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Build your customer’s basket in the Square Retail POS app

Who is this article for?
This article is for retail owners and staff with a Square for Retail Free or Square for Retail Plus subscription. Your team members must have checkout and orders permissions enabled. Learn more about custom permissions with Square.

About the checkout process

Begin the checkout process with building your customer’s basket with items from your inventory. Depending on your preferred workflow, you can build your customer’s basket 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 checkout your customer with the Square for Retail POS app on iOS, Square Register, and Square Terminal. You can also complete customer checkout from the Square Dashboard using Virtual Terminal. 

To add an item to your customer’s basket 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 basket

Add items using keyword search

To search for an item:

  1. Open Retail POS app > Checkout.
  2. Tap the search bar.
  3. Type a keyword, UPC, or SKU number for the item you’re searching for.
  4. Next, tap the item you would like to add to the basket > Add to Basket.

Add items using category navigation

Once you create item categories, you add categories as a quick tile on their own page at the checkout screen.

Add items by scanning a barcode

Once a GTIN is associated with an item, you can add the item to your customer’s basket by scanning the barcode with a compatible barcode scanner or your device’s camera.

Scan from the Square Dashboard

  1. Log in to your Square Dashboard and click Virtual Terminal.
  2. Click Take a payment > Itemised sale.
  3. Click the barcode scanner icon.
  4. Tap Charge.

Scan from Square Point of Sale:

  1. Open Square POS.
  2. Tap Checkout.
  3. Scan the barcode using a connected barcode scanner.
  4. Tap Done on the pop-up notification.
  5. Tap Checkout > Charge.

From the Square Retail POS app

  1. Open the Retail POS app.
  2. Tap Checkout.
  3. Tap the scan barcode icon.
  4. Scan the barcode using a connected barcode scanner or the camera on your device.
  5. Tap Done on the pop-up notification.
  6. Tap Checkout > Charge.

Remove items from your basket

If you accidentally add an item to your basket, you can remove it at any time before the sale is complete.

Clear entire basket

  1. Tap the three dots (…) when using Square for Retail on Mobile.
  2. Tap Clear Basket.

Remove individual items from your basket

  1. Tap the item you wish to remove.
  2. Tap (-) or (+) to change quantity to 0 > Remove.
  3. Confirm by tapping Confirm Remove From Basket.

Note: You can also remove an item by swiping your finger across the item from right to left, and tapping the trash can.

Adjust items in basket

When an item is added to your basket, you can add a note, change the quantity, or adjust the price.

Add a note to an item

  1. Tap the item from your basket view.
  2. From the item details page, toggle on Item note. Add any additional information in the notes field.
  3. Tap Save > Save changes.

Notes will appear on your customer’s receipt and in your sales reports.

Change the quantity of an item in your basket

  1. Tap the item from your basket view.
  2. Adjust the quantity of the item using the -/+, or tap the number field.
  3. Tap Save Changes.

Adjust the price of an item

  1. Tap the item from your basket view.
  2. On the item details page, toggle on Price adjustment > enter new price > tap the checkmark.
  3. Enter the new price > Done.
  4. Once you’re all set, make sure to tap Save Changes.

If you want to return the item’s original price for the current transaction, toggle off Price adjustment > Save changes.

Save your customer’s basket for later

Let’s say you start adding items to a basket 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 basket to keep your line moving until they’re ready to pay. When your customer returns, you can pick up right where you left off.

Save a basket

  1. If you have items added to your basket, tap Save Basket.
  2. Enter the basket 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 basket. When you add a customer to the basket, the basket name will default to the customer’s name.
  3. Tap Create.

If you override the item price and then save a basket, 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 basket view before completing the transaction.

Once your customer is ready to check out, tap Saved Baskets to view your saved basket list. Saved Baskets can be customised as a checkout page or added as a tile to any created page. Baskets left open longer than 180 days will be removed from your account.

Edit a basket

  1. Tap Saved baskets > select basket.
  2. Tap Edit > make changes > Save.

Delete a basket

  1. Tap Saved baskets > select basket.
  2. Tap Delete.

Void a basket

  1. Tap Saved baskets > Edit.
  2. Select multiple basket > Void
  3. Choose reason for void > Void.

Merge basket together

  1. Tap Saved baskets > Edit.
  2. Select multiple baskets > Merge.
  3. Select the basket to merge baskets into > Merge.

Merging multiple baskets means you’re choosing to transfer information from one basket to another. For example: If you have customers added to Basket A and Basket B, when you merge Basket A to Basket B, the name and information for Basket A will be overridden by Basket B — only the customer from Basket B will be included in the sale.

Assign a basket to an employee

  1. Tap Saved baskets > Edit.
  2. Select basket(s) > Assign > select team member.
  3. Tap Assign.

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