Disclosure: Our editorial staff write reviews independently. We may be compensated if you sign up for a service through our affiliate links.

Our rating(4.1/5)
Square ecommerce starts at $0 per month – even with online ordering and POS integration.
Square Online is powered by Weebly, but managed in one account alongside your other sales channels. The service is very user-friendly and transparent, in style with the typical simplicity of other Square services.
  • Highs: Free plan available. No contract. Simple transaction fees. Pickup and delivery features. Syncs with in-person payments. Instagram integration.
  • Lows: Limited design options. Only weekday customer support. Limitations on free plan.
  • Best for: Square users who want an easy way to build an online store, integrated with delivery, pickup and POS sales.

Looking for the Australian or UK review of Square Online?

What is Square Online?

Squareup/Square offers an ecommerce platform called Square Online (previously Square Online Store), currently available in the US, UK, Ireland and Australia.

It can be used on its own or in conjunction with other services like Square Reader, Square Invoices app or Square Point of Sale.

The ecommerce platform is run by Weebly, but accessed through the Square Dashboard in a web browser. You do not need to create a separate Weebly account because Square is automatically connected with the website builder so you can start setting up a web store straight away.

The payment system is Square’s own, which automatically works after signing up with Square.

Your website will be able to accept payments by Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, Square gift cards and Square Pay, with the option to activate Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal.

Accepted payments

VisaMastercardDiscoverAmerican ExpressApple PayGoogle PayPayPal

Products can be added to your store from the Square POS system, or you can manually add items to sell online. There are plenty of user-friendly features for customizing the website, and integrations with social media make it very easy to sell online.

The service is ideal for a variety businesses such as retail shops that ship products, professional services with a booking system and food businesses offering takeout or curbside pickup.

Pricing and payouts

Square really wants to make pricing simple and transparent, so there is no contractual commitment on any of their services, and you pay a simple transaction fee per online payment.

You can create an account and not pay a penny, and still set up an online store on the Free plan, in which case you only pay 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction.

Of course, it is limited what features you get on the Free plan, so there’s a choice of three paid subscriptions: Professional, Performance and Premium. They are all slightly cheaper if you pay for 12 months upfront, in which case you cannot claim a refund if you decide to stop using Square Online during that year. Otherwise, it works out as $3-$7 more per month if paying monthly.

Subscriptions Costs
Free plan $0/mo
Professional plan $144 ($12/mo) billed annually
$16/mo billed monthly
Performance plan $312 ($26/mo) billed annually
$29/mo billed monthly
Premium plan $864 ($72/mo) billed annually
$79/mo billed monthly
Subscriptions Costs
Free plan $0/mo
Professional plan $144 ($12/mo) billed annually
$16/mo billed monthly
Performance plan $312 ($26/mo) billed annually
$29/mo billed monthly
Premium plan $864 ($72/mo) billed annually
$79/mo billed monthly

The card fees are the same on the Free, Professional and Performance plans. On the Premium plan, you get a lower transaction fee: 2.6% + 30¢.

On Performance and Premium plans, you can enable PayPal transactions – these will be charged through PayPal, not Square.

Online orders for delivery with your own courier cost 50¢ on top of the transaction fee. You might wonder why this fee applies when Square does not deliver for you, but that is because it includes extra features like text alerts for customers.

If you need an external courier to deliver, Square charges $1.50 on top of a $5.45-$8.99+ courier fee to DoorDash, Postmates or Uber Eats, as well as the normal transaction rate. The Uber Eats, DoorDash or Postmates fee depends on your location (and distance to the customer in Uber’s case). In California, DoorDash costs a fixed $8.99 per delivery while UberEats charges $4.50 on top of $0.95 per kilometer’s distance to the customer. In the rest of the US, DoorDash charges $6.99 per delivery.

These costs may seem like a lot, but Square recommends passing this on to the customer as a set delivery fee. This way, it won’t end up costing you more than it’s worth. Major takeout platforms usually charge restaurants around 30% in commission, so Square would be cheaper as long as the order is above a certain value.

