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Get started with Square Online

Who is this article for?
This article is for anyone looking to create a website and sell online using Square's largest ecommerce solution: Square Online.

About Square Online

With Square Online, getting online has never been easier. Show the world who you are, what you sell, or the problems you're here to solve, all while seamlessly accepting payments with Square. With our easy-to-use website builder, spend less time setting up your website and more time focusing on what matters most: your business.

Square Online is a robust platform that covers your website, items, order fulfillment, customers, and much more. To learn more, check out the Square Online Platform topic page or get informed on pricing and features. You can even purchase a domain from Square and set up an email address based on that domain.

Before you begin

Sign up for Square and create an account. If you want to sell a few individual items online without setting up a complete ecommerce website, consider Square Payment Links. Payment Links allow you to quickly sell items through email, social media, or your blog. Learn how to Get started with Square Payment Links for details.

Pricing and fees

Building a website with Square Online is a free service. You can sell unlimited products online and fulfill your orders electronically — all without a subscription fee. You can even host your site with a free Square subdomain (like "mybusiness.square.site").

You'll only pay the transaction fee for orders placed on your website, or for any optional upgrades and services. If you upgrade your Square Online subscription, or purchase a domain or email address, you can manage your subscriptions and services for Square Online directly from your Square account. Learn more about how to Manage Square Online services and subscriptions.

Pricing

There are only charges if you want to purchase your own custom domain name, email address, or an enhanced service plan. Otherwise, basic service is, and always will be, 100% free and feature-packed. If you are prompted to pay, it is either because you tried registering a new domain name, purchasing an email address, or using a feature that is part of one of the paid service plans. All site upgrades, custom domains, and email addresses are optional.

To learn more about pricing and features, head over to Square Online in your Dashboard and select the Upgrade link at the top.

You can also learn more about getting started with domains for Square Online or getting started with Google Workspace for Square Online for more information about those services and pricing.

Transaction fees

You’ll only pay the transaction fee on the orders you receive. When a customer places an order online, you’ll pay the following:

  • A 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction fee for most website hosting plans (including the Free plan)
  • A 2.6% + $0.30 per transaction fee when you upgrade your website to the Premium plan

Other fees

Other services within the platform may have additional or separate fees, including certain fulfillment methods or third-party apps from the Square App Marketplace that can integrate with your site. Be sure to review information on those features and services for fee information.

Start selling online

To get started with Square Online:

  1. From your online Square Dashboard, go to Online > Online.

  2. Click the button to get started.

  3. Choose one of multiple themes to quickly design your new site.

  4. Enter any applicable business and fulfillment information, and complete the setup steps to finish.

When complete, you can navigate the Square Online Overview page in Dashboard in order to access the different features within Square Online, or Navigate the Square Online site editor to start building your website.

Set up your ecommerce website

Square-Online-Overview-Page-EN

When you complete initial setup, start setting up your website to sell online, manage online orders, accept payments, and share your website with others.

1) Navigate the Square Online Overview page in Dashboard

The Square Online Overview page in Dashboard contains key information about your website and additional tools to help you grow your business online. This includes your domains, email adresses, ecommerce features, contact form entries, and other settings. You can also access the Square Online site editor right from the Overview page to build and edit your website.

To access the Square Online Overview page, log in to your online Square Dashboard and go to Online > Online. The first tab you’ll see is the Overview page, which provides a snapshot of your site’s recent performance.

To access other Square products in your account, learn how to Navigate the Square Dashboard.

2) Design your website

When customers open a website for the first time, everything from colors, fonts, and shapes can affect how they respond to its content. Learn how to Design and customize your Square Online site for more information on all of your site design options.

3) Set up domains and email

  • Domains: A domain, often known as a URL or site address, is what helps customers and visitors find your website while browsing the internet. There are several ways to get a domain associated with your website, and we even offer a free option to make setup easy. Learn how to Get started with domains for Square Online for details.
  • Email: Square partners with Google to provide a complete email solution for domain names known as Google Workspace. When you have a domain name associated with your website, you can create an email address based on that domain. Learn how to Get started with Google Workspace for Square Online for details.

4) Set up website SEO

Customize how your website, webpages, items, and categories from your Square Online site display on search engines to help make your website discoverable online. Learn more about SEO settings for Square Online websites to get started.

5) Create, organize, and sell items

For any eCommerce website, it’s important to create your items and organize them with categories so selling them online is an easy experience for customers.

6) Set up fulfillment methods

Set up fulfillment methods for the items in your Square account to make sure customers receive what they pay for. Fulfillment methods include:

8) Manage online orders

You can manage online orders of various types (like pickup and local delivery) from the Order Manager in both Dashboard and POS. To learn more, check out how to Manage orders from your Square Online site.

9) Review website reporting

Review reports to have an in-depth look at your website and commerce statistics. You can also view and compare your traffic and sales performance over a time period of your choice. Learn more about Square Online reports.

10) Manage online settings

Square Online has multiple kinds of settings you can manage to set up your website for success. Learn more about Square Online settings.

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