this article for?
  • Account owners or team members with general items permissions. Set permissions in Square Dashboard.
  • Square Online Free, Plus and Premium subscribers.
  • About selling items online

    When using Square Online, you can think of your websites as different virtual storefronts where you can set up and customize what items you sell on each of them. To start preparing your items for online selling, you can adjust several settings including item site assignment and visibility, prep times for online orders, preordering, search engine optimization (SEO), social media links and more. This will ensure items sold online are discoverable, and that any online orders can be managed efficiently from your point of sale.

    Before you begin

    • You can set up items for online selling from Square Dashboard.

    • Before you can use the item settings related to Square Online in your item library, you need to create items and set up a Square Online account. Learn how to create and edit items and set up your online store.

    • Limiting item quantities per order and setting up gift options are only available with a Square Online Plus or Premium subscription. Only Physical and Prepared food and beverage item types support gifting.

    • To create items more quickly, you can manage certain item settings so that new items always have a few attributes automatically enabled, especially for items you sell online. Learn how to set up item defaults.

    Please be advised that sellers operating in Canada may be liable for misrepresenting the nature of a Sale (i.e. using a fake regular price and then crossing it out, claiming the item is “marked down”) or for misleading urgency cues (i.e. when products are falsely labelled and advertised as “low inventory” or “selling fast”). Please familiarize yourself with the applicable legal requirements, including those relating to the advertising of sales prices, to ensure that you are in compliance.

    Manage online item settings

    Add online sale price

    Sale prices only apply to your Square Online site and do not sync to other Square platforms.

    1. Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Items & services (or Items & menus or Items & inventory) > Items > Item library.
    2. Select an existing item or create a new one.
    3. Under Variations, go to Price and click Options > Add online sale price.
    4. Enter a sale price for each variation you want to update.
    5. Click Save.

    You can also set the sale prices to be automatically updated. Learn how to schedule item updates for your online store.

    Assign items to sites

    Site assignment refers to which of your websites your item is assigned to. This, in combination with site visibility, controls where items are available for purchase. For example, in order for an item to be purchasable on your site, it must be both assigned and visible, or assigned and hidden.

    1. Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Items & services (or Items & menus or Items & inventory) > Items > Item library.
    2. Select an existing item or create a new one.
    3. Under “Where it’s sold,” use the toggles to determine which websites the item should be assigned to.
    4. Click Save.

    If you use online channel integrations such as Google Business Profile or Meta for Business, you can also assign your item to those channels by clicking +Add channels.

    Set item site visibility

    Site visibility determines an item’s appearance on all assigned websites. For example, if you mark an item as Visible, it’ll be visible on each of your sites where the item is being sold.

    1. Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Items & services (or Items & menus or Items & inventory) > Items > Item library.
    2. Select an existing item or create a new one.
    3. Under “Where it’s sold,” choose a site visibility setting from the Site visibility drop-down menu. Site visibility options include:
      • Visible: Your item is visible on your online ordering page and available for purchase. It will also show up in navigation and site search results.
      • Hidden: Your item is available for purchase online but won’t display on your ordering page. You can still add the item to featured items sections (useful for events and donations), or give buyers a direct link to the item (useful for exclusive items). Learn how to sell hidden and exclusive items with Square Online.
      • Unavailable: Your item isn’t visible online and can’t be purchased (useful if you aren’t ready to sell the item yet).
    4. Click Save.

    You can also set item site visibility to be automatically updated. Learn how to schedule item updates for your online store.

    Limit item quantities per-order

    You can limit the number of times a customer can add a single item to their cart per Square Online order. This can help prevent you from selling out of highly-demanded items too quickly and make stock easier to manage. For example, if you have a limit of four on a shirt that comes in different variations (think sizes or colours), then the total amount of those variations can’t exceed four in the customer’s cart.

    1. Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Items & services (or Items & menus or Items & inventory) > Items > Item library.
    2. Select an existing item or create a new one.
    3. Under Ordering, toggle on Set quantity limits for online orders and enter a number in the text field.
    4. Click Save.

    You can also limit the total quantity of items allowed per online pickup and delivery order by clicking Pickup & Delivery advanced settings > Advanced settings.

    Set up gifting options

    Enabling gift options allows customers to indicate that an item they’re purchasing is intended to be a gift. Buyers can include a message to the recipient that displays on the shipping invoice, along with return or exchange instructions. You can also offer gift wrapping with an optional added fee.

    1. Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Items & services (or Items & menus or Items & inventory) > Items > Item library.
    2. Select an existing item or create a new one.
    3. Under Ordering, Set up the gift options.
    4. To offer a gift-wrapping service, toggle on Offer gift wrap.
    5. Enter a customer-facing Label and Description for the gift wrap, and add an Additional cost if you wish to charge an optional fee.
    6. Click Save.

    Each gift will come with a gift receipt that includes a message from the buyer and your return policy.

    Assign fulfillment methods to items

    In order to sell any of your items online, be sure to indicate how you’ll be fulfilling them when ordered from your website.

    1. Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Items & services (or Items & menus or Items & inventory) > Items > Item library.
    2. Select an existing item or create a new one.
    3. Under Fulfillment, Edit the online fulfillment methods.
    4. Use the checkboxes to indicate the fulfillment methods assigned to that item. Click Done when finished. Fulfillment options include:
    5. Click Save.

    Note: Non-physical items don’t use standard fulfillment methods, so you won’t see these options for those item types. Learn how to sell non-physical items with Square Online.

    Set item prep time

    Prep time refers to how long it takes to prepare items and orders for pickup and local delivery. This helps provide accurate timing to customers who will either pick up the order or have it delivered.

    1. Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Items & services (or Items & menus or Items & inventory) > Items > Item library.
    2. Select an existing item or create a new one.
    3. Under Fulfillment, Edit the item prep time.
    4. Toggle off Use location default to choose a custom prep time for your item and click Done.
    5. Click Save.

    You can also set up prep times for all pickup and local delivery orders in your Online pickup & delivery settings.

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