Live Q&A: Ask us anything about Weebly and eCommerce

[katieand]

On Thursday, April 25th, we hosted a Live Q&A about the new Square Online Store (powered by Weebly) and eCommerce right here on this thread. We recently announced the new and improved Square Online Store. With the Square Online Store, you can manage sales tax, shipping, fulfillment, and automatically sync orders, items, and inventory between your online store and your Square account. Spend less time building and more time selling!  

When @AdamB isn’t answering lengthy threads in Square’s Seller Community, he’s helping out the people of Weebly. He’s also built his fair share of websites so understands the process that goes into optimizing sales online and telling your business’ story on the internet.  

A couple example questions:

What are some integrations that can help me attract new customers/make more sales?

Do you have any tips for improving my site’s SEO?

[Dawgs64]

Do I have to port over my current website or can I link them? Would love to try the basic version first 

[sscox]

I'm new to the online store but have been using Square for processing payments and invoicing shipped orders. I downloaded the Excel file to input my merchandise and import. However no column exported for item weight. Will that need to be added individually for each item after import?

I need a separate description button for each size of clothing under each variance, is that possible.

Once I import,  in the future will new additions automatically sync between my Square app and the online store?

Will the software figure shipping for USPS for me based on the weight information I input for each item?

How am I notified of orders recieved?

Are there any future plans for a Square POS for android tablets? I'm not an apple fan. 

Is there a number for customer support for when I do get my items imported and have more questions?

Thank you. 

[AdamB]

These are great questions, @sscox!

1. Yes, you’ll need to add weights for your items in your online store individually if it isn’t already included in your CSV. Once you’ve created your online store, all of the items in your Square account will have automatically synced to your online store where you can edit the weights.
2. I don’t think this would be possible right now if I understand what you are asking (updating the description or displaying a different description for each item variation). You could write your item description so that it covered all of the different variations as one description.
3. Yes! Any new items added in your Square account will sync to your online store, and any created in your online store will sync back to your Square account.
4. If you enable real-time shipping, yes. https://www.weebly.com/app/help/topics/set-up-real-time-shipping
5. Any time you receive an order online you’ll get an email notification of the order.
6. Were you asking if this will work with the POS Android app? I’m not sure right now if it does, although knowing our team we would want it to work for both Android and iOS.
7. There is! +1 (844) 493-3259. We also have both live chat and email in the Weebly Support site.

[AdamB]

@Dawgs64, If you previously made a site with Online Store, it’s not currently possible to create a new Square Online Store. We’re working on providing a path to do this, though, so this will be an option for you soon. If you haven’t done that and made your site elsewhere, you can definitely try it out now using a free square.site subdomain so you can compare the two.

[Reisch]

can my square inventory be connected to my website?

[nika]

It sure can @Reisch! Any inventory that you add to your Square inventory will transfer over to your Weebly site. 👍

[VanTiki]

Thanks for the QA:

1.  For online order shipping fulfillment - will I need to set a timeframe for fulfillment like we do now in the square online store?  If so, what is the max date range available?

2.  Will finds only be released once items ship (currently done in square online store), or will we receive funds once orders are received? (Like Etsy)

3.  Will our current online store be ported to the weebly platform?  Or will we need to design and set up a new site before we can continue our online selling?  

3A.  If our current store won’t directly port and we need to design a new store, can we do that work and still have our square online store live?  Or is it one or the other?  (Trying to manage downtime)

4.  Who is our contact to work with on this transition?  In case we have issue going live, etc. 

Thanks!

[AdamB]

Great questions, @VanTiki!

1. You do not need to set a timeframe for fulfillment with shipping. When someone places an order that will be shipped, it goes into a pending status and can remain in that status for any length of time.
2. Funds from purchases made through your new Square Online Store are not tied to the status of the order, so they will show up in your Square account pretty quick.
3. Your current online store would not be ported, so you would need to build this new. Items in your Square account will sync over, though. You can also start setting up the new online store while your old one is still live, and not make the switch until you point your custom domain to the new store - this should make for no downtime.

