🧠 Anyone Running Multiple Locations + Multiple Online Stores? Sync Issues?

[thescottybe]

Hey everyone,

Curious if anyone else is running a multi-location Square setup with multiple Square Online sites and has run into problems with catalog syncing.

We’ve got a somewhat advanced configuration:

• 4 physical locations (each with its own EIN/bank)

• 4 Square Online storefronts (each mapped to different inventory sets)

• Shared and dropship inventory (Spocket, Printful) tied to specific locations

Everything was running smoothly until we changed the default inventory location from one of our legacy sites to a newer one—and suddenly all our stores are stuck on “Syncing your items…” and won’t refresh.

We’ve:

• Checked visibility, inventory assignments, and fulfillment

• Tried reverting catalogs and locations

• Verified modifiers, categories, and site settings

Still stuck in the sync loop.

Just wondering—has anyone else tried running multiple online stores under one Square account, with location-specific inventory? Or have you found a strategy for managing inventory across stores/locations without running into sync issues?

Would love to hear how others are structuring it. We might be stretching Square’s original architecture a bit here 😅

—Scott

Right Retail Ventures / TBDLabz

[Sammie_C · Accepted solution]

Hello @thescottybe! I see you are new to the Square Community. Welcome!

When you have a moment, could you please double-check on these few settings? Typically syncing issues are resolved when these are all in correct: 

1. Go to Account & Settings > My Business > Locations. Is the location type Mobile?

• If so, change it to Physical.

2. From Account & Settings > My Business > Locations, does every location have business hours, an email, and a phone number?

• If not, please complete all fields with valid info.

3. From Account & Settings > My Business > Locations, copy each location address into this Address Validation Tool.

4. Go to Online > Settings > General. Is the Store Information completely filled in?

• If not, please complete all fields with valid info. 

5. Go to Items > Item Library. Are there two or more items with the same name?

• If so, delete or rename all duplicate items.

6. Go to Items > Categories. Are there two or more items with the same name?

• If so, delete or rename all duplicate items.

Let me know if this fixes this for you and if not, I can get escalated for you.

[thescottybe]

Hi @Sammie_C, thanks for the welcome and the detailed checklist. Here’s where we stand on each item:

1. Location Type

   – All four locations (RRV Richmond, TBDL Richmond, TVM Richmond, TVM McHenry) are set to Physical, not Mobile.

2. Business Hours, Email & Phone

   – Each location has valid business hours, a dedicated email, and a phone number on file.

3. Address Validation

   – All addresses have been copied into the Address Validation Tool and are confirmed valid (these same addresses have been used previously for other locations).

4. Online > Settings > General – Store Information

   – The Store Information section was completely filled in and did not require any updates.

5. Items > Item Library – Duplicate Item Names

   – We had a few duplicate names in the catalog, which we cleaned up over the past two days. After re-running the sync this afternoon, the bulk import succeeded.

6. Items > Categories – Duplicate Categories

   – Any prior duplicate categories have been removed; there are currently no duplicate names in Categories.

---

Summary of the sync behavior:

• After cleaning up the catalog and resolving duplicates, syncing ran smoothly for most of today.

• However, the Online Sales Channels selections then went blank again (items stopped appearing as “Available on” any channel).

Could you advise on next steps to restore the sales‐channel mappings? I’m happy to provide screenshots or log details if that would help. Thanks!

[Sammie_C]

Thank you for giving that all a try, @thescottybe! Glad to hear it resolved some of your syncing issues.

I would be happy to help! When you have a moment, could you please provide a screenshot or a particular item where you are experiencing the sales-channel mapping issue?