Square handheld barcode scanner troubleshooting

[androo]

Hi all
My new Square handheld arrived and I was excited - but it's not scanning my items. 

All my products have barcodes, and scan well with the Socket scanner & my Square Stand. 

Take a sample product, it has a barcode of 0746935335137 - this is the number set in the Square item. 

- Socket scans this and adds it to the sale on the stand. 
- Handheld displays a "Item not found" message and shows the UPC without the zero..

Now my barcode images are 'EAN13' with the leading zero. The Socket scanner handles this just fine, and sends that leading zero. 

Is there any way the Square handheld can do likewise?  

(with 100+ product lines, hundreds on the shelf, thousands of pre-printed labels, and being sold by resellers, changing barcode formats is not a simple option). 

[androo]

I've just found a workaround - If I remove the zero from all my product GTIN the scan works.  I can reprogram the socket mobile scanners to ignore the leading zero. 

This will take me a few hours, but better than changing all the barcodes! 

[androo]

Workaround did not work - well it did for the handheld, but then the square stand and barcode scanner stopped. Products were not recognised.

so I’ve reset things and the stand is back in action - but the handheld will not recognise any product.

[androo · Accepted solution]

Ignore everything - found option and all working. I need another coffee!  Barcodes are complex!  😛 

I left all my products with the 0 in the GTIN, as this works with the Square Stand and Socket Mobile scanner - my primary POS.

On the Square Handheld, settings > hardware > barcode scanner > advanced > UPC-A

Set first zero to on - and magically it works!  

I'm positive I tried that in my tests yesterday, but maybe not. 

Anyway, the Square Handheld is a brilliant product - so fast!  My 2 staff argued over who would use it more, and preferred it to the Stand.  Enough said, I'll be buying more 🙂 

[Laurie_]

Hi @androo,

It sounds like you’ve been on quite the troubleshooting journey, thank you for sharing your process! You’re likely not the only one to encounter this, and your insights will be really helpful for other Sellers who might run into the same issue. 🙏

For visibility, Square Handheld can scan 2D barcode types such as PDF417 and QR, in addition to the following 1D barcode types: UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-8, EAN-13, and Code 39. Square Handheld will not be able to scan incompatible barcode types. 

We've also put together a troubleshooting guide to resolve the barcode scanner on the Square Handheld, which could come in handy if you do encounter any other issues further down the line!