Is there a way to set up automatic discounts, such as for happy hours?

[PRM17]

Is there a way to set up automatic discounts such as for happy hours that will be applied automatically during a set time frame or under any other conditions? Thanks.

[elaine_p]

Hi @DC_Eagle, are you referring to the Priceman application? If so, that is not run by Square. I believe the developer posted in community so you could reach out to him. 

Edit - @mtnwswbob had already replied and I just hadn't seen it!

[mtnwswbob]

I certainly understand your concerns.

Just a note on security....

Security:

The site itself uses SSL. This is a requirement to use the OAuth authentication system for all Square applications. You can always tell if a site is using SSL by the 's' on the end of https:// in the address.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral. 

As far as availability, the application is hosted on Heroku. Heroku is scalable with a simple command to increase the number of dynos running the application. Heroku explains it here: Dynos. By using large company servers like Heroku, which itself is hosted by AWS (Amazon Web Services), the up time for applications is almost guaranteed (Heroku Status). It is far better than private servers as these companies have built in fail over mechanisms using virtual machines (easy to duplicate) and RAID systems for their hard drives.

I hope this information alleviates some of those concerns.    

[Russ1]

to add on to this feature request, it would be very helpful to have time-aware item buttons. So, for example, if happy hour is over at 6pm, employees would no longer be able to click on the happy hour item after 6pm

[Roo]

Well you can look at that two ways   If it is an item that is not offered at a regular price and only during happy hour because would much rather be setup this way.  On Monday, Tues Wed from 1pm-4pm Coors Light Bottle 1.00 that way you do not need to add a new button just the item will auto ring up for the Mon Tues Wed Happy hour event created when it is clicked

[Lyle1]

1) Why is this marked as solved when Square didn't actually solve the issue?

2) If I have to use some other platform to get an obvious and well-requested POS feature, then I think Square should pay for the monthly subscription until they develop the feature themselves. Who can I talk to about getting $5 of free processing per month to account for the API fee necessary to auto-apply a happy hour discount?

[EJ_]

Hi @Lyle1

Welcome to the Seller Community 🙌🏼  and thanks for sharing your thoughts on this thread. 

While the issue isn't "solved" with a specific product update built by our Discounts team, one of your fellow sellers shared their workaround that they use, which was the "Best Answer" of the thread. While it's not the ideal solution, for the time being, it's the accepted solution and best solution as suggested by another seller. 

To your second point, covering a monthly cost due to a missing feature that's critical to your business isn't something that we do. 

The waiting around for a product update can be frustrating, and we feel that frustration from posts within the Community. Just know that we're constantly advocating for you and pushing our Product teams to prioritize the things that gain momentum in the Seller Community. 

Unfortunately there's nothing new to report around this, but if anything comes up we'll post an update for everyone 👍🏼

[sciabica1936]

@mtnwswbob

Wow!  Thast's great!

It's amazing to me that one guy can realtively quickly create a web app to do what Square has held us in limbo on for years.

@Sean I do worry about security of giving access to my Square account.  Can Square offer some kind of verification of this site?

[Kpay]

Such a good question, @sciabica1936, thanks for bringing it up! 

When developers use our APIs to build something like the app @mtnwswbob built, they use the Square OAuth API, which allows you (as the merchant) to authorize the application to act on your behalf. When you enter your login information, you're not giving out your login credentials to the app, but instead they are staying within the secured Square system. We took a look at @mtnwswbob's app and can see that they did implement this OAuth flow, so your info will be secure with Square. When you go through the flow for the app, you should see a screen that clearly states which information the app is requesting access to (similar to the "allow" screen that comes up when an iPhone app requests access to your photos, for example).

It should look like this: 

That being said - if you ever see any other apps out there that don't feel "official", hold off on entering your info and ask us to take a look! Keeping your information secure is so important to us, so we'd rather double check it for you. 

[mtnwswbob]

I am offering the scheduling service for free until September for those who want to try it and offer some feedback.

You can always cancel at anytime.

[slainte]

Add me to the long list of customers that would love scheduled discounts in both % and whole $ amounts for certain items. 

[mtnwswbob]

I added the ability to control multiple categories with one schedule entry. This change makes the setup process even easier.

