Square POS (Deprecated)

Square POS is a free app, built and maintained by BigCommerce, that allows you to send a Square location catalog to your BigCommerce store, or vice versa. The app also allows you to optionally automatically sync stock levels between the two platforms.

• A Square account (Note: only one Square Location can be connected to a BigCommerce store.)

Importing from Square to BigCommerce

The app will attempt to identify products that may already exist in your BigCommerce catalog to help prevent duplication and overwriting. Before importing your products from Square, please review the following required product attributes. Missing attributes may result in product import or stock level update errors. See Importing from Square for more details on how product/item matching works.

• SKU — While a product in BigCommerce is not required to have a SKU, there are a few things to note:
  • SKU is the first attribute the app looks at when trying to identify a product match between both systems.
  • SKUs, if used, must be unique to each product in BigCommerce.
• Product and Variant Names — A unique name is a requirement to create products within BigCommerce. Name is the second attribute the app looks at when trying to identify a product match between both systems (cases in which a SKU match was not found).
• Category Assignment — Products are required to be assigned to categories within BigCommerce. See the Category Management section below for best practices.
• Inventory Levels — Enabling automatic stock level updates requires a valid stock level.
  • If inventory tracking is enabled for a product, you will need to maintain a value of 0 or greater.
  • If inventory tracking is disabled for a product, this attribute is ignored.
• Currency — To prevent the display of unexpected product prices, please ensure that both your BigCommerce and Square accounts transact in the same currency. Note: The app does not handle any currency exchange rates.

Exporting from BigCommerce to Square

The app will attempt to identify items that already exist in your Square catalog to help prevent duplication and overwriting. Before exporting your products to Square, please review the following required product attributes. Missing attributes may result in product export or inventory update errors. See Exporting from BigCommerce for more details on how product/item matching works.

• SKU — While not required to exist in BigCommerce, your BigCommerce product and variants must have a SKU in order to export to Square.

1. To get started, go to the Square POS page in the App Marketplace and click Get This App. When the app install page opens in your control panel, click the blue Install button.

2. After you’ve confirmed the app permissions and the app has successfully installed, select the blue Connect with Square button to sign in to your Square account. If you do not currently have a Square account, you can sign up for one now.

Once connected to your Square account, click Continue.

3. Configure your channel settings. When you’re done, click Continue.

• Channel name — This is an internal name used to identify this channel.
• Square location — This is the Square Location used to sync your items and stock.
• Product handling — set whether you want to Import products from Square to BigCommerce or Export products from BigCommerce to Square.

Note: If you need to change your Square Location after setup, you will need to uninstall, then reinstall the app.

4. Finally, configure your import/export settings. When you’re done, click Create channel.

• Import core product details — Products in Square will be created in BigCommerce, or updated if they match an existing product in BigCommerce. SKU, name, category, price, UPC, image (if checked), description (if checked), variant stock level and price, rules, and current stock levels in Square will be brought into BigCommerce.
  • Include product description — Select whether to import the item description.
  • Include product image — Select whether to import the item image.
• Import inventory levels — Product stock levels will be copied from Square for matching products in BigCommerce. If no matching products are found then no action is taken.
  • Keep inventory levels up to date — If enabled, stock levels are compared between the two platforms every 5 minutes. If they differ (because of an order or other update), the updated stock data is copied from the source catalog to the destination catalog.

5. After you click Create channel, the app will automatically start your initial import or export. How long this first import/export takes will depend on the size of your catalog. Subsequent imports/exports will only sync new or changed products and won’t take as long.

After the initial product import/export, you can manually initiate a new one at any time. You may want to do this if you’ve updated existing or created new products and want to sync the two platforms. Within the app, go to Products and click the Import or Export button.

This page also includes information about past imports/exports, with links to download full logs.

If any errors occurred during the last import/export, an alert notice will appear with a link to view specific errors so you can address them.

When importing from Square to BigCommerce, you’re given some options:

• Import core product details — Products in Square will be created in BigCommerce, or updated if they match an existing product in BigCommerce. SKU, name, category, price, UPC, image (if checked), description (if checked), variant stock level and price, rules, and current stock levels in Square will be brought into BigCommerce.
  • Include product description — Select whether to import the item description.
  • Include product image — Select whether to import the item image.
• Import inventory levels only — Product stock levels will be copied from Square for matching products in BigCommerce. If no matching products are found then no action is taken.

Display style for variants is not a configurable setting in Square, so imported variants will default to the radio button list style. You can change the display style of product variants after they are imported from Square.

How Product/Item Matching Works when Importing Core Product Details from Square

If you have…

• No products in BigCommerce — The app will import items from Square and create them as products in BigCommerce.
• Some products in BigCommerce — The app will attempt to find matching products in both systems (first by attempting to match on SKU, and then by Product Name if a matching SKU is not found).
  • If a match is found — The matching product’s details in BigCommerce will be updated using the details from Square.
  • If a match is not found — The app will import these items from Square and create them as products in BigCommerce.

Category Management

To ensure your products are presented as expected after you import, we recommend categorizing your products into the “lowest level” category possible in Square.

The rest of the category tree should be created and maintained in BigCommerce.

