Newbie who is scared to start!

[DianeB2]

We have been using SQUARE to process payment with a dashboard for years. BUT, it's time for me to get AWAY from our other website and use SQUARE solely. BUT, I'm scared to start.

Right now we've got five locations set up.  Where do I start?  Is Square Space different from Square website?  Clueless here!

Then since we do have different 'locations', how do I use it them/it?  Do the same products in different locations automatically convert to the one for the website.

I want to KEEP our same URL and not "something.square" or whatever.

Do I have to delete items from all to create my website.

Edited to add:  I'm a visual learner.  Are there YouTube videos I can watch?

HELP! Can you see why I'm confused?

[JustinC]

@DianeB2 

Heyy!! Welcome to the Seller Community 👋

No worries! We'll help you along the way. As for your website, this thread will point you in the right direction. The best answer has an article linked with instructions on how to build your Online Store. 

The Seller Community is a great place to lean on other Sellers too. Looping in a couple Super Sellers who are always down to give a hand. 

@alexandriak @AmyB1 @bagelboss @dasap1234 @DaveMellow @Dbw2048 @Donnie-M @GourmetOnWheels @HC_Charlie @homeprogreen @HvBx_WA 

@JamesSandbar @jjgard @JupiterGames @LocavoreStore @Pesso @pieous @porktaco @ryanwanner @VanKalkerFarms @vinesandrushes

[alexandriak]

While I don't use the square website feature, I can answer a few of your questions. 

Square's website and SquareSpace are 2 different things. 

And you'll need to point your URL to different DNS settings. There should be something in Square's website help docs that will walk you thru that process.

[homeprogreen]

I don’t do online sales so can’t really give much solid advice on this one. I do know that it’s possible to keep your existing domain name and just change the DNS address to point at your square website. So for example if you have a domain name registered with GoDaddy you go into your godaddy dashboard and just change the 2 DNS addresses to the square store. Might be a way to actually change it from whatever domain name square gives it. But again I just haven’t played with that feature 

[HC_Charlie]

Hello @DianeB2 ! Please don't be nervous, we've all be newbies once LOL! Just take it slow and you'll be a pro in no time.

You have a bunch of good questions (some are beyond my scope) but I hope here is some info at least to start. Square has a channel on Youtube so that is a great resource. Here is a link to just one video that talks about setting up a website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_5jtq2pasQ

Square is a different company than Square Space. You can either use the website that come with your Square account, or upgrade to different capabilities which takes you into a little bit of a different website through Weebly (Square and Weebly are the same company pretty much, at least for this instance). Depending on what you need your website to do, you may or may not need to upgrade at this point.

I don't have experience with more than one location, so I cannot speak to how this might affect the inventory when it's listed on your website. You should be able to build a web site with the same inventory you have in Square, with no need to delete and start over. And as far a customer website name (rather than www.XYZcompanyname.square.com)  that is also something you should be able to do, although that may be an additional charge, either through Square or purchasing a domain name through another company and having it assigned by Square.

Hopefully another SuperSeller will be able to be more specific with additional information. But keep watching some videos and asking your questions. Good luck to you!

[DianeB2]

Sadly my dashboard does not show online store either on the side or in a box. 

[ryanwanner]

Hello @DianeB2! Let me throw my two cents in here... 🙂

I can help with multiple locations. It is actually really easy to manage multiple locations, both in-person and online.

In person: You set up multiple locations on your Web Dashboard. (Account & Settings -> Business -> Locations) Once you get your first location and items all set up, you can add in locations as you need. One of the setup questions is if you want to import your existing item database into your new location, so if you're sharing items this is an amazingly easy way to make things happen. You can also location override prices as needed. You do that on your item editor. Look for the Override link either on the price or in the variation window.

For the Online environment, you can create a webstore for each location. Each store uses the base website (yourstore.square.site) or whatever domain you point to it. When a customer first hits your site, they are presented with a list of locations. This way you're not having to manage multiple sites. To enable your locations online, go to your online dashboard -> settings -> Pickup & Delivery.

Please note that the online environment pulls your entire item library for every location. If you have an item that is available for ordering online at one location but not another, you'll need to remove that item from the location you don't want it sold at from the main item library. This only counts if it's an item that you want to sell online: if it's available in-store but not online at all your locations then you're fine leaving it there.

Otherwise, you decide what items are available online by making them Visible in the Online Dashboard Menu Editor. You can choose your visibility -- Visible, Hidden (for higher tiered accounts with password protected items), or Unavailable. By default all items imported are set to Unavailable until you get in there and enable it.

As for inventory, I only have a basic understanding of it as it pertains to the website, but I'm fairly certain that inventory is handled on a location-by-location basis versus company wide. Inventory controls are pretty easy to use directly from the Point of Sale's Items section or through the web dashboard. The online environment does not handle the inventory counts--it pulls directly from your location data.

I hope this helps! Please let us know if we can help in any other way!

[DianeB2]

Yes..thanks. I did set up locations. My question is this......if I choose ONE location to use for my website, do ALL the locations' items convert over........or does JUST the one location's items transfer over?

Different locations have same products but may have different pricing.

[ryanwanner]

@DianeB2  Loaded question. 😉 Let's look at it this way:

Location A: online and in person

Locations B, C: in person only.

In your Square Web Dashboard:

Item 1: available at locations A, B, and C

Item 2: available at locations B and C

Item 3: available at location A only

In the Online Store Dashboard

Items 1 & 3 will be visible, you will not see Item 2 in Location A.

If you were to set up Location B online, Items 1& 2 will be visible.

Edited to add: As for pricing, you can override pricing right from the online dashboard item editor or the web dashboard. Prices will not transfer over to other locations.

Does this help?

[DianeB2]

so maybe I should set up yet ANOTHER location for the website only?

and do I do this BEFORE I start working on the website itself?

[ryanwanner]

@DianeB2You can set up a separate location, yes, but I think you're just going to add a layer of management that you really don't need. Now if you have a lot of items that are only ever going to be available online, then it may not be a bad way to go.

Here is the challenge with setting up an online-specific location: inventory. If you have items you sell in store and online, you are going to be constantly bouncing back and forth to keep an eye on inventory levels--Square/Square Online handles inventory on a per location basis. For my line of work, it's already near impossible to keep up with inventory and my online store is tied directly to the location.

I think you'll be ok just placing one of your locations online. Since you get to choose what items are available online--they all are marked as not available by default--you have a lot more control over the inventory.

Another problem with a separate location: if you use your tablets running the Point of Sale for online order management, you'll need to have a secondary tablet that is logged into your online location: the PoS can only be in one location at a time.

As for your second question: yes. Have your organizational chart ready to go before you work on the website, if only because changing things around after the fact usually leads to confused and frustrated customers.

I understand how easy it is to overthink all of this: there are a lot of variables here. But I think if you just choose one location for online sales, make only the items you want available visible in your online store, and manage the orders from the same tablet as in person sales, you'll find that this turns out to be relatively easy.

[AmyB1]

Not sure how the locations work or how they update since I have just the one location. But as far as moving your website over it is easy. When you go to online to set it up you can move an existing domain to Square's platform. They walk you through it. I couldn't get the .csv that I downloaded from my old platform to upload to Square's so I had to input everything manually, but once I did I was very happy with it. 

Also integrating it with platforms such as Google Business and Facebook Business once you add an item on Square dashboard it will not only load to your site but to the other platforms you have linked.

Hope this helps.