Best way to handle special order for customers?

[anchorsawaygg]

Hi there,

I'm new to square and am just learning to navigate it from a more complex POS (Lightspeed).

We are a garden center business.  I really like the idea of estimates/invoices for some of our design/special order customers.

I have a bunch of commercial/resort accounts that like to special order their flowers for the year.  For our functionality it's a way for them to budget and know cost upfront and me to note what the specific plants are (as I do a general SKU for all flowers of a certain size) 

What is the best way to handle that?  In old system it would make a special order that would save under the customer's file and when order was complete I could "add to cart" to process it.  I was playing the orders  yesterday just for practice and it just seemed fluky.  I was trying to see how it would check out, but then again I was in dashboard view (NOT the square app) and I clicked on other payment and it closed out and said order was paid via paypal.  That was kinda scary as there was no cc/paypal info entered.  I cancelled/refunded the order, but it's still hanging out as a cancelled order.  No way to delete.

Ideally what I want is a ready to go order for specific customers that when the plants are in and picked up - I can hit a button and it rings up to take the cc info in person.  If in square - accepted estimates work like that - great, I can use that.  Is there a way to migrate invoice over to register and settle up on credit card machine that way?  I just don't understand what the actual difference is between an estimate/invoice and order is right now in square.  I want to make sure either way I use pos that it takes out of inventory. 

My previous POS didn't have a great way to do estimates so I would make a spreadsheet and then enter when accepted as a special order.  I'm happy to not have that extra step any more. 

Any info appreciated.  Thanks!

Jessica

[Candlestore · Accepted solution]

@anchorsawaygg ;

I am not exactly sure of what your work flow is, but you can create an Estimate Invoice with Square and you can also create a Draft Invoice with Square.  So you can create the Estimate for the entire Year, then you can also create an Estimate for the purchases throughout the year.  Either create the estimates and send for payment or save them as a Draft to send later.

You may want to test these on your own personal email.  Now you can also create a reaccuring invoice too. 

Here is more on invoices :

7215-create-an-estimate-online 

8387-create-and-send-invoices 

if not on a computer and you want to manage them on your POS :

5781-invoices-on-your-square-point-of-sale-app 

Problems I have is the General SKU for 3" potted plants.  How do you know which Plants for the pot to send to the customer?

You may want to have Square create Item 3" Potted Plants and then have Variations by the Plant that is in the Pot.  Each Variation has its own unique SKU, Price and Qty.  You could also create a Bundle of 3" pots for each Resort.  Like a Spring bundle that has a Variety of Plants and sizes for a set price.  The issue with the Bundles are each time a Plant is substituted, this would be a New Bundle you would have to create. 

Here is more on Bundles in Square : 

8057-create-managing-bundles-with-square-for-retail 

There are plenty of ways to do what you want with Square, it is just setting it up the best for you.

I hope these can lead you to what you are trying to accomplish.

[frances_a]

Hello @anchorsawaygg 👋

@Candlestore provided excellent information here! 

We'd love it if you can let us know if this resolved your question. 

Thank you.