Build your customer’s cart
About the checkout process
Begin the checkout process with building your customer’s cart with items from your inventory. Depending on your preferred workflow, you can build your customer’s cart in multiple ways with the Square Retail POS app—choose from keyword search, scrolling through your item categories, scanning an item barcode or using your favourites list.
Before you begin
You can check out your customer with the Square Retail POS app on iOS, Square Register, Square Terminal and Square Handheld. You can also complete customer checkout from the Square Dashboard using Virtual Terminal.
To add an item to your customer’s cart by scanning a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), you will need to have a compatible barcode scanner connected or an iOS device with a camera connected to the Square Retail POS app or Square Point of Sale.
Add items to cart
If you have set up an item grid, you can quickly add items to your cart from the checkout screen. Learn how to set up your item grid.
- Open your Square Point of Sale app and tap Checkout.
- Tap an item tile on your item grid to add it to the cart. If the item has variations or modifiers, the item details screen opens for you to configure the item before adding it to the cart.
- Swipe between item grid pages to access additional items, categories, or shortcuts.
If you’ve added category tiles to your item grid, you can browse items by category at checkout.
- Open your Square Point of Sale app and tap Checkout.
- On your item grid, tap a category tile.
- Browse the list of items in that category. Tap an item to add it to your cart.
- If the item has variations or modifiers, the item details screen opens. Make your selections and tap Add to cart.
- Tap the back arrow to return to your item grid.
Note: Category tiles are set up in your item grid configuration. If you don’t see category tiles, learn how to set up your item grid.
Once a GTIN is associated with an item, you can add the item to your customer’s cart by scanning the barcode with a compatible barcode scanner or your device’s camera.
Scan from the Square Dashboard:
- Log in to your Square Dashboard and click Virtual Terminal.
- Click Take a payment > Itemized sale.
- Click the barcode scanner icon.
- Tap Charge.
Scan from Point of Sale:
- Open Square POS.
- Tap Checkout.
- Scan the barcode using a connected barcode scanner.
- Tap Done on the pop-up notification.
- Tap Checkout > Charge.
Remove items from your cart
If you accidentally add an item to your cart, you can remove it at any time before the sale is complete.
Adjust items in cart
When an item is added to your cart, you can add a note, change the quantity or adjust the price.
If an item has variations or modifiers, you can configure them from the item details screen.
Standard and services modes:
- Tap an item in your cart to open the item details screen.
- Choose a variation (for example, size) if prompted.
- Select required and optional modifiers (for example, milk type, toppings, add-ons).
- Review your selections and tap Add to cart.
Note: When adding a new item, the screen automatically advances to the next section as you complete each required selection. Use the section headings to navigate between modifier groups. Auto-progression is only active when adding an item — if you tap an item already in your cart to edit it, you’ll scroll through sections manually. Auto-progression cannot be turned off.
Retail mode:
- Tap an item in your cart to open the item details screen.
- Select a variation if the item has multiple options.
- Choose any applicable modifiers.
- Tap Save.
- Tap the item from your cart.
- On the item details screen, toggle on Item note and add any additional information.
- Tap Save.
Notes appear on your customer’s receipt and in your sales reports.
Save your customer’s cart for later
Let’s say you start adding items to a cart in the Retail POS app, but your customer wants to look at some more items in your store before checking out. You can save the current cart to keep your line moving until they’re ready to pay. When your customer returns, you can pick up right where you left off.
Saved carts function as open tickets. Saving a cart with kitchen-eligible items will create a Square KDS ticket. Adding new items and re-saving or charging the cart will also send those updates to the kitchen.
If you have Square KDS enabled, some Square for Retail POS cart functionality will be either disabled or different.
- Once a saved cart is sent to Square KDS, order preparation details cannot be edited. The relevant fields will be locked in item details.
- To change an order after it has been saved and sent to Square KDS, the whole item must be voided and re-added to the cart with the desired details. Information such as price and taxes can still be edited.
- Items and Carts cannot be deleted, only voided. This allows you to keep track of orders that change after already being sent to Square KDS.
- These changes will apply to all of your saved carts, regardless of whether they include kitchen items.
To save a cart:
- If you have items added to your cart, tap Save Cart.
- Enter the cart name or swipe your customer’s card to add their name — you can also add an additional note to help you and your employees locate a saved cart. When you add a customer to the cart, the cart name will default to the customer’s name.
- Tap Create.
If you override the item price and then save a cart, the item will revert back to the default sale price. In order to charge your customer the adjusted price, you’ll need to manually update from the cart view before completing the transaction.
Once your customer is ready to check out, tap Saved Carts to view your saved cart list. Saved Carts can be customized as a checkout page or added as a tile to any created page. Carts left open longer than 180 days will be removed from your account.
- Tap Saved carts > Edit.
- Select multiple carts > Merge.
- Select the cart to merge carts into > Merge.
Merging multiple carts means you’re choosing to transfer information from one cart to another. For example: If you have customers added to Cart A and Cart B, when you merge Cart A to Cart B, the name and information for Cart A will be overridden by Cart B — only the customer from Cart B will be included in the sale.