Pickup orders, where customers collect in person, do not have a special order fee.

Transactions Charges
Transaction fee (Free, Professional, Performance) 2.9% + 30¢
Transaction fee (Premium) 2.6% + 30¢
Pickup orders Free
+transaction fee
In-house delivery orders 50¢
+transaction fee
On-demand delivery orders Square fee:
$1.50
Courier fee:
$4.50 + 95¢/km (Uber, CA), $8.99 (DoorDash, CA) or $6.99 (DoorDash, rest of US)
+transaction fee
Instant Transfers (optional) 1.5%
+transaction fee
Refunds Free
Chargebacks Free (conditions apply)
Transactions Charges
Transaction fee (Free, Professional, Performance) 2.9% + 30¢
Transaction fee (Premium) 2.6% + 30¢
Pickup orders Free
+transaction fee
In-house delivery orders 50¢
+transaction fee
On-demand delivery orders Square fee:
$1.50
Courier fee:
$4.50 + 95¢/km (Uber, CA), $8.99 (DoorDash, CA) or $6.99 (DoorDash, rest of US)
+transaction fee
Instant Transfers (optional) 1.5%
+transaction fee
Refunds Free
Chargebacks Free (conditions apply)

All transactions are settled in your bank account within 1-2 business days. If you want to receive payments within two hours and have been transacting with Square for some time, you can activate Instant Transfers for an extra 1.5% on top of the card fee. There is also Square Card, a free debit card with an online account where transactions go into immediately after they are placed.

Refunds are free to process but take 2-7 business days to reach your customer, and you must have the full amount in the “Square Balance” (money underway to your bank account) to avoid delays.

Chargebacks are also free, and that even covers support to help deal with customer disputes in the event of one.

Features

Some features are available on all plans including the free one. This includes:

Products with options: Fill your online store with an unlimited number of products, whether imported from your in-store selection in your Square POS system or created specifically for website visitors. Since you can track stock levels, you are able to display “only a few left” and “out of stock” badges automatically as well as an “on sale” badge.

Image: Mobile Transaction

This is only a snapshot of item editing options.

You can add variants of products, organize categories, make items visible or invisible, and use other inventory management functions.

Image library: A cool library of free images provided by Unsplash is integrated in the web editor. Anyone who’s tried creating a professional website will know how hard it can be to find quality photos to align with branding – this makes it so much easier.

Shopping cart function: Most online stores need a shopping cart so visitors can keep browsing after adding an item, then pay when ready. This is of course included on all plans.

Customizable shipping rates: Choose between a flat-fee shopping cost, free shipping above a certain transaction amount, or shipping fee based on weight, number of items ordered or the transaction total.

Image: Mobile Transaction

Square Online store editor

The Square online store editor doesn’t overwhelm users with too many features.

Coupon codes: Coupon codes (e.g. top banner with the message “enter STUDENT10 at checkout for 10% student discount”) are great for encouraging impulse purchases while the customer is browsing.

Gift cards: This is not a given in free payment systems, but merchants can accept and sell Square gift cards online.

Image: Mobile Transaction

Square Online free image library

Add images directly from the image search in the website editor.

Contact forms and pop-ups: All reputable websites are contactable in some way or another, and Square Store enables this via contact forms. It is also possible to display a pop-up for signing up to a mailing list, verifying age (if selling e.g. alcohol), offering a coupon or making announcements.

SEO options: Add keywords to images, meta titles and meta descriptions to products, among other things. Just because it’s a free ecommerce builder doesn’t mean you can’t compete on Google.

Instagram, Facebook and Messenger integration: Let’s face it – you can’t avoid social media if you sell online! And Square lets you connect to and sell from Instagram (‘Shopping on Instagram’) on all plans.

Image: Square

Square Online Instagram

Add a payment link to Instagram posts or connect your Instagram feed to your online store.

