I wanted to share what Iโm seeing on my Square Online store and see if others are noticing the same thing.
Whatโs happening
Right now, customers can keep clicking the โ+โ button and add more items to their cart than we actually have in stock. The system only stops them at checkout, where they get error messages and have to fix their cart.
Customers think their cart is valid until checkout, which is where the confusion starts. This leads to abandoned orders and extra back-and-forth for sellers.
If there is only one type of item in the cart it is easy to edit.
With a full cart of errors it would be nearly impossible for a customer to guess and check if they can checkout - nobody has the time or patience for this.. (see photo)
Why this is confusing
Square already has a low inventory feature:
- Square knows how many items are left
- Square can show a โlow stockโ message on the website item level when "X" items are left
- Square sends alerts to sellers when stock is running low
So the system already knows when inventory is low - but that information is not being used to stop customers from adding too many items to their cart.
What Iโm seeing in my numbers
(NovemberโDecember only)
When I compare November and December year over year, hereโs what stands out:
- November conversion is down 23% year over year
- December conversion is also down 28% year over year
These are our busiest months, when inventory is tighter and multi-item carts are more common. Which makes it nearly impossible for customers to guess our inventory so they can checkout.
For the rest of the year, conversion is fairly consistent year over year.
Only ranging from 0% change to a 4% change..
But in November and December there is a spike.. ๐ค
Iโm not saying this proves the cause, but the timing lines up with what many sellers are reporting in the Community about checkout issues during low-inventory periods.
Why this matters for sellers AND Square
If fewer orders are finalized during November and December, that doesnโt just affect sellers.
When customers hit checkout errors, a few things happen:
- Some customers abandon the order completely
- Some customers call the store to place the order, which takes staff time
- Some customers give up and buy elsewhere
When orders move from online checkout to phone orders:
- Sellers lose time and labor
- Square loses an online transaction
- Customers lose confidence in checkout
When orders are abandoned:
- Sellers lose the sale
- Square also loses the transaction
- Nobody wins
This is why reducing obvious checkout friction before checkout matters for everyone.
Other sellers are seeing this too
These threads show this isnโt just one store:
- Customers can add unlimited quantities of a limited stock item
https://community.squareup.com/t5/Online-Store/Customers-can-add-unlimited-quantities-of-a-limited-s... - How to prevent customers from adding more than available inventory
https://community.squareup.com/t5/Online-Store/How-to-prevent-customers-from-adding-more-than-one-of...
A simple UI fix (using existing low-inventory logic)
This doesnโt need a big system change or new inventory rules.
Square can already show a โlow stockโ badge on item pages when the low-inventory setting is turned on.
That means:
- Square already knows how many units are left on the item level of a site
- Square is already sharing low inventory with customers on the item page when inventory is low
- The number is accurate at the moment the customer is viewing the item
Square could reuse that same existing item-level count to limit the โ+โ button:
- Connect the โ+โ button to the existing low-inventory count shown on the item page
- Prevent the quantity from going higher than that number
- Keep checkout as the final check (no change there)
This wouldnโt be true inventory reservation - it would just prevent customers from selecting a quantity that Square is already telling them is low or limited.
Why this helps
Using the existing low-inventory logic would:
- Match what customers already see on the item page
- Prevent obvious over-adding before checkout
- Reduce checkout errors and abandoned carts
- Improve trust without changing backend inventory enforcement
Why Iโm posting this
Iโve shared this with Square support, but I wanted to post here so other sellers can:
- Confirm if theyโre seeing the same thing
- Share when they noticed it start
- Help Square see the full impact
If this is happening to you too, please reply.
More voices will help this get fixed.
Thanks for reading - I hope this helps move things forward for everyone. -Ted