Barcode reader and windows

[fairviewsales]

I am looking at getting a barcode scanner for my retail square. I currently have a windows laptop with the square site up to check people out. I don't see anywhere online about people using windows and square for barcode scanning. I am fairly new to square so trying to do research. I only see stuff about Square POS and I don't have the money to get that yet, so wanting to use what I have available to me. When going throught the list of combatable items it only shows the physicial POS options and andoid nothing about windows compatability. What am I missing?

[TheRealChipA]

Hi there @fairviewsales.  I’m fuzzy on what you mean by “windows laptop with the square site up to check people out.”  Does this mean that you are using Virtual Terminal for your in-person sales?  Or do you mean that you have an Online Store on your website and are using that?

In the case of Virtual Terminal (dashboard home > Payments > Virtual Terminal), if you click on Settings > Accessories you can add a scanner to that.

If you are, however, using a Square Online Store to checkout customers (which it was not built to do) there is no scanner option there since most customers would not have a scanner.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

[fairviewsales]

Sorry, I worded it really poorly. I check people out either via tap to pay via my phone or cash. I want the scanner for inventory being able to scan the barcodes to get my inventory setup accurately for a change lol.

Which scaner I would need, what compatability with square would I need to go by since I am using virtual terminal. 

[TheRealChipA]

@fairviewsales So you need either the POS setup of Virtual Terminal to do this.  If you go to dashboard home > Payments > Virtual Terminal > Settings > Accessories, you’ll see a blue “Shop accessories” button.  Click that to be redirected to the Square Store. 

If you have any questions about compatibility of scanners to your windows hardware/software, you can check that out at this link.  

[Candlestore · Accepted solution]

@fairviewsales ;

I have 5 Scanners, 4 of which are Zebra scanners ( 2- DS2208 and 2 - DS6878 which shows as a DS6707 in square) and 1 Terra brand.  The Terra Brand does Not work with Square Stands or is listed as compatible with Square anywhere.  It is how ever compatible with Windows and Google Sheets.  I used the Terra on my shipping computer with Square Virtual terminal and also with a Chromebook for inventory in Google sheets.  This was the 1st scanner I bought in 2019.  Followed by the DS2208 scanner, since the terra is NOT compatible with Square.  The Terra one is also the only one I no longer have as it died 2 years ago.  You get what you pay for I guess.

So I am guessing that any Scanner that is compatible with Windows would work with the Virtual Terminal on a Windows based computer.  Now if your also looking at future growth and not wanting to use your Windows Computer through the Square Dashboards Virtual terminal as your POS forever, I would suggest looking at a Scanner that is compatible with Square and with your windows Computer.  The Zebra scanners I mentioned above connect to Square using USB ports which is the same way it connects to my Desktop Shipping computer, Laptop, Chromebook etc.  The DS6878 also can connect by Bluetooth, which I found out does work with an Ipad and Square POS on the Ipad.  Its kinda clunky useing the Bluetooth connection but is better than no Scanner.  Since the Bluetooth connecting is like attaching a Keyboard, you need to tap where you want to scan on the POS by Bluetooth, but when the scanner is connected to my Stand through the USB port, no tapping is required in the Checkout sreen.

Since Chip and I do not work for Square, we do not have every brand of scanner to test which ones do and do not work with your computer and with virtual terminal.  I can also guess that since Square does not specify which Scanner works with the Web based Virtual Terminal on a computer.  The scanner compatible with your computer (windows / Mac) might be the deciding factor with which scanners would work.  The other thing to save money might be buying a Refurbished or Used scanner to to keep costs lower.

Since your looking for a Windows based compatible scanner, I would google the model numbers that Square shows as Compatible that connect by USB to start.  See if they are also Windows compatible.  

Here is a List of Square Compatible Scanners :

Square compatible barcode scanners 

[Summer2024]

Thank you both, @Candlestore and @TheRealChipA for providing some great insight here. 😄