Sell nonphysical items with Square Online
About nonphysical items
Creating items to sell non-tangible products (like online event tickets) is similar to the process of creating tangible goods (like bottled wine). The main difference is that you don’t need to set a fulfilment method for these item types. Instead, you can send an email to your customers with additional information on how to redeem their purchase.
Nonphysical items include the following types:
Event: Sell tickets to events, and include an address/online link and times.
Digital: Lets you sell a digital file for download, like an e-book or song, that you can manually send to the customer.
Donation: Allow anyone to send donations for any cause of up to £4,000.
Other: Best for items you will fulfil manually.
Before you begin
You can create and manage nonphysical items from your Square Dashboard.
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The following legacy item types are currently only available to Square Online sellers who had already created them in the past. Current sellers without these item types in their catalogue won’t be able to create them. Improvements to these item types will come at a later time and will be made available to more sellers in the future.
Membership: Collect membership dues and registration fees for clubs and classes.
Service: Best for services for hire such as massages and hair styling.
Due to the different delivery methods for these item types, buyers must purchase them separately from items that can be sent, picked up or locally delivered.
Step 1: Create a nonphysical item
Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Items & services (or Items & menus or Items & inventory) > Items > Item library.
Click Create item.
Click Change in the item type menu and choose a nonphysical item type.
Complete your item details and select Save.
Step 2: Set up item availability regions
You can control where nonphysical items are available for purchase in your fulfilment settings.
Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Settings > Account & settings > Fulfilment methods > Nonphysical.
Click Edit by the item type you want to manage.
Select either Available worldwide or Available in select countries. If choosing select countries, click Add countries to choose the ones you want, then click Done.
Click the option to edit any applicable subregions (like states, provinces and territories) of any countries you’ve selected. Not all countries will have this option.
Click Save.
Step 3: Email customers with redemption details
When customers purchase your nonphysical items, you’ll have to manually email them with details about redeeming their purchase. Emails could include a digital event ticket or a download link.
To send these emails automatically, check out our partnership with SendOwl in our Square App Marketplace.