"Our store is not currently accepting orders." - any workarounds?

[meaningfull]

I'm currently building out my website on the free plan, but will be purchasing a custom domain and upgrading my plan as soon as I get most of my content ready.

I really like the look of the individual Item page to showcase my services. However, at the present moment I need to screen my clients before they can make a booking, so I wish to keep the item pages to showcase what I offer, but turn off the 'Buy Now' function. I was able to turn off the "Accept online orders" toggle, but I dislike that it shows "Our store is not currently accepting orders." in red, on the live item page. 

1) Is there ANY way I could hide this line? I want potential clients to be able to view my services (image, pricing, description, modifier) in an organized fashion, the way the Item page currently does, but I do not want the red "Our store is not currently accepting orders." to mislead them into thinking we aren't taking on any clients. 

2) I noticed that modifier options do not show when the "Accept online orders" toggle is turned off... Is there a way I could show the modifiers?

Basically I'm looking for a way to utilize the Item pages the way they look when the "Accept online orders" toggle is turned on, while hiding the Buy Now/checkout function. 

Thank you for your time!

[BernadetteA]

Hey there, @meaningfull 👋  I think I just responded to your other post about the Book Now button! 😁

Unfortunately, there isn't a way to use the item page the way you want. The prompt "Our store is not currently accepting orders" is going to show on the page if you toggle off the Accept Online Orders option. 

Modifiers not showing when this is activated is a new change, though. I'm not sure if that was intended or a temporary bug, but I can try to find out for you. 

Are you accepting any clients at this time to justify turning on the Accept Online Orders option? You could add a modifier to the items that requires the customer to select or confirm before attempting to add to cart, or purchase. The text could clarify that clients must be screened before proceeding to checkout. 

You could also add a similar disclaimer by adding a notification banner to the top of your site. You can create and add a notification by clicking Communications > Pop-Ups > Make an Announcement  from the main dashboard. 

I can't think of any other work arounds at this time, but I'll post back here if I do find another possible option for you. ❤️

[meaningfull]

Aw that’s so unfortunate 😞 but appreciate your suggestions!

”Modifiers not showing when this is activated is a new change, though. I'm not sure if that was intended or a temporary bug, but I can try to find out for you.” — yes please!

[justsqitco]

Hi @meaningfull,

Why not try setting all your item inventories/stocks to 0 for now? So then your customers can still view your item description and modifiers without seeing "Our store is not currently accepting orders." At the same time they wouldn't have the ability to add your items/services to the cart for checkout.

And meanwhile, making a pop-up announcement as a disclaimer suggested by @BernadetteA would be a good way to notify your customers on what is going on. Don't forget to check out my response on how to make your pop-up announcement showing permanently on every page load at https://www.sellercommunity.com/t5/Square-Online-Discussion/Square-Online-How-do-I-set-up-a-permanen... 

Hope this helps!