Online store item type

[WineSneak]

Managing Square Online Store is a very frustrating full-time job.

Can someone explain this please:

I upload items to Square for Restaurants via the dashboard using Excel. Why all of a sudden has the item type on our online store changed to "Prepared food..."

Now I have to physically click on "ADD ITEM FROM LIBRARY", select the item, wait for it to transfer to the item list, click on it, change the item type back to PHYSICAL. And BTW, why the extra step of going to "ADD ITEMS FROM..." to activate the item for sale online??

I really wish Square would get their act together.

[shannalynn01]

I just sent an email via link provided. They changed mine within minutes!

[JohnC58]

I'll try that and see what happens...Thanks.

[BernadetteA]

That's so strange, @JohnC58, and I'm sorry you are having such a difficult time with this. I'm going to see if I can track down your most recent case with the team to see if this can be escalated for you. 

[JohnC58]

I am still having to individually change every item I add to my library from Prepared Food to Physical.  Have there been any new developments...I'm still waiting for your advice.

[BernadetteA]

Hey @JohnC58 👋 

No, I haven't heard of any updates, but I can see if I can get more information in the coming week. 

I see your category is now "retail" and I would assume this wouldn't be one of the categories that is auto changing the item type. Have you had a chance to reach out to the team again? A rep may need to run this by the advanced support team in case there is a bug with your account that is causing the change to happen regardless of the merchant category type. 

I'll confirm with the product team to see if "retail" should be doing this, but in the meantime, I highly suggest confirming with support if there's anything more going on with the account. 

[Riverdel]

It seems that a few weeks ago something changed and all news items that were added defaulted to "prepared food & beverage" instead of "physical". 

As first I thought it's just another glitch and dealt with it, hoped it was only temporary and changed them one by one. But it's tedious and not a long-term solution - certainly not when we're getting in to high season again. After a few weeks it still defaulting to this so I search on the community sites and saw that some others had the same issue and someone said that support can help to change it back so all the items would default to "physical" again.

So I reached out via the chat function. I was told to use that I could change it one at a time (ha) or with the bulk change option! First, not what I asked! Secondly, yes I know I can change it but again, not a long term solution, not what I asked, and thirdly, no the bulk option doesn't work for that! 

So the support person finally figured out that it was a system wide change made and that all items default now to that and there is not other option. Why? He/she didn't know. I don't think that all your customers sell prepared food online only. what about all the vendors that sell other goods that have nothing to do with foods, tickets, classes, etc? They all have to go and manually change each item? And the bulk option couldn't have been amended to at least so that at least use it for that too? 

I find that so inconsiderate and frustrating. The only reason I actually have time to send this feedback & complaint is because, this is my low season. In high season I don't have time for manually switching these items. I want to be able to rely on my POW and online partner that everything is set up and ready to go, rather then having to check back and worry about what might have change that might negatively impact my sales! 

[repopgifts]

Hello, I have the same issue, still waiting for a response to change my "account type" which is why it's defaulting to prepared food/beverage.

There is another thread that dealt with the issue: here 

In my case when I started my account forever ago I was selling at artisan markets prior to opening my brick & mortar, so my account was set to "outdoor markets" which for some reason square thinks means I'm a produce vendor? 

I'll be calling square support as soon as I actually have some free time 😞

The default listing type REALLY should be something the seller manages, not dictated by square. 

Good luck! 

[BernadetteA]

Hello @Riverdel and @repopgifts 👋👋

I merged this post over to the thread that @repopgifts posted. Please see my pinned answer above, as this is now a setting you can control! 😊

Square will automatically set the item type based on your store category, but you can override this by clicking Settings > Item Preferences > Default Item Type

[BernadetteA]

It looks like the account is now set to Retail, @JohnC58

Can you confirm if the items are still reverting to "prepared food and beverage"? 

[JohnC58]

As of now, Yes.  They are still defaulting to "prepared food and beverage".  I'll try again in the morning.

[JohnC58]

Morning Bernadette,  I have just run a test by creating a new item in Square for Retail and then checking that item in Square Online.  It still is defaulting to "prepared food and beverage."  Now what?

[shannalynn01]

Thank you! Although I've never been a "food" place so setting up my account I can't imagine I would have selected it. Although I've had my account for a very long time. Another thing you need to consider changing within SquareUp is the ability to change the last name. Without having to create a whole new account. Women get married, so it's kind of a big deal.....just figured I'd throw that out there while I have you.

[BernadetteA]

You're welcome, @shannalynn01

Hm.. your store is also categorized as Food Stores Convenience Stores And Specialty Markets. I just let JohnC58 know that you can request to have this changed by reaching out to the support team here. 

I totally hear you about the name change. 😕 We have a feature request thread here where any updates would be posted.

[WineSneak]

Can we change the category of our business or can that only be done by Square? The extra time required to change item type to physical is not very productive. 

[BernadetteA]

Hi @WineSneak Yes, Square Support should be able to change this for you on the backend.

I believe @JohnC58 had some trouble with this when he reached out to support, but I was told it is possible so I'm not 100% sure if this is a new restriction or not. I'll be able to get more details in the upcoming week, but you are welcome to reach out to the team to check in the meantime. 

[BernadetteA · Accepted solution]

**Update**

Hey all!  The product teams have made a change so that you can set the default item type you wish to use. 🎉

Square will automatically set the item type based on your store category, but you can override this by clicking Settings > Item Preferences > Default Item Type

Thank you all for your feedback! 😊

[JohnC58]

Bernadette, I can't tell you how happy this makes me.  The support team really came through on this one.  I have already run a test to make sure it works for me, and it works beautifully!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[BernadetteA]

I'm so happy to hear, John! I'll be sure to share your experience with the teams. ❤️

[WineSneak]

One small request. Please make it so we can bulk edit the item type back to our preference. We have 150 or so and changing them manually is...

[BernadetteA]

Hi @WineSneak I forwarded this request to the team, however, it is not an option at the moment. If I hear of any changes or updates to this, I will post here to let you know. 

[crisg]

We are Food and Beverage and all items online say "Physical" type. What is currently the best way to change all to "Food"? Do I use Excel somehow?