Is there a way to limit the number of orders per hour?

[MattHebb1995]

[The title of this thread has been edited from the original: Limit orders per hour?]

Is there a way to limit orders per hour in the square store? Like I get a pile of orders and they are all set for being ready in a certain time from the ordering time. But is there a way to set it so if you have say 20 orders for 10:15am after 20 it will bump the next ones to be ready for like 10:30 or 10:45?

[kargigogo]

Can you tell me more about a feature that I think just appeared today? Order Limiting, where Square will "limit the number of orders that can be picked up or delivered at the same time"? I can't find any documentation or discussion about it. Also, I set this setting to "1" order per 15 minutes, but was able to run a couple of test orders with the same pickup time. Should that have been impossible? Please give me an example of how this new feature works, because I think it could be very helpful if I understood it better. Thank you.

[ashc]

Hey @kargigogo and welcome to the Community!

I moved your post to an existing thread around order limiting.

Please see @Alex 's answer for more details on this being a feature request we don't yet offer. 

[kargigogo]

You don’t offer it? Weird - it’s an option that is appearing on my screen that I can turn on. 

[dsaxena_pdx]

I see the same option as @kargigogo, so looks like something that's about to go live

[Woodironeatery]

Where do you see this option?  it hasn't appeared for me yet, and I am frantically searching for it!  This option is a must for us - hoping it will allow us to open up online ordering and avoid constant phone calls, while keeping our one cook from walking out on us! 

[isabelle · Accepted solution]

Hey there! I've got an update on this feature 💥

We've just launched Order Staggering for Square Online Store, which lets sellers set the number of orders they can take every 15 minutes (so that they don't get flooded with too many orders at once that they can't fulfill).

This can be found in our dashboard > Settings > Pickup & Delivery > select a location > edit Hours.

Let me know if you have any questions about this, or any additional feedback regarding this update 💡

[kargigogo]

Question about this new feature: does it limit the number of orders you're allowed to take every 15 minutes? Or does it limit how many people can choose their pickup time in a given 15-minute window? For example, we are selling things online to be picked up at a later date and time. We can take as many orders as we want whenever people want to make them -- 20, 30, etc -- but we don't want everyone scheduling their pickup time at the same time. 

[kargigogo]

I don't think this feature is actually working for me. I have it enabled and set to accept 5 orders every 15 minutes. Yet this morning we had close to 20 orders come in with the same exact pickup time (11 am), and several more come in for a pickup time 20 minutes later. Actually all of the orders are clustered around a few times, so everyone is going to show up at once. What am I missing? 

[Oxpdx]

This is my exact concern. So you are confirming that in practice this feature does not work. I wonder if there is a setting preventing this feature from functioning properly. Like curbside. What if we turn off curbside, then perhaps the limiting functions?  I’d love to get a programmer/moderator to chime in on this ASAP. 

[kargigogo]

@Oxpdx I have curbside turned off, and the order spacing feature set to take 6 orders every 15 minutes. I have 11 orders for pickup at 11 AM and another 8 at 11:20. That's 19 orders within 20 minutes.

[LukeNieuw]

@isabelle  This is GREAT News!  Thank you!

[Joe]

@LukeNieuw 📈🙏🔥

[HungryPanda]

This is an amazing response, in record time! Thank you and the team for making this a priority.

[Joe]

@HungryPanda ❤️️📈

[Oxpdx]

Is it confirmed that this feature is working?  I just created my online store and set all products to a penny. I then attempted to order multiple times in the same time period and it allowed me to do so 4 times at 5:00pm while the limit had been set to “1 order every 15 minutes”  Anyone else experiencing this feature is functional or not?

[TinaMarie]

I am looking for a way to hold an event that would be appointment based with a maximum number of shoppers in attendance at one time. For example, I'd like to allow 15 shoppers in to the event in 1/2 hour time slots. I'd want them to be able to go online, book there time slot and pay an entry fee. Is there a way I would be able to do this without overbooking? Would this feature work for me? 

[AdamB]

Great question, @TinaMarie. 

With the event item you can limit the number of sales of the event, but it will use the event time slot for all orders. You'll either need to make a individual event items for each 15 minute slot and set the stock of it to 1, or use Square Appointments instead of an event item so you can let people book specific time slots. 

[Dotbagels]

Hi there,

Will this feature be extended to specific times of the day. Sometimes I would like to get more orders between 11 and 12 for example and getting less orders for 12 and 2. 

Also, will there be a feature of allows products that are in a timed category have orders pre-ordered. At the moment when I place a category in a timed order a customer can only order within that time and day. For example, we have a category just for Saturday. Currently a customer cannot place an order before this day.

[MattHebb1995]

Yesturday I went in to modifiy my store hours and pickup times as we are now open an hour later to help space out orders and such, to my great surprise when I went to the pickup and delivery section I saw a new feature to limit the number of pickups that can happen in a 15 min peroid. I am so happy this feature is here now and the day before one of our big sales so it is perfect timing too, The only thing I am suggesting because it would help with people using the same store for different sections is the ability to space out pickup times by category or just except some categories from limitation. For example tomorrow we have a big greenhouse sale and it is booked until 1pm already for pickups, spacing out works perfect and I am happy. The only issue is our farm market for produce is also on the same store and if somone orders produce they will be bumped to the afternoon as well which will not be needed as the market can handle it's own amount of pickups per 15 mins. It sounds really easy to me but it may be some huge programming nightmare but if it is not it would be a great addition to an already great feature addition. Thanks all you are great!

[isabelle]

Hey @MattHebb1995-

Thanks so much for taking the time to provide some insight into your experience with our new order spacing feature. I can see how order spacing by category would be helpful, and perhaps easier to organize. I know we're working on customizing individual item prep times, so maybe this is something we can work into it too. I'll make sure to pass this information along. 

Thanks again, and have a great weekend! 🌞

[bryan2]

Anything else in the works for this?  From a restaurant owner I would love the ability to say I want a max of 15 orders at 6pm and a max of 15 orders at 6:15pm.  Not allowing customers to order at 6:05.  Make sense?