Weebly is your best point of contact for questions, and are available via live chat, email, and phone via the Weebly Support site. 👌

[WildCountry]

How can one switch from the old Square online store to the new Weebly store?  Help states that existing stores cannot use the new one.  If I shut down/deleted the old store, would that make the new one accessible?  If not, what is the timeline for availabiltiy of the new Weebly store.  I don't want to invest time in the old store only to have to revisit all the posted items again.

[AdamB]

It would not be possible right now @WildCountry 😭, though this is something we are working on and hope to have available soon. It’s hard to give an ETA although this definitely falls into the category of something we want done sooner than later. Also, any items you add to your Square library to use with your current store will be brought over into the new online store.

[kathycruz]

@AdamB Are there any updates regarding those with an old square online shop wanting to set up on Weebly?

[AdamB]

Thanks for asking, @kathycruz! If you go to the Online Store tab of your account, there will be a "Preview My New Site" link you can use if the option is available for your store. If you don't see one, then the link will show once we have made it available.

[MarkDCY]

1) we need Weebly to record sales in square with item details and quantities 

2) we need square’s loyalty program to be available for online transactions in weebly

3) customer information integration would be nice as well

4) need a more obvious way to separate Weebly transactions from square store ones via square reports

[AdamB]

Hi @MarkDCY 👋

1. Item quantities and details are recorded with the order on the orders page in your Square account. Clicking on the order will display what items were purchased including which variant (if applicable).
2. The loyalty program is not currently integrated, although I agree this would make a great addition!
3. On your orders page we do include customer information. You’ll click on the order to view the order detail and it will include the customer name, email, and shipping address.
4. Orders made through your online store will be listed on your orders page with a Weebly icon to the left indicating this was made through your online store.

[MarkDCY]

Hi,

I don't see the product details on the transaction that comes through Weebly to Square.  See below as an example.   Also, on the orders page from the dashboard, nothing shows up.

[Personal Information Redacted]

[AdamB]

I don't think that information will be included in transations, though it should be if you click on an order on the orders page:

https://squareup.com/dashboard/orders/overview

[MarkDCY]

Ok.  I contacted Square support about the fact that weebly orders are not showing up via Square dashboard/orders page.  They said I need to contact weebly.  Just want to make sure I'm not getting the run-around...  @AdamB 

[AdamB]

That's correct, @MarkDCY - for that issue contacting Weebly support would be best.

[Littlepnuts]

Hi!

I've been playing around with the new site. I have a few questions:

1) Will there be added elements to help with re-sizing text boxes adding buttons in areas needed, and more control of design. It is currently very limited with only the ability to add, products, info etc. In the web pages that are not affiliated with the products it would be nice to have drag and drop features similar to what current weebly sites have. I'd like to add buttons under images that are related to the web page design without having to do the work arounds I am doing now.

2) When adding new items/products to your square inventory will the images update once it syncs or do we have to do double the work, with adding the images to the item in inventory and then adding the image to the product description in the weebly/square site? If so this seems anti-productive. (We are doing this now and the images are not syncing over so we are duplicating efforts)

These are my 2 top-line items, I'm sure they'll be more as I continue to work with the site. 

Thanks so much!

[Briggs]

I'd like to second this. I'm having a number of design-related issues, and can't find any way to edit basic things like the text on a button, aligning an image to the top line of the text beside it, and my product descriptions are all appearing like a single paragraph. I also don't see a way to use the fonts I want.

I also can't see a way to add links to the footer. I usually link things like a shipping/return policy, stock list, and FAQ there.

I'm really excited about how easy and integrated the new online store seems to be with square. It looks like it's going to make inventory and order management really easy for someone like me who wants to sell online, but also does a number of art and craft shows throughout the year. But ... as web site design and management tool it feels incredibly limited.