Shipping Label - Integrate with Royal Mail Click and Drop

[Jools]

Royal Mail supports integration with various online stores and marketplaces

Integration with Square would be great so that shipping labels could be automatically created, and postage paid

https://www.royalmail.com/sites/default/files/click-how-to-guide.pdf

https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/11716/~/click-%26-drop---connect-your-ch...

Regards

Jools

[#2]

Hello everyone, this is Alex from the Square Online product team. We know how frustrating it is to have been told that a Royal Mail Click & Drop integration is on the roadmap for two years, and we're sorry that we haven't yet been able to launch this for you. Behind the scenes, we're in the process of making some fundamental changes to our shipping product, so we decided to build all shipping carrier integrations (not just Royal Mail) in a way that aligns with our long term strategy. This will take us time to fully execute. We also understand that you have to make decisions about how to operate your business, and that an expectation of a Royal Mail integration has been a key factor in choosing to continue using Square. Unfortunately, we don't have a concrete update that we can share with you on our plans or timeline for this today, but we'll be sure to post in this thread when our beta is ready for you. 

[MJD]

Well this sounds like a win, with the end of the month, thanks for this information tra, very reassuring, all I’m waiting on now is auto sending digital products, then I’ll be all set for the most efficient service possible! 

[JandN1]

I hope this is true. Royal Mail intergration is really needed for us Uk users. Many other providers offer this so I hope square really do launch this by the end of the month. I look forward to hearing more. 

[signature_home]

This sounds great news Tra, do you think we can expect it imminently or have are there some delays on this feature? Will it drop into Beta first or go straight out to us all! I am sure many of us would be very happy to get testing on the beta group if its anywhere near ready.....

[tranguyen]

Hey @signature_home and everyone on the thread, I just want to follow up with another update! I've checked in with the team again; it looks like the integration with our third-party partners is very closed to be available.

Right now, the team are waiting on final quality tests to be cleared before officially releasing the integration, so there is a push back from the expected end of month date. It may need another 10 days or so, but I'm checking in with the team regularly so I can share more information as I have it. 

[Sam_400º]

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@tranguyen wrote:

Hey @signature_home and everyone on the thread, I just want to follow up with another update! I've checked in with the team again; it looks like the integration with our third-party partners is very closed to be available.

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Before we all get too excited, by using a third party partner are we expecting there to be an extra cost to be able to utilise Click & Drop? 

While we all need to understand e-commerce operation is something we need to pay for, those of us already having various subscriptions for our sites might get a little annoyed if this is a large figure (the takeout partner is more than I pay square for my site, on top of all the extra fees from the other merchants). 

[tranguyen]

Thanks for flagging this as well @Sam_400º! That is something I'm conscious of so I'm going to try my best and find out as much information as I can and share them here with everyone once I have them. 

[doc_choc]

I agree also, something this essential should not come with a separate price tag attached, shopify, NOTHS, Square Space all provide this integration as part of their platform package. It has to be appreciated that there is a cost implication to Square to develop, but Square also need to appreciate that these kind of tools will encourage more people to their platform.  As a small business owner when you are having to subscribe to every little tool ie team plus, Square Online upgrade plan etc etc it is starting to make the Square system very expensive and less attractive. I think a balanced approached to costing, with a loss leader approach is needed, we all have them in our business as we know ultimately it will drive business and for square through a greater number of transactions and increased fee revenue. 👍

[doc_choc]

From what I can see it looks like there will be a cost of $29 pm for the basic package. Bit pricey for basic functionality. I'm wondering if there is a better way of doing it?

[tranguyen]

Hey @doc_choc! There should be a free tier as well. I'm so sorry this is taking a while but I'll share everything I have on this thread once I get an update from the team. 

[OneStopFilmShop]

The free tier doesn't include Royal Mail...

[doc_choc]

Thanks for the update, it must be frustrating your side also having to deal with us :), we do understand and just want the best for our little businesses and to help Square succeed also, using our knowledge from the coal face. Re fees, I could only see a free 30 day trial plus paid options. Perhaps something else may appear.  

[SGM1]

@tranguyen 

Any update on this issue as it seems to have gone quiet!

[tranguyen]

Thanks for your post @SGM1! The person I was working with was out, but it looks like the integration has just gone through the final stage of quality check and should be live soon. The team are keeping me up to date, and I'll share all the information about the integration here first as I have them. 

[TheSpell]

Probably too soon for me to be making jokes about goalposts moving but... any news? It's been 'any day now' for a while.

[tranguyen]

Hi @TheSpell, thank you for following up on this thread!

The particular integration I've been chatting with the team about - EasyShip - has been launched in the UK. This should allow you to connect your Square Online site to RoyalMail. However, I'm waiting to get more information on how the integration works from the Partnership team before I share it here with everyone. 

[doc_choc]

Tra, Just wondering is there a particular reason that SquareUp are using a third party to do the integration and not doing it direct yourself. I see Shopify, Magneto, Square, Woocommerce, OnBuy, KM, Bluepark etc all offer integrations direct, unlimited with no fee. It would be really nice if SquareUp could follow the crowd. 🙂

[SGM1]

@tranguyen 

I agree with @doc_choc Royal mail integration in the uk is normally free. I see on EasyShip it is only available as part of a premium paid plan this really does not work for small businesses trying to keep their costs to a minimum!

Most of us do not want to work with lots of shippers and are just looking for a reliable service from one or two depending on package size and weight.

It seems that squareup are looking to use third parties for extra functionallity rather than writing anything themselves this appears to be leading to increased user costs and issues of ownership when something does not work.

[TheSpell]

Thanks for getting back to us so quickly, though that's disappointing to hear. Not at all what we've been asking for, but what most of us expected to happen I'm sure. I'll wait to see what the integration is like and the costs involved though before I decide if it's the final nail in the coffin for me personally 😕

[doc_choc]

I suspect it will be ready in time for the Football World Cup....but will England be!😭

[TheSpell]

I'm Welsh so my loyalties are elsewhere, I won't lie 😂

[tranguyen]

Thank you for voicing your concerns everyone. I can appreciate your frustration as this is has been ongoing for a while and I do want to make sure we address the feature gap properly. I've reached out to our ECOM & Partnership team again to see what our plans are regarding a direct integration with RoyalMail Click & Drop, rather than through a third-party integration.

While Square endeavour to developing new features and addressing limitations of current features, we also pass feedback to our partnership team so they can look for great opportunities to partner with other companies who specialise in the feature you need. This can give greater flexibility as these companies often have a host other partners they also work with that can easily be added to the integration, and often time, because they have the infrastructure ready, it can be quicker for us to roll these out, providing alternatives while our team work on an in-house solution.

This is all the information I have at the moment, however, I'll be sure to share everything here as I learn more. Thank you for bearing with me.