[CA] Inventory Q&A: Ask our product team anything about Square Inventory 📊

[Ani_]

Calling all sellers — especially those signed up with Square for Retail and Square for Restaurants! Our product team wants to hear your inventory questions and feedback. 

I'm thrilled to introduce you to Mukta Dhanuka (@Inventory), whose team at Square focuses on inventory accuracy across all Square products. This is an opportunity for you to ask any questions or share feedback on how it's going with Square Inventory. To learn more about Square Inventory and its features, take a look at our Support Center: Basic Inventory Management. 

Post your questions to this thread ahead of time and check back with us on Wednesday, May 11, at 1 p.m. PDT / 4 p.m. EDT as she and her team respond. 

A few example questions:

• What are the best practices that will ensure I'm getting the most out of Square Inventory?

• What are the latest feature improvements with Square Inventory?

• If Square Inventory could take care of "_______," it would save me so much time and help me run my business more efficiently.

• I can’t seem to figure out “______” or I need help with “_________”.

• An inventory issue that keeps me up at night is “____________”.

• I wish Square for Restaurants or Square for Retail would support “________”.

Note: We can't share specific details on our product roadmaps, though this information will be helpful as we continue to make improvements.

Click Reply below to post a question ahead of time, and we’ll address as many posts as we can on Wednesday, May 11!👇

[wake-apparel]

We created our first invoice to sell wholesale to retail, invoicing and discounts were easy to apply however the invoice did not remove the inventory from stock. I ended up doing it manually, which is fine for now, however as our business grows this will be time consuming. How can we get around this? Thanks!  

[Inventory]

 In order to record inventory adjustment as invoices are paid, you will have to switch on this setting.

1. From Square 'Dashboard' home, navigate to 'Items'.
2. On the left hand side menu under 'Item Library', Click on 'Settings'
3. Select 'Inventory' from the 'Settings' sub-menu
4. Under  'Inventory management for invoices' , toggle on 'Adjust stock level through invoices'

[hookedonewe]

I sell tshirts and mugs, and am looking for options on inventory management. I do take custom orders, but of course I also pre-make a lot of shirts. However, I'm not like a lot of vendors in that I only do 1-2 of each design, in a different size and color combo. I don't live in an area with a large population, so this works best for me.

So far I've been having 1 listing in Square for Adult Tshirts, and then variations for each design / color / size

Is there any better way I can do this? I don't want to use modifier sets - that's good for when I sell an item, but won't let me see what I have in stock

[Inventory]

There are two ways to do this: https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/6689-item-options

Use option sets + item duplication

• Create an item using option sets for colour (e.g. white, grey, black) and size (e.g. XS through XL).
• Name the item the design of the shirt
• Whenever you create a new design, duplicate the item and rename the new item
• Click adjust inventory on the new item and set the stock to 2 for all colours and sizes for the new design

Use option sets only

• Create and item using options sets for colour, size, and design
• Whenever you create a new design, go into the design option set and add a new option
• This will generate a new set of variations for your item
• Click adjust inventory on the new item and set the stock to 2 for all colours and sizes for the new design

[LukeNieuw]

Would love to hear some best practices! 

[Inventory]

Here is a high level overview of inventory best practices: https://squareup.com/us/en/townsquare/how-to-do-effective-inventory-management-for-small-business.

We understand that Whisky Run Golf Club offers golf club subscriptions, tee-time reservations, merchandise as well as F&D. Are there specific inventory areas that your business is struggling with and would want to hear from us? We would love to set up a follow up call to learn more about your inventory needs. Please DM me your contact information. 

[PECishBakingCo]

Can you restrict certain items (not item categories) to be available online for certain days only?

[issara_p]

@PECishBakingCo Square online has a concept of time based categories that allows sellers to set breakfast/lunch/dinner menus, weekend menus etc. But availability is determined at the category level and not the item level . We don't have plans to introduce item level availability on Square Online.

[EPD]

Does inventory work across platforms?  I need to use it for trade shows, a website, and Etsy

[Inventory]

Hello @EPD -  Thank you for reaching out. Square supports plug and play integration with several 3P solutions. For details, please check out our app marketplace : https://squareup.com/us/en/app-marketplace/ 

Please feel free to reach out in case. you have a follow up question!

[JWD]

I wish that Square Online applied taxes correctly for Canadian products that have HST applied by not other provincial taxes! Square Dashboard does it correctly, but Square Online does not. I have spent HOURS with customer support trying to make it work and it just can't do it. Very frustrating, and has a serious negative impact on my business in the form of add'l labour required and erroneous charges to customers.

[Inventory]

Hello @JWD Thank you for sharing this. It's not the kind of experience we want to provide. Would you be able to share a more detailed account of this issue and how to replicate it? Including screenshots in your response will be very helpful.

[Ourseasidehome]

I would like to see an area to include the cost of each item entered in inventory. This would be the wholesale cost, not the retail cost. Then also have it total the inventory by item and wholesale cost as well as retail price.

[Inventory]

Hello @Ourseasidehome - Thank you for reaching out. I could not follow. Could you please provide a detailed description of your use-case? 

[Ourseasidehome]

I was looking for a place to enter a wholesale cost price in the system, so that at year end when I am doing a physical inventory, I don’t have to go back through invoices to look up prices I paid for items. I would like to be able to access that information at any time. Please let me know if you still do not follow. Thank you.

[Inventory]

@Ourseasidehome Thank you for clarifying this. It appears that you want to record purchase price in the system for the inventory. Purchase Order functionality is available in Square for Retail that lets you capture the purchase price of the goods on the inventory https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/6240-purchase-order-management

You can also view the cost price details on dashboard under Items -> Inventory Management -> History

Please feel free to reach out if you have a follow up question.

[InnoLX]

If square inventory could take care of serial inventory items. Our company stocks and sells serialized inventory and we have to be able receive it into inventory from our supplier and then be able to select the serial # we are selling for the item to our customer. This is one thing that has stopped us from moving our inventory over to square and use it to sell online and in store. Currently using another program. Will this be something that square will be adding? (Canadian square user)

[Inventory]

@InnoLX Thank you for reaching out. Serialized inventory is currently not planned for 2022. We will analyze all product requests received during AMA to refine our backlog. 

[candycorn]

I would love the option to be able to sort my inventory by when someone last purchased a product... So I can see which items are not selling well and need to be removed or marked down. 

[Inventory]

Hello @candycorn - Thank you for reaching out. Our product team is working on Sell Through report as we talk. It will be incrementally rolled out to Square for Retail Plus sellers. Stay tuned for the updates!