Is there any way to override a price in Square?

[happenstance]

We are having a large clearance sale this weekend and have reduced many items to flat pricing - i.e. $2, $5, $10. We need to ring in the individual items for inventory purposes, but how can we change pricing when it isnt a straight percentage?

[Sean · Accepted solution]

Great question! I haven't heard this request before, but it totally makes sense. 

While there isn't a way to override a price, you could consider creating a variable dollar amount discount (as opposed to percentage). When you create the discount, just toggle to the money sign. If you leave the price field blank, when you add it in a sale, it will prompt you to enter a custom amount. Here's a screenshot:

PS) If my answer solved your problem, would you mind marking it as "Best Answer"? That'll help the rest of the community find what they're looking for. If not, just write back, and I'll continue to help. Thanks!

[PearlsIntl]

We're also looking for a way to do this. We shouldn't have to override our regular pricing every time we have a sale. Please make this happen sooner rather than later. 

[Chad]

Hello @PearlsIntl! 

Could you share some more details on what you're looking to do? I'm a little confused on why you would be changing the price of an item on every sale? 

[springspur]

We have variable prices for accommodation for peak/shoulder and low season, we use Square POS to process customers balance when they arrive some have paid deposit, some need to pay full balance and the price is often different per booking. This product is tracked as 'Accommodation' but if we charge using the custom amount then the invoice has to be updated manually to change the acount code from 'Uncategorised'

to 'Accommodation'.

Be great if an Item could be chosen, then the amount entered.

[GoodEarthFoods]

I think it's safe to say this is not a feature that would be performed on every sale (at least in our case of needing the ability). Just in the one-off instances when a price needs overridden at would be super handy (and quick to accommodate a sale).

[springspur]

Completely agree! Should be an option for a variable amount for item...

[wildwoodboutiqe]

This doesn't work. 

[Joe]

Hi there, @wildwoodboutique - thanks for reaching out to us here on the Seller Community!

So sorry you are having trouble! Would you mind clarifying what issue you are running into? Are you receiving an error message? What specifically is not working? 

The more details we have, the more helpful of an answer we will be able to provide. I will keep an eye out for your response!

[astaw]

Your recommendation works if they only buy one sale item when you leave the $ discount as variable. When you scan a second item with a different variable discount, it takes the higher of the 2 off the entire total.  

[Jaddy]

Has there been any update to this? I'm having a clearance sale this weekend and doing the same $2, $5, $10 buckets.  Currently it looks like we are going to have to manually override the price for every sale item.  Is there a better way to do this?

[AshleyK]

@Jaddy We don't have any updates at the moment, but I can see how this would be beneficial to your business and others - and save time! I will keep bubbling the feedback up to our development teams.

In the meantime, I think we have a workaround that will help you called time based discounts. 

You can create a limited time discount for instances like seasonal sales.

To do so:

1. Visit Items > Discounts in your online Square Dashboard.
2. Click Create New Discount.
3. Enter the discount details.
4. Toggle on Automatic Discount. Choose either Item or Category, Customer Group, or Quantity > Done.
5. Click Add eligible items of categories to apply discounts to certain items or categories automatically.
6. Toggle on Set Date Range and select dates to create a limited time discount.
7. Click Save.

Please let me know if this works for your business or if you have any other questions! Thank you for your time. 🙂

[modalgreenville]

Sean, this is not an adequate solution because it still requires an extra step of calculating a new price manually. The discount is a reduction of a price, so typing in a custom amount each time requires the merchant to take the promoted pricing ($3 flat price for an item or category) and then calculate what dollar discount would bring that item down to $3 dollars. 

Why is it so difficult to add a button that says "Price Override" or "Change Price" at the bottom of the checkout screen and allow the merchant to manually change the price? This could be easily controlled through the permissions feature.

[jlabanca]

You can edit the prices of your items in bulk using the CSV export/import functionality:

1. Export your item library to a CSV file.
2. BACK UP THE CSV FILE so you can revert your library after the sale
3. Open the CSV file in Excel (or another spreadsheet editor)
4. Adjust all of the prices to their discounted price
5. Import the updated CSV file, selecting the "Modify Existing Items" options.
6. After the sale, import the unedited backup version of the CSV file to restore the original prices

[RagCo]

Love Square! We ran into the exact same issue as with Jlabanca. It was kind of an awkward transaction changing the item's price.

We just switched from Vend to Square for various benefits; however, Vend does have some positive features that I know Square could implement to stay ahead of the game.  With Vend, when the item is in checkout, the item can be directly selected and pricing can be changed as well as discounts being added.  

How soon can Square deploy a feature like this?

Thank you!

[email protected]

[Kelly]

@RagCo We don't have a timeline for editing prices in sales but we do have a few features that may work for you right now!

As Sean mentioned above, you can use a dollar discount to adjust the pricing by dollar amounts right in the sale.

You can also create a variable priced item, which will require you to enter in a price each time you ring up an item allowing you to choose the right price each time you complete a transaction. Creating a variable priced it is simple! Simply leave the item price blank when you are creating your item and your Register will automatically prompt you to enter a price at the time of the sale. 

[jlabanca]

@RagCo, you can also create an item with both a fixed price and a variable price.  When editing the item that already has a fixed price point, add a second price point with a blank price.

At checkout, a popup will appear allowing you to choose between the fixed price or the variable price.

[tester]

only problem is the inventory count doesn't decrement properly anymore. so the solution will not work where inventory is tracked

[Heathen]

Hi, I can't seem to get the blank variable discounts to appear on my smartphone register. Is there a reason why only the pre-set discounts appear?

[jlabanca]

@Heathen, I just tried impersonating your account, and I'm able to see your variable discounts on an iPad and iPhone.  If you're using an iPhone, try searching for "Var" in the search box and they show up.  On an iPad, you can click on the "Discounts" category.

[cleanprosupply]

I am having the same issue. I can add a variable discount to the entire transaction, but the individual item only allows the pre-set discounts.