On Instagram, there are a few different ways to sell. You can add Square’s payment links to the text of posts, or link product images in your feed to your online store.

You can also connect the online store with your Facebook shop or Facebook ads, and add a Messenger chat on your site. Pinterest can only be connected if you have a custom domain, and custom domains are only available on paid plans.

Apart from this, there are some considerable differences between Free, Professional and Performance that can make it worthwhile upgrading to a paid plan:

Feature Free Professional Performance
Custom domain
Remove Square ads
Advanced site insights
Accept PayPal
Product reviews
Shipping labels
Abandoned cart emails
Gifting options
Free Professional Performance
Custom domain
Remove Square ads
Advanced ecommerce insights
Accept PayPal
Product reviews
Shipping labels
Abandoned cart emails
Gifting options

The main difference between Performance and Premium plans is the 0.3% drop in the transaction fee for online payments: instead of paying 2.9% + 30¢, Premium users pay just 2.6% + 30¢ per successful payment via the online store. Premium also includes higher discounts on UPS shipping rates (you already save some money on Performance) and a Real Time Shipping Rate Calculator.

In other words, Premium is better for high-volume businesses who would save money with lower shipping and transaction fees despite the higher subscription price.

Image: Square

Square Online store template

Square online store example.

Website templates

Square doesn’t have a range of themes to pick from. Instead, new users are asked a series of design questions followed by the creation of a website you can edit. There’s a choice between a:

  • Single shopping page
  • Shoppable Instagram page
  • Full website with online store

The full website basically has two template options: ‘Shop All’ for retailers and ‘Order Online’ designed for restaurants with a menu for online ordering. There are no other pre-designed themes to pick from. That said, Square allows you to change every section of the web pages in the editor and add or delete pages as required.

Image: Mobile Transaction

Square Online store setup

Square Online gives simple design choices during the initial setup process.

The editor is fairly intuitive with a simple side menu for navigation between parts of the page. In the top lefthand corner, there’s a dropdown for switching between pages.

A lot of things can be customized, such as button style, banner design, font (upload your own if preferred), text layout and color schemes. This is all good for someone with limited confidence in creating a website, but more advanced web designers and seasoned ecommerce businesses will find the options limited. For example, you cannot add CSS code with your custom designs, which some users have been frustrated about.

Online ordering

In this COVID age, perhaps the most valuable feature for food and drink businesses is the online ordering page. On both the free and paid Square Online plans, you can create a web page that customers can order food from, for delivery or curbside pickup.

You can even print a QR code for the ordering page to display on your premises for customers to scan with their phones (self-serve ordering). This will open up your menu on their cellphone, allowing them to order and pay in the phone browser, after which the order is sent to your kitchen or POS system for you to handle. This is great for contact-free transactions in a restaurant, coffee shop or bar, and allows staff to serve more people in less time.

The Square online ordering page are for online orders or touch-free, in-house orders via QR code.

If you enable pickups, customers can order your products online, then come and collect them within specific time frames or any time. This is a quite valuable for takeout businesses and small retailers that need to limit face-to-face services.

Orders for delivery or shipping can also be switched on, allowing you to receive orders to deliver with your own couriers for $0.50 per order. Settings allow you to specify limitations such as how many miles away you deliver, how long it takes to deliver, how many orders can be processed at a time etc. You can even add order status text alerts for your customers.

If you don’t have couriers, Square collaborates with DoorDash and Uber Eats to offer on-demand delivery for $1.50 (Square fee) + $5.45-$8.99 (DoorDash/Uber fee) on top of the online transaction fee. You then get a trained DoorDash courier to arrive at your restaurant, collect the order and deliver it to the customer within 3-5 miles. The couriers can take food, drinks and now also alcohol orders (restricted before).

These food ordering systems can be linked to the menu in Square for Restaurants or Square Point of Sale app. Alternatively, an integration with Deliverect can connect your profile on Uber Eats or other takeout platforms to your website.

