thread Re: Variants, Modifiers, and Options... Oh My. in Orders, Menu Items, Catalog & Fulfilment

Variants, Modifiers, and Options... Oh My.

jhbd99 — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 11:19:34 GMT

Hey everyone. Quick question that I've tried so solve myself and just end up frustrated.

I have a retail store (no online store) and we sell candles. We sell a variety of scents in a small, large, or wax melt size.

I have an Item for "Candles" on my screen that I have each scent labeled as a Variation. I'm trying to figure out how to have one item (candles) with each scent as a variant underneath it and then have the option to select small, large, or wax melt when checking out customers.

Is the only way to do this to have 100 different variations under my candle item? I hope not...

Re: Variants, Modifiers, and Options... Oh My.

Candlestore — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 20:35:36 GMT

@jhbd99 ;

What I did was I have categories of 8oz, 16oz, 28oz, Wax melts, Votives, 2x3 Pillars, 2x6 Pillars....etc up to 6x9 pillars. So on the Screen you select the size of the purchase than hunt for the Scent being the variation. Square does not allow you to have Candles as a main category, then the Scent as Variation, then choose the size. Now Square does have Modifiers but I never played with them and I am not sure if you can have different prices for the Size as a Modifier. I did it that way at first but now I create barcodes and just scan them and do no searching.

Re: Variants, Modifiers, and Options... Oh My.

Candlestore — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 22:54:36 GMT

@jhbd99 ;

Try this....

Have item as Candle...

Variants as Small Large, and Wax Melt... etc ( This will give you Pricing Options)

then have a Modifier as the Scent ( price for all items in the variation would be the same )

create-and-manage-item-modifiers

Create and Manage Item Options with Square

But for Speed when checking someone out if your not scanning them out you best plan would be to use Categories, Item, Variation.

Category -

Small Jars

Large Jars

Wax Bars

Then you have the Categories set up as your Favorites

Variations under the 3 categories would be your Scents.

Only 2 clicks but scrolling through 100 scents gets to be a pain and would be the same for Modifiers I believe.

Left Side are my Categories... Right Side are my Variations

From my Checkout Screen, My list of Favorite Categories is right there.

3x3 Pillars, 4x6 Pillars....etc right down the list... these can be moved around in any order you choose.

To do this you click the Edit Favorites blue lettering at the bottom Left (Under 3x9 Pillars) barely able to be seen in the image.

The Right side I pressed 2x6 Pillars which gives you the list of my Variations for 2x6 Pillars. By having the Items set up this way each Variation 2x6 Mulberry, 2x6 Lavender... etc can have its own SKU. So in the future you could create a Barcode system and just scan the item. Square lets you have up to 40 Characters I believe as a SKU, QuickBooks limits you to 30 Characters. So my SKU is usually (size scent) sometimes the scent is abbreviated. (2x6 lavender, or 2x6 mulberry...t-lites lavender, bar mulberry, 28oz French Vanilla.....etc) Bold words above are my SKU in Square. Made my own barcode labels and Square scans right to the correct Variation. The Ipad will also read Barcodes even QR with its built in cameras. Since I did not mess around with Options and Modifiers I am not sure if you can have a SKU go directly to Candle Lavender Small or Candle Small Lavender. Plus reporting, Do modifiers get reported as how well they sell? Since my Variations have a SKU, my Quickbooks program can tell me how many of 8oz Lavender I sold for 2021 and which candle scents did not do as well. Just food for thought, so you can remove low selling scents and keep trying new scents. Like I said we are at 136 scents now, planning on dropping 3 or 4, and bringing out a few new ones. Just made Hot Love for February from our Incense recipe into a candle scent. The actual scents are made differently for candles and incense but the ratio of fragrance mixology is close.

Anything else you need help with ask me.

Re: Variants, Modifiers, and Options... Oh My.

jhbd99 — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 00:42:25 GMT

Thanks! When I get to the store tomorrow I’ll look at this setup and see if I can get it figured out. Thanks again for the help!!

Re: Variants, Modifiers, and Options... Oh My.

jhbd99 — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 14:49:49 GMT

Just went through my setup and did what you suggested and it worked like a charm!! Thank you for the insight and for helping me finally get an answer after several years of scratching my head about it!

Re: Variants, Modifiers, and Options... Oh My.

Candlestore — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 15:31:42 GMT

@jhbd99

You're welcome.