Live Q&A: Ask us anything about Items and Inventory!

[Tom]

On Friday September, 25th we hosted a Square Items and Inventory Live Q&A!

With lots of adjustments in how things are sold during COVID-19, we heard some great questions and feature requests relating to managing items and inventory.

Thank you to @elaine_p from Square’s Catalog team, who answered questions about items and inventory. While we're not able share release timelines, we can give a sense of what’s coming soon in our roadmap and discuss what you need for your business.

[Goldneye]

Hi, on how it displays.  Right now I have to enter

for individual combinations to be correct regarding inventory

Red Small  (stock 15)

Red Medium (stock 25)

Red Large (stock 25)

White Small (stock 15)

White Medium (stock 25)

White Large (stock 25)

Yellow Small (stock 15)

Yellow Medium (stock 25)

Yellow Large (stock 25)

this is how the customer sees it on item description

It is not able to track individual combinations.

So on the item description the customer sees

Red

White

Yellow

S

M 

L

Hope this makes sense.

Terri

🛍 Shop my stores

Personalized Gifts - name-gift-box.square.site

Home Decor - enhance-home.square.site

Resale Collection - hanger-hues.square.site

[RyRyRy]

Categorical inventory options. 

We sell breakfast items that can be made many ways. Like our biscuit sandwiches. 

Is it possible to set an inventory county on the category of "Biscuits" so when we sell out of the category they won't be available for ordering online? 

I know that we can make a single item and use modifiers and account for it that way, but then it appears that we only have 1 biscuit on the website and confuses the consumer (we've tried it). 

So if there is a way to set a total category inventory that would be great! 

[elaine_p]

Hi @RyRyRy , 

That makes sense. We’re working towards the ability to create this kind of inventory tracking, but it is not yet available. One thing that we’re working on is the ability to mark an item as sold out even when you don’t track inventory on it. With it, when you run out of biscuits, you could mark your biscuit sandwiches as sold out, and that would sync to Square Online.

[boomboombrazil]

Hi, is there a way to mark my entire library (instead of 50 at a time because I have thousands of products) to charge sales tax and set fulfillment to shipping and pickup?

[asw]

Hi @boomboombrazil,

We hear you on this one! Currently the maximum number of items that can be edited in the Square Online Item Library is 50, but we’re actively working on removing that limit so that you can make bulk updates to all items in your item library in one action.

[mooretoys]

Is there a place I can see: item, stock, price, cost & vendor? Right now I use the item library and can not figure out how to navigate quickly/efficiently when creating a PO. It would be great if I could click through an item to check stock/price/cost within the PO versus having to navigate outside of the PO.

[elaine_p]

Thank you for sharing @mooretoys . You’re right that the item library is the best way to see stock, price, cost, and vendor. (in your screenshot, I notice cost is not there; you can click on the plus sign in the upper right of the column names to add a cost column). Your suggestion to surface that information in the PO is a good one. Until we do, one way to keep from clicking back and forth would be to open the Square Item library in one window, and create your PO in another so you can see both at the same time. 

[TCSlaguna]

@elaine_p 

To make ordering products from a vendor easier: 

Inventory -> Vendors -> (Select Vendor) -> Item Library   there should be Current Quantity. 

There should also be Price.

And the ability to Export to Excel. 

[leedawn]

It wouldn't be a bad way to order but a lot of my vendors are through a b2b website and consolidate shipping on orders from two or more vendors.  I just need an option not to email, but save.

[mooretoys]

Could you add an item count to POs. For book orders and certain specials, I have to have a certain item count.

[elaine_p]

Do you mean stock you currently have on hand, or is this more like a minimum order amount @mooretoys? 

[stuartp]

Is there a way to auto Alpha-sort items within a display group?  I have a lot of items within some groups and it is tedious to manually sort them on the Menu page...especially given the limited number of items that show on the screen on that page.  Thanks

[maeve]

Great question @stuartp! You are able to do this from POS layout view in your Square Dashboard. Navigate to Menus, click ‘Edit POS Layout’ in the upper right hand corner, and click in to the display group. On the right hand side you’ll see a few options for sorting items, you’ll want to choose ‘A-Z’ and the items will snap into alphabetical order.

[SoFloJewelryCo]

I am solely an online store front selling jewelry. I have an opportunity to sell healing bracelets in a Doctor's office. How do I set up a payment solution that allows them to see, choose and take away, a bracelet from the Doctor's office, but pay for it online, through Square.  Can I set up a page with a special password or something. I need help figuring this out. Thank you. Carol from South Florida Jewelry Co.

[asw]

Hi @SoFloJewelryCo,

Luckily you have a few options with Square! You can create a free online store with Square Online to sell your jewelry on a website. You could also use Square Online Checkout, which allows you to create a simple payment link for each of your jewelry items without needing to make an online store. With Square Online Checkout, you could share the link for each item with a customer and have them pay for the item online.

[SoFloJewelryCo]

Thank you, that was helpful and I created a link and I added a QR code as an alternative. However,  now I am seeing issues with my stock tracking, so I had to turn it off for the actual bracelets that are being PICKED UP instead of being shipped.  Knowing what the limitations are with Stock tracking would be helpful. 

[leedawn]

I was wondering if there was any way to do a purchase order without sending email?  It would be an easier way to put in items into my inventory, but I do not want to order from there.

[elaine_p]

HI @leedawn , 

In the Square Dashboard after you click “Create” on your Purchase Order, you don’t have to email it. You can click “Done” if you don’t want to email it or save a PDF, and you will still be able to click into the PO to Receive against it.

[leedawn]

So, you can save the PO without emailing?  I have not tried that.  I will give it a try.  Thanks

[phyllislively]

I would like to convert my online store to Squareup.com  very soon. Does Square interface with QuickBooks POS Pro?

[elaine_p]

Hi @phyllislively , 

Here’s some information about our QuickBooks integration and FAQs. I was not able to find the specific version you mentioned for QuickBooks POS Pro. The FAQ article references the QuickBooks support information, and they may be able to provide confirmation.