Payment links to share or embed on website

Instead of building a full website hosted by Square, you can just use a feature called Square Online Checkout. This is great if you have an existing website that just lacks the product section with pay buttons, checkout and payment system.

Image: Square

Square Online Checkout transaction.

There are different ways to use Online Checkout:

  • Add pay buttons to a website: Copy and paste the code for a product/button into your website. The customer clicks the button to proceed to an online checkout hosted by Square.

  • Payment links: Copy and paste the URL of each product into an email, message, social media or text message. The recipient clicks the link and pays online.

Each link relates to a specific product or service you’ve added to an overview accessible through the Square Dashboard or Point of Sale app. A QR code is linked to each, in case you want to display that in-store.

It is also possible to receive donations this way, allowing the payer to determine the transaction total. You can even set up subscriptions and membership charges for 3.5% + 15¢ per recurring payment, or link a button to a booking system in Square Appointments (scheduling system with a monthly fee).

Except for subscriptions, payments through Online Checkout cost 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction.

Domain and hosting through Square Online

With any website, there’s a cost associated with hosting the domain (i.e. securely storing the website on a server) and domain ownership (your URL). Typically, hosting costs a monthly fee and domains are paid for annually.

With Square, you can get away with free hosting and a free domain if happy with a URL in this format: https://business-name.square.site. All the plans include free SSL security, the padlock on the left of URLs in your browser.

To grow online, however, it is best to have a domain that only contains your own brand and excludes the “square.site” part in the URL.

Image: Mobile Transaction

Square hosts the website for free if you’re happy with a URL containing “square”.

Shoppers can be skeptical about online stores that look like they might not be successful, a giveaway being a web address with “square.site” at the end (tech-savvy consumers know this means a free domain).

You can connect an existing URL you own or purchase a new one through the Square store when setting up the website. This is all very user-friendly so you don’t need to be an expert to make it work.

The Free plan shows the Square branding in the footer of your site that can’t be removed until you upgrade to a paid plan.

Image: Mobile Transaction

Square Online footer

The Square logo is visible in the footer on the Free plan.

Integrations

If you don’t want to be bound by Square’s ecommerce features, fret not: Square Payments integrates with other ecommerce platforms like GoDaddy, Wix and WooCommerce. This may require a more complicated setup, so sticking to Square is still the easiest option.

Apart from ecommerce platforms, there’s a wide range of partner tools available through the Square account (although you may need to upgrade to a paid plan to allow these integrations). For instance, connect to booking and scheduling systems, point of sale systems (e.g. Vend, TouchBistro and of course Square POS) and accounting software like Xero, Zoho Books and QuickBooks. Whatever business tool you need will probably be covered.

Customer service and reviews

Square generally gets many good customer reviews for its ease of use and many handy features, but Square Online has also received quite a few negative comments about being too basic. If you’re a developer or need more than a basic website, you’d struggle with the limitations.

On the other hand, the process of setting up a site and managing all your payments and business on the same platform has a lot of value for small businesses. Overall, the service is rated noticeably higher than several competitors like Squarespace and Shopify.

If you need to speak to Square, the phone support is available between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. (PT) on weekdays only. You can email them any time, but expect to only get a reply during business hours. If a query is not “important”, it can take days to get a resolution depending on how busy the support team is.

Alternatively, there is a comprehensive online help section that answers a good amount of queries.

Our verdict

Overall, Square Online is a great choice for merchants new to selling online and just generally don’t feel confident about setting up a web store themselves.

If you already sell through Square, it’s easy to import in-store products to the online shopfront, so that can save tons of time. The free online ordering page is a special advantage for food and drink.

There are lots of features already on the free plan such as Instagram integration, curbside pickup and delivery systems, but we recommend upgrading to at least the Professional plan to add a more respectable domain and remove Square ads.

If you’re not quite there yet, the free online store is an excellent, super-simple way to create a stylish website for selling online in no time. If at some point your business needs something more complicated, you can always add integrations or connect Square Payments to another ecommerce platform.