Few Questions Regarding Square and Square Register

[patrick_bateman]

First question: Can I just use the square register to track inventory or do i need to sign up for square for retail ($60 per month) to do that?

Second question: If I have a product, let's call it product X. The first time I bought product X for my inventory, it cost $20. The second time around, the market price fell for product X. So, I was able to buy it for $18. In this hypothetical situation, would square be able to assign $20 as the cost per unit for the first batch and $18 for the second batch. If so, how would i go about doing it? Can I use square register or do i need to get square for retail for this task?

I really appreciate you helping me out. Thanks!

[pessosices]

Hey @patrick_bateman! Great Questions!

For the first point, the standard POS & Square Register can do basic inventory functions without needing to pay for the Square Retail.

For the second point - I'll have to defer to someone else as I just use the Register & POS to keep track of standard basic inventory in and out, and haven't really dove deeper into Cost of Good Sold (COGS) or anything like that. 
It looks like you miiight need Retail to track COGS, especially something complicated like changes over time (if it even has that functionality)

Here are the support documents for:

Standard Inventory - https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/5228

Retail Inventory - https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/5957

The Retail Inventory Page does discuss COGS in some detail with profit projections, while the Standard POS/Register inventory has a space for Item Cost, but doesn't even talk about using it.

Do keep in mind that the Square Register only runs POS on the Front End, but can use the Retail Inventory features only on the Back End. An iPad can run POS or Retail on the Front End, and use Retail Inventory on the Back End.

Hope this helps and I hope someone with more Inventory Management experience can chime in to give more real world details & info!

[patrick_bateman]

Hey, thanks for replying. What do you mean when you say “Do keep in mind that the Square Register only runs POS on the Front End, but can use the Retail Inventory features only on the Back End. An iPad can run POS or Retail on the Front End, and use Retail Inventory on the Back End”?

I’m basically trying to sell a variety of goods at two different price points depending on the customer. All I want to do is track the costs of goods and sales as well as profit. I would also like to know the total value of the goods in the store at any time. Would I need retail on the front end for that? Also, what do you mean by front end and back end?

I really appreciate all the help.

[pessosices]

Sorry for the confusion!

There's the Retail App that you can use only on the iPad instead of the traditional POS app - that's what I refer to as Front End - something your employees use and see.

And then there's the Advanced Inventory features of Retail that happen mostly in the background, that you might use mainly on the Dashboard on a computer, not employee or customer facing, but for management - that's what I refer to as Back End.

You would not need to use the Retail App to use the Advanced Inventory Features of Retail, as long as you are paying for the Retail Subscription.

You can not use the Retail App on the new Square Register Hardware, but if you are paying for the Retail Subscription, then you should be able to use all of the Advanced Inventory Features by ringing up sales on the Register as normal.

Again, sorry, I wish I knew more about the specifics of the Retail subscription to know exactly what you can and can't do in terms of tracking different price points and cost of goods and sales and profit. I do not know to what extent you can do that through the Retail Subscription. Maybe @Kpay or @katieand might know more details or connect you with someone who does?