Creating new item barcode will not scan into Register

[AbbyLeigh]

This has been going on for about four weeks and no input back from support. I have two Square Registers both running Square for Retail with all software up-to-date.

Some of my product is prepriced and ticketed so I don't have to print labels-say a handbag. When I try to create the new item and scan the barcode for the SKU directly, it will not scan and automatically put this sku in the field. I have to type in the numbers. This changed overnight! I've always been able to directly scan the barcode into the field on the register.

If I load the dashboard on my computer, I can scan the barcode there.

The first time I called support I was told they were aware of the issue and were working on it. I called again today and he said "I was the only one who was having this problem".

We did a factory reset and it still doesn't scan. 

Anyone else having this problem?

[AbbyLeigh]

I have two square registers with up-to-date software. About 4 weeks ago, if I tried to create a new item and scan the barcode into the sku field, it will not scan. I have to type in the barcode. 

I've called support twice and they have not resolved the issue. 

Any ideas?

[AbbyLeigh]

This feature stopped working for me about four weeks ago -  I have to type the sku in each time. I've called support with no luck as to why this is happening.

[AbbyLeigh]

This feature has stopped working for me. I have two registers and have to type in the barcode - it will not scan into the field. This has been going on about four weeks no. I've called support and they are unable to figure out why.

[Doran]

This happened to me a few weeks ago also.  I just restarted my register and had it "resync" with the scanner and it started working fine again.  I'm not sure why it stopped in the first place but it works now.  

[kaiSQ]

Hey may I ask on which screen within Square for Retail App did you scan the barcode and attempt to populate the SKU field?

Was it the screen where you can see "Create Item" on its top? If possible, could you supply a screenshot of that screen?

[AbbyLeigh]

Hi, 

I'll have to send it tomorrow cause I'm not at the store. It is when I go into the item library and try to create a new variation (new item). 

[kaiSQ]

Ah, please don't bother sending them. I think I understand the situation: you were creating a new variation. It doesn't sound hard to fix.

[Valentina · Accepted solution]

Hi again @AbbyLeigh!

We just disabled the feature so that it is not being tested in your Square account.
This should resolve the issue you were experiencing!

Please let us know if you see anything funky ✨

[AbbyLeigh]

We just tried it and it works again! Thank you very much. 

[Valentina]

Fantastic!

Glad to hear it, @AbbyLeigh  🙌 

[AbbyLeigh]

However, it would be nice if all of the support team knew about this "testing". When I called the 800 number for support yesterday, I spent almost two hours on the phone with him. The sweet guy had "no clue" and had me do many unnecessary things from signing in/out multiple times, restarting, unplugging my scanner! a factory reset on my register, etc. It was a big disruption to my business day. No matter how many times I insisted it was a software issue and not hardware, he just kept going down his little "check list" that he was reading from.

[kaiSQ]

I believe you got all good points. I think in such cases the customer support would have to rely on Square's Engineering teams to understand the root cause of this issue and unfortunately it looked like a typical barcode scanning error that is often hardware based so that the customer support team proceeded with that assumption. If I remember correctly, there was a wave of such issues a couple weeks ago that did reach engineers and got resolved (while a small amount of accounts were left out of that resolution for some reason). Unfortunately, not all members of the support team would know or remember the nature of those old issues. And it is probably not realistic to expect them to do so IMO. 

All I want to suggest is: if you believe the "check list" doesn't work, please ask the support team member to escalating the issue to the proper teams at Square ASAP.

[AbbyLeigh]

Thank you for your response. I'm not sure what your role here is - are you a fellow square user offering advice or a member of Square support?

This was my second go around with this same issue which was fixed and then stopped working again. He read my previous support notes which said it was a software problem within Square. I did ask it to be escalated and he insisted we had to go through the "checklist" in order to do so. If I have a register tied up for a couple of hours "trying things out", I cannot check out my customers. 

So, IMO, it is realistic to expect them to read the support notes of my previous calls. 

This feature has been restored so I see no need for you to respond in the future.

[Valentina]

Hi there @AbbyLeigh 👋

This could possibly be related to an issue impacting a feature that is being tested in Beta. The issue was fixed - however, the new version that includes the fix has not been released yet. Are you currently participating in the testing of the Component Inventory - (stock conversion) feature?

If so, and you would like to have the issue resolved ASAP, we recommend opting out of the Beta program for this feature for now.

Please let us know if any questions come up!

[AbbyLeigh]

Hi! I am not participating in the Beta version but I sure would love the issue resolved for me. 

Thanks!