Enter and Track Custom Orders

[themoose]

Hi all - we are currently using Square Retail with the Square Register in store.  However we also take custom orders for items we produce, we're a chocolate/candy store.  Some items are packaged and fall in the retail business flow easily, but typically our custom orders don't.  I'm trying to figure out how to utilize Square best for those custom orders. 

The custom orders can come from various places, but typically involve a few back-and-forth emails, phone calls or other messaging.  Once the order is settled, I would like to be able to track it in Square in a similar fashion to how typical "Orders" work in Square so we can track the progress of it and get an easy look at all outstanding orders.  However running into an issue where we can't create new orders directly on the Register, and also can't use the phone app(s) to do this.  I think it might be possible on the Ipad app, but honestly if I introduce another device to this mix I think my wife will kill me.

The second part of this is that typically we would ask for half of the payment when the order is placed and the other half when the order is complete.  I don't believe that is possible with Orders?  Square Invoices work well for this, however with invoices I don't believe it's possible to track the status of the "order".  So we wouldn't get that all-up view of outstanding orders.  So it seems I'm looking for some sort of Order/Invoice hybrid.

Would love to hear any ideas on how Square could be used best in this scenario or if any of my assumptions are not correct.  Thanks!

[Laurie_]

Hi there @Shelissascrafts,

Thanks for reaching out to add your vote for this feature request! 

I've gone ahead and merged your post with the existing thread where we are continuing to track the feedback we receive for this feature request. I agree that having the ability to enter custom orders with Square Online would certainly improve the customer experience here. Unfortunately, we don't have any further news to share here at this time. Should this change in future, we'll be sure to update everyone in this thread.

In the meantime, I recently suggested the use of Square Online Checkout Links for one of our Australian Sellers in a similar position to you. This workaround is geared towards custom orders that require shipping and unfortunately, it is not currently an option for custom orders requiring pickup.

With this option, you can create a link for a custom item that you can share with your customer so that they can make an online payment on their end. If you have Shipping enabled as a fulfilment method on your site, they will see this option when purchasing via the link. Similar to Square Online orders, they will receive automatic order confirmation, as well as updates on their order once you've manually marked their order as 'In Progress' or 'Shipped' from the Orders page.

Let me know if you have any further questions about this suggestion in the meantime, and I'll be happy to assist!

[Shelissascrafts]

Updates? What do we need to do to have this considered?