Square Retail Question - Small Business / No Internet

[TheCaveNEPA]

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking into Square Retail for my new storefront. 

To keep costs down until I see how things pan out for the first few months, I will not be installing internet/wifi in my store.

I understand I can process sales in Square using offline mode. My question is, with this in mind, is it possible for me to sign into my account & process/push the transactions through from my desktop PC when I return home from the work day? Or would I need to bring the unit home with me every day & let it connect to the internet itself so that the orders can go through?

Thank you for any help!

-Bryan

[AshleyK]

Hi, Bryan!! Thanks for asking. 

I would strongly discourage you from doing this for the first few weeks of your business opening as offline mode is meant to be used in emergency situations where your wifi or personal hotspot fails. If you choose to do this rather than use a hotspot, do know that we cannot verify the validity of any credit card until you take the unit itself home and connect it to a wifi network. That means that if a card is declined, you won't know until that customer has left the store and your business is closed for the day. 

To add to your other question, yes, the unit will need to travel to and from work daily. Payments taken in offline mode are tied directly to the device they were taken on. They cannot be uploaded to our network because there is no internet connection to allow it to do so. 

I hope this helps and please let me know if you have any other questions!

[RabbitFoodGro]

You could use an iPad with cellular data for now and process cards that way, using Square for Retail. However you might find installing wifi will be cheaper in the long run. We had to use offline mode at a festival once who told us there would be wifi. We had 3 declined cards when we got home - very sad. Should only be used in emergency situations!

[ccvapesfreedom]

We have our store in a rural area where the internet signal frequently goes out. We connect our iPads to our cell phone hot spots and it works like a charm! 

[chillymoocafe]

Hi @TheCaveNEPA , I would also strongly discourage this practice. When your in offline mode, you cannot verify if the customer has any funds. As previously mentioned, all of those transactions would live on the device. You can use a mobile hotspot from your cell phone if the volume is low. In my opinion though, internet is one of those services you need to operate just like electricity.  I would find the cheapest internet plan you can get to your location.