Square Review 2026: Features, Pros And Cons (original) (raw)

How does Square work? I found out by playing around with the platform to see what it’s like setting up products and inventory for sale. On the whole, I found the process easy enough. While I couldn’t test in-person sales or online transactions, I felt confident that things would go smoothly if I were to go live with my store.

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Item Library

There are a ton of customization options when creating an item, such as variations, weight, price, modifiers and more.

Adding an item to your Square inventory is simple. You can separate items into categories, list how much you have in stock and set the price for each variation. I also think the “modifier” option is interesting. It lets you set predefined variables customers can choose from. For my sample flower store, I created the modifier of wrapping a flower bundle in different color ribbons. I was then able to set a price for each specific ribbon add-on.

Gift Cards

You can choose to sell gift cards in your online store or allow customers to send them via text message.

Once you have all of your items inputted, you can also set up gift cards. You can sell digital gift cards directly in your shop or order physical gift cards that you can sell in person. There’s also an option to discount your gift cards, which is great if you want to run a promotion, like getting 15% off for buying a card on Black Friday.

After setting up your gift card options, the Square software lets you see how many people have activated and redeemed them in your dashboard.

Subscriptions and Discounts

Subscriptions are completely customizable, including how frequently they’re billed and the discounts you can offer.

Square’s subscription feature lets you configure automated weekly, biweekly or monthly option orders for your products with a set discount. You can set various discount rates depending on the delivery frequency to reward customers who order more.

The discount feature was a little more confusing to set up, but that’s because it’s so powerful. You can create discounts that are only good on certain days or certain times of day, as well as specials like buy one product, get one free.

Appointment Scheduling

Square appointments let you book classes and services with your customers.

All Square plans include customer appointment booking. To use it, you’ll have to first create a service, which works much like creating a physical item. You’ll choose the duration of the service, then customers can automatically book it based on your availability. There’s also an option for waitlisting customers just in case you have a cancellation. Once a customer makes a booking, it’s automatically added to your calendar. If you offer classes, you can also see how many slots are filled.

Loyalty Programs

Here’s the automated Square email I got a week before my birthday offering me a $5 off coupon.

I personally love Square’s customer loyalty programs, including the ability to send birthday gifts to customers. I recently just got an email for $5 off from my favorite nail polish brand, which I put to good use. Square also allows you to run limited-time or recurring promotions, offer digital loyalty passes to track points and create custom VIP tiers to reward your most loyal customers. Other POS systems offer this too, but I like that Square engages with customers automatically so you don’t have to.

Square Merchant Services and Payment Processing

Square’s merchant services are fully integrated so you don’t need separate hardware or accounts. Square’s payment processor service accepts nearly every modern form of payment, including:

• Major credit cards
• Contactless payments
• Keyed-in payments
• Cash
• Square gift cards

Here’s an example of what the payment page looks like if you’re recording a manual credit card or cash sale.

You can even accept Square mobile payments on the Square POS app if you lose internet connection—great for stores in storm-prone areas or if you sell at farmers markets off the beaten path. Payments and receipts are stored for 24 hours until you can sync back up. I found it easy to set up a fake cash payment in the dashboard, and the transaction was immediately added to my sales metrics and deducted from the available inventory.

Security

All Square payments are compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, meaning that’s one less thing you have to worry about. Square also comes with data security and dispute management tools.

You can set up rules to help reduce fraudulent charges.

Square also has a tool called Risk Manager that uses machine learning to help reduce fraud by monitoring all of your transactions. Some might say that’s an invasion of privacy and a questionable use of AI, but I think that if it can help reduce fraudulent transactions, then it’s a good thing. In addition, Risk Manager can verify customers’ addresses and require additional customer verification steps if something seems fishy.