What to know before switching to Square Appointments

[tranguyen]

This article was updated in May 2022 to reflect the new Appointments pricing

Hi Seller Community ✨ 📆 !

Today, we want to dive into the world of Square Appointments and walk you through important features as well as current limitations (and available workarounds). Hopefully, this will help you evaluate whether Square Appointments is the right solution for your business.

If you have any other questions, click Reply 👇.

✏️  Don’t forget ✏️ Square also integrates with 3rd-party booking and scheduling partners like Acuity, Appointedd, Bookeo or Setmore. You can find all about them in our App Marketplace.

💵 How much does it cost to use Square Appointments?

There are three simple plans for Square Appointments

Appointments Plan	Monthly Cost	Locations	Staff
Free	£0 per month for a single location.	1 location only	Unlimited
Plus	£29 per month, per location.	Unlimited	Unlimited
Premium	£69 per month, per location.	Unlimited	Unlimited

*Custom pricing is available. Contact our team here.

If you are using a paid version of Square Appointments, the processing rates are 1.6% for contactless or chip & pin payments, and 2.5% for manually keyed payments in the Square Point of Sale app and Virtual Terminal.

Learn more about Square Appointments Pricing in our Support Centre. 

💻 Can my customers book online through Square Appointments?

You can set up a free booking site for your customers to schedule appointments with you and your staff. 

If you already have an existing website, you can still add a customisable booking button or widget using the HTML code generated automatically for each Appointments account. 

🧑‍🏫 Can I create classes or group bookings with Square Appointments?

It isn’t possible to create classes or group bookings with Square Appointments at the moment. This is a very popular feature request and our teams are working to develop it.

While I don't have a timeline on when this will be available, I would encourage you to check out our Beta Community to join and potentially get access to new features first when we test them out.

📱 Can my customers book through social media channels like Instagram or Facebook?

You can link your Square Appointments booking site directly with your Instagram business profile or Facebook... to make it easier for customers to schedule appointments with you. 

📝 Note 📝  Make sure you’ve converted your Instagram profile or Facebook page into a business one before linking it to your Square Appointments site!

• How to set up a business account on Instagram
• How to set up a Facebook business page

🔎 And what about Reserve with Google - does Square Appointments work with it?

Yes! You can link your Square Appointments account to Reserve with Google directly from your Dashboard or Appointment app. Once you’ve linked it, customers can use Google Search, Google Maps and the Reserve with Google site to find and book appointments with your business. 

🚨 Keep in mind 🚨 It can take up to 72 hours for your Reserve with Google link to be active. If it has been more than 72 hours and you still don’t see the option to book an appointment for your business on Google. Check the following:

• Your physical address (you must be an owner or tenant of your physical place of business, booth or room renters do not qualify).
• Google’s business restrictions. 

📋 Can I use Square Appointments to receive reservations for my restaurant?

Since it isn’t possible to do group bookings through Square Appointments right now, we don’t recommend using it to handle reservations for your restaurant. 

Square does have an integration with ResDiary Lite which would be more suitable for taking reservations and bookings. 

💳 Can I request prepayment or security against cancellation and no-shows? 

To protect against no-shows, you can customise your cancellation policy and require that clients add their payment card to be charged in case they cancel. 

📝 Note 📝  It isn’t possible to collect a security deposit for appointments at the moment. You can only request full prepayment upfront from customers. However, our team is aware that this is an important feature for many sellers so do keep an eye out for future updates!

🎁 Can my customers book an appointment online using a Gift Card? 

Customers are not able to pay or book appointments online using a Gift Card at the moment. They will need to contact you directly to reserve the appointment. When creating the appointment from your Dashboard or Appointment app, you will be able to select Gift Card as a payment method. 

📮 How are my customers notified of upcoming appointments? Can I customise this? 

You can choose to notify customers of upcoming appointments and any changes by text or email (at no extra charge!). While text messages are not customisable, you can customise the message in the email notifications that are sent to your customers from your Dashboard. 

[CityOfBeer]

Hi, Is it possible to manage table reservations using the Square Register?  If so, which app or integration would we need?

[Ria]

Hi @CityOfBeer - Thanks for stopping by The Community!

You are able to manage reservations right from your Square Register 🙂 

Here is information and training on utilizing your Square Register for your Square restaurant needs: 

https://squ.re/3m8dRnO