Example: If you were a merchant selling fashion items, and specifically had Brown Leather Boots to sell, the desired category tree in BigCommerce might look like this:

• Women
  • Clothing
  • Shoes
    • Sandals
    • Boots
      • Brown Leather Boots product
    • Sneakers
    • Heels
  • Accessories

In the above example, the “lowest level” category for the Brown Leather Boots product is Boots, so that’s the category it should be assigned to in Square. This Boots category can then safely be nested under other categories you’ve created in BigCommerce.

Note: Products require a category in BigCommerce, so if a product is missing a category in Square, the app will automatically add the product in question to an Uncategorized Square Items category. If this occurs, please add the appropriate category to that product in Square, and re-import the product.

When exporting from BigCommerce to Square, you are given the option to Include product description. Uncheck this if you do not want to send your BigCommerce product descriptions to Square.

The following attributes are sent to Square:

• SKU*
• Product Name
• Category (top-level only; Square does not support subcategories)
• Price (base price only; Square does not support Sale Price, Cost Price, or Retail Price)
• Image
• UPC
• Description (if checked)
• Current stock levels

*Product variants in BigCommerce must have SKUs associated with them to export to Square.

Note: Square does not support HTML-rich descriptions, so HTML is removed when exporting from BigCommerce to Square. Also, the number of allowed characters in Square descriptions is fewer than BigCommerce descriptions. This can cause errors if the BigCommerce description is longer than Square allows.

How Product/Item Matching Works when Exporting Core Product Details to Square

If you have…

• No new products in BigCommerce — The app will not export any items to Square and no change will be reflected.
• Some new products in BigCommerce — The app will attempt to find matching products in both systems, first by attempting to match on SKU, and then by Name if a matching SKU is not found.
  • If a match is found — The matching item’s details in Square will be updated.
  • If a match is not found — The app will export these products from BigCommerce and create them as new items in Square.

The app’s settings are configured when you first install the app. If you need to change the way the app works after the initial setup, you can do so by going to Settings.

Location Settings

This is the Square Location used to sync your products and stock levels and is set up during app installation. To select a different location, uninstall and reinstall the app.

Inventory Settings

• Keep inventory up to date — If enabled, stock levels are compared between the two platforms every 5 minutes. If they differ (because of an order or other update), the updated stock data is copied from the source catalog to the destination catalog.

Product Handling

Set which platform will be the source and which will be the destination. This setting determines whether you see an Import or Export button on the Products page.

• Import Product and Inventory from Square to BigCommerce
• Export Product and Inventory from BigCommerce to Square

Go to Overview to see the Activity Log. This page shows a record of past imports/exports with a link to download their corresponding log reports. The app will also generate a log entry any time app settings have been changed.

Product Import/Export Log

• Products Created — The number of products that were created in BigCommerce, as no matching products were found.
• Products Matched — The number of BigCommerce products that matched Square products based on SKU or Product Name.
• Products Updated — The number of previously matched products that were updated in BigCommerce using new details found in Square.

Last Inventory Sync Log

• BigCommerce Variant Updates — The number of products that received stock updates in BigCommerce based on changes observed in Square.
• Square Variant Updates — The number of products that received stock updates in Square based on changes observed in BigCommerce.

Import Errors

If any errors occurred during import, the log entry will include a Download link. Download the log file and open it in your CSV viewer of choice. This log will highlight the products affected and will provide context as to what caused the error. From there, you can update your Square catalog to correct the logged issues, then attempt to import again.

Below are common error messages, and what you need to do to correct the issue:

Error Message	How To Resolve
“Missing values: name”, “The product name is a duplicate”	Ensure that all of your products have a unique name in Square.
“Missing values: sku”, “The product sku is a duplicate”	Ensure that all of your products have a unique SKU in Square.
“Missing values: price”	Add a product price to products that don’t have it in Square.
“Category must not be empty”	Assign a category to products that don’t have it in Square. Please also review the Category Management section.
“Inventory level must be greater than or equal to 0”	Ensure that products have non-negative stock levels. If you do not track stock levels with certain products, please use 0 as the inventory value.

To temporarily disable automatic inventory syncs, go to Settings and click Disable Square.

Am I required to use the Square payment gateway?

The Square payment gateway is not required to utilize this integration - you are welcome to use the payment gateway that best meets your business needs.

Why did some of my products import into a ‘Uncategorized Square Products’ category?

The app has created this category automatically, as some of your products are missing a category assignment in Square. See the Category Management section for more information.

My import shows that an error occurred - what should I do next?

See Import Errors. If you are still experiencing issues, please connect with our support team, and be prepared to share this log file with them.

Can I move my products into different categories in BigCommerce after an import?

Any modification you make to a product’s direct category in BigCommerce will be overwritten by the product’s category assignment in Square during the next product import.

You can, however, nest these categories under parent categories in BigCommerce - please see the Category Management section for more information.

Can I import and export product rules between Square and BigCommerce?

Yes, but a rule must be associated with a SKU in order to be exportable or importable. Rules associated with product modifiers or option combinations without an assigned SKU cannot be imported or exported between both systems.

Will the app sync my online orders into Square?

No, the app does not support the import and syncing of orders. However, if Keep inventory up to date is enabled in Settings, any order placed online will decrement stock levels and be updated in both systems.

How do I uninstall the app?

Go to Apps › My Apps. Locate Square POS and click Uninstall. Only the Store Owner can uninstall apps.