MWS Priceman

View of Schedule

Multiple Category Selection

[Bluebirdpizza]

I have mine set up like this as well.  Works for Draft beers, but, unfortunately does not work for inventoried bottles.

[farmersvilleIT]

Is anyone using this application? I've tried but all I get is an error. 

Did anyone find anything else that works similar to this?

[VanKalkerFarms]

@farmersvilleIT, you can do some automatic price reductions and timing based discounts right in the Square POS app now if you run the Square POS Beta.  more information in the following article.

https://www.sellercommunity.com/t5/General-Discussion/Automatic-Discounts-Available-for-Testing-in-B...

[pizzablogger]

Hello.

Is there a way to, or are plans being made to, implement time-of-day constraints to item pricing within the Square POS System?

This would be particularly helpful, for instance, during  Happy Hour. Happy Hour pricing on applicable items would only be selectable in the POS system during whatever time Happy Hour occurs at a particular establishment is (we have both an evening Happy Hour from 5pm to 7pm and a late night, industry Happy Hour from 11pm to 2pm on weekend nights. Such a set-up would not allow people to select Happy Hour pricing during times outside of whenever Happy Hour is.

Thanks. --kelly

[EJ_]

Hi @pizzablogger

This is a super popular feature request, so I've moved your post over to this existing thread. 

It's not a built in feature at the moment, but check out some of the workarounds suggested by a few sellers within this existing thread. 

If anything changes with this we'll update everyone immediately. 

[SAWbeer]

@EJ_ Add another to the request for an integrated solution from Square.

[twinkelman]

@EJ_ Add another one! Any updates? We have a lot of bottled Bier which we ran a HH on... We NEED time tables for that!

[Michigan_Beer]

It seems like there's a lot of effort going into changing item prices when what's actually needed is a robust discount system. I'm new to Square and surprised at the lack of options for discounts. I run a small taproom at a brewery, and am looking to transition away from our current POS, Dinerware. It's a clunky old beast, but the discounts are highly functional and are structured as follows:

• When a discount is created, there is are options for Item and Ticket
• If "Item" is selected the discount can be applied to a single item via a Discount Item button on the Ticket.
• If "Ticket" is selected, the discount can only be applied to the entire ticket via a Discount Ticket button on the Ticket
• It is possible to select both options, so that the discount may be used either way. (Unusual)
• Tighter granularity and control are acheived through "Apply only to certain items" options on each discount: 
  • Options are presented to select Item(s) and/or Catergory(s)
  • Options for Days of Week, Start and End Time, and Start and End Date are available
  • The option to automatically apply the discount using the above criteria is available.

The last set of options are what really allows me to use Discounts in a powerful way. I can set up an automatic 30% discount on one brand of our beer to run from 3:00 to 6:00, Thu - Sun for three consecutive weekends in under 30 seconds, and the staff doesn't have to perform any extra steps. It just happens. Obviously, a traditional Happy Hour is a breeze to set up. Want to one-up the Dinerware setup? Extend the granularity to Modifiers and Modifier Sets. Then I could do automatic discounts on, say, pints of my standard pours only if I wanted. Dare to dream...

Just my 2 cents, but it would seem that if Square intends to appeal to businesses with more than a handful of options/products, they're going to want to get serious about addressing the shortcomings in the Discount system. Some of these conversations are coming up on two years old with no apparent progress towards a solution.

Cheers,

Matt Heffron

Traverse City, MI

[Bajas]

I dont think this change is ever going to happen. I had conversations with square over a year ago and there are people who has been pushing this agenda for over 2 years.  At this point it would be a miracle to have some sort of automated discount pricing that automatically kicks in at certain time.

[Michigan_Beer]

Thanks for your input, Bajas. Scheduled/automatic discounts notwithstanding, the entire Discount system is seriously lacking in features and configuration options. It's amazing to me that a product this mature offers only a fixed percentage as the sole option for discounting a single item on a ticket. That's crazy. Likewise, the ability to control which items/categories a discount can be applied to seems like such a basic management need that I'm unsure why it's been left out. In it's current state, the Discount system seems to be designed for a sole proprietor/operator offering a mere handful of goods or services.