Ability to set age restrictions on certain items

[homeprogreen]

When did Square for Retail gain the ability to set age restrictions for items?Yesterday I was adding an item to my system and I happened to notice that it had a new option to make the item age restricted. I’ve been paying 350 dollars a year to another company to allow me to scan and verify ID’s since I sell age restricted items. It’s not a perfect solution since there’s nothing that integrates with square so it’s required me to pause the sale, ask for id, scan with a separate scanner then go back to Square and finish the sale. Now I discover that square has the ability to require an ID to be scanned if certain items are in the checkout and that once you have scanned the item it will automatically use the same information for any additional age restricted items that are added to the same cart. This is HUGE for retailers who sell age restricted items and should have been broadcast far and wide. Instead I just happened to stumble over it

[maxpete]

@homeprogreen thanks for bringing this up! I believe this was also announced in The Check Out, which is the new retail release from Square. But definitely appreciate the feedback on this!

[homeprogreen]

Roflmfao. So whats the Come up and when did that start? Definitly highlights the problem since someone that fairly tuned in to Square happenings asnt heard of it

[maxpete]

It's a new release that was announced last week. @rtfulk shared a post on it in the Community as well. Not entirely sure on if this was missed or anything, but just wanted to highlight in case! 

[Candlestore]

@maxpete ;

Since this would be a NEW feature as Square has not had a way to check a persons ID or restrict a purchase.  Why did Square not inform us in a Notification about this in the Notifications area instead of just saying Send out an email blast for fathers through Square or a Text message add etc?  Maybe Square should create a Notifications area that informs businesses about NEW features.   Yes I saw the message in the forum that rtfilk posted the age verification was added but no information on how to use it or a video showing it in use.  These could have been done by Square before release of this.  I see in Items that I can add Age Verification.  Does this happen with a Scanner, or does a Pop up appear just asking is the person over XX Age?   Does Square document this?  Meaning can I look back on a Sale and see that employee asked customer for ID and then sold XYZ item, or if Scanned does it keep Record of this with the transaction?  

Is there a Forum page dedicated to this since most of the people here are mainly business users?  There use to be a page of Square Updates but that seemed more like this issue is not working instead of a Page.... Hey we just released this feature here is how to set it up and use it.   

This is the problem I see when new features come out there is not much communication from Square.  A Square user stumbled accross this information, Posted in the forum about it.  That is not a Square Announcement or Notification about a New feature or a Feature Request being implemented by Square.  

[maxpete]

@Candlestore Appreciate the feedback here, and definitely agree that there's always room for improvement in how changes and updates are communicated! I see that our team did make a Product Update post about it. But yes, definitely there are more opportunities to better educate and inform members about these changes!

[Candlestore]

@maxpete ;

Now I learned something New today that Square now has a Learn Tab too.  I was looking in the Help Tab where the Updates use to be for the Update notification.  So I was reading over the Scanner integration for Age Restritions and you need a 2D compatible Scanner.  Currently Square offers 2 Scanners, and 1 says its a 1D and the other says nothing about being 1D or 2D.   Also with your List of Compatible Scanners nothing says if they are 1D or 2D.  

us/en/compatibility/accessories/barcode-scanners   which with this new feature would be useful for customers to know.

[homeprogreen]

The one I have that works is the Zebra DS6707. Didn’t see it on the list but I plugged it into the Register hub in the same port as my old Zebra 1D and it automatically worked. It was a gift from a vendor when I was complaining about them changing their barcodes to 2D so my old scanner no longer worked 

[Candlestore]

@homeprogreen ;

I just think it would be nice for Square to inform NEW customers which are 1D and which are 2D was my point.

I have a two Zebra DS2208 USB scanners and 2 Zebra DS6878 Scanners.  All of these work with my Square Stands. Plug and Play to the USB Square Hub. The big difference between them is the DS2208 are usb cords to the Scanner itself, where as the DS6878 scanners are usb to a Base then Wireless from the Base to the Scanner.   The other thing to note is the Zebra(Symbol) / Motorola scanners are basically the same company.  My DS6878's have Motorola written on them and not Zebra.  But when I plug them into the Zebra software (123 Scan tool) they pop up as Zebra scanners and take the updates and programming from there.  We prefer the DS6878 since it has no wire attached to the scanner and can reach about 30 feet from the base.  Most we need on a regular day to day is 5 to 10 feet.  They do work nice for a Laptop (Chromebook) to storage racks for inventory though.  

The DS6707 is on Squares List of compatible Scanners but none say if 1D or 2D. 

Here is the list and I do have the DS6707 circled in Red but foot note says its discontinued.  

[homeprogreen]

Roflmfao. It wasn’t on the list when I looked a long time ago. I didn’t look at the list yesterday. Just setup a test item and tried to scan my drivers license to see if it would work 🤣🤣

[Candlestore]

@homeprogreen ;

I tried that after my ID was scanned getting gas and a beer.   I was wondering what all they could see or have access to from scanning my ID.  I just used a spreedsheet and a 2d scanner to test for myself.  I currently do not sell age restricted Items.   I was thinking I could maybe use that for a customer Refrence ID scan into the system instead of having little Key Tags made.

Were you old enough to complete the purchase at your own store???? ROFLMAO!!!

[homeprogreen]

Barely made the age cutoff in my own shop 🤣🤣 Doesn’t appear that we would be able to use it for that. You select the age requirement 18, thru 21 or select a custom age. Then the scanner just checks the age encoded in the barcode before it is added to the cart. Then it’s just showing that you had an age restricted item sale. Doesn’t look like it would be able to make any information available to us 

[maxpete]

Thank you for the heads up on this!

[homeprogreen]

2 different ways it can be done. You set the age restriction on the item in your dashboard. Then when the item is scanned a popup window opens up on the register asking for birth date. At that point you can scan the barcode on the ID if you have a 2D Scanner, use the camera on IOS device to capture it, or manually type in the birthdate. I tested it yesterday with my barcode scanner attached to the Square Register and it definitely works 

[homeprogreen]

Yeah that post didn’t mention the age restriction ability that I just saw. The Check Out definitely does though. Don’t remember seeing that one before 

[BofBArtStudio]

This is awesome!!  I just tried it and I am so happy for my little gift shop that sells beer and wine!  No more faded note taped to the counter reminding our team to check IDs!!!

I also did not get any kind of update on this and I check the little bell almost every day.

@maxpete I just clicked on the link for The Check Out.  Is this a blog?  How can we make sure that we see it in the future when there are big updates like this?

[maxpete]

@BofBArtStudio Glad you dig this! It is a part of the retail release updates our team sends! We also have a 'What's new' page in the dashboard that covers all new updates as well!

[Grannysdrivein]

Do you know when would this come to Square for Restaurant?  It seems that it would benefit even more restaurants than retail.

[Grannysdrivein]

Is this available for Square for Restaurant, currently starting Beer sales and I would like to restrict the item but can't find where.