Help with bar codes, inventory, and sqaure for retail plus

[Gourmet1]

I am having a time and am hoping to get some help with Square for Retail. 

I have a shop with A LOT of inventory. I am finally at the point where I need to keep track in a more organized way. I have two Square registers and just ordered two scanners. My questions are:

1) If I order a DYMO or Zebra label printer, can I attach it to my laptop or tablet to create labels at home?

2) What do shop owners do if certain items that are received from vendors do not have bar codes? Purchase bar codes for each item then print out?

3) I ordered a blue tooth scanner from square but then read that square for retail is not compatible with this type of scanner?

4) fellow shop owners who have not started entering inventory from scratch, did you have a system that worked well for your business? Right not we are taking a section at a time but this has been much more difficult than I originally thought. 

Any questions that can be answered are appreciated!

[TCSlaguna · Accepted solution]

Hello @Gourmet1 

We also have a very large inventory and use Square for Retail. 

1) Yes. You can create the labels anywhere through the Square Dashboard -> Item Library -> Actions -> Print Labels

I prefer the Zebra printer (but it doesn't work on a Mac). DYMO works on the Mac (as well as Windows). 

2) If an item from a vendor does not have a barcode to scan into the GTIN section of item description when you create an item, then you will need to print a label with the item SKU, We have huge rolls of tags for our Zebra printer. 

3) We do not use a Bluetooth scanner. I read the reviews on it. We are very happy with the wired scanners.

4) Not sure as to what the question is. Please elaborate. 

Let me know if you have any further questions. Good luck on the journey. Square for Retail gets better every day, and we always find new ways to utilize its features. 

[Gourmet1]

I appreciate you taking the time to reply. You've been very helpful. Thank you!

[Candlestore]

@Gourmet1 ;

I copied your questions and will answer them below each question. 

My questions are:

1) If I order a DYMO or Zebra label printer, can I attach it to my laptop or tablet to create labels at home?

Not sure about attaching these to a tablet depends how they connect... USB, WiFi, Bluetooth, Network Cable etc...  I have 4 Zebra printers connected to a Desktop computer through USB. 

• COMMUNICATION METHODS

  USB v2.0, USB Host (Standard)

  Bluetooth Low Energy 5* (Standard)

  RS-232 Serial (Field-installable option)

  10/100 Ethernet (Factory- or field-installed option)

  Wireless: 802.11ac with Bluetooth 4.1 (Factory- or field-installed option)

The Zebra printers I have can be connected by USB so they would work with a desktop or laptop not sure about a tablet unless you get a new zsb zebra printer but then the labels are expensive and have limited sizes as of now.  $20 for 1000 zsb labels.... compared to $14 for 1380 labels for the Zebra 400 series  Plus you can get a lot more sizes and types to save money... labels on a roll or Labels that are fan folded (not for barcodes but for shipping)

2) What do shop owners do if certain items that are received from vendors do not have bar codes? Purchase bar codes for each item then print out?

What I have done is I created my own SKU which varies from 8 to 30 characters (QuickBooks Limit for barcodes) Squares limit is 40 characters I believe.  Now Square can auto generate Barcodes for you when you create an item.  Square uses both numbers and letters for their barcode system which is fine for your use.  No need to buy GS1 barcodes. 

Make Labels with Dymo Software : How to make labels and Barcodes more videos on YouTube 

Make Labels with Zebra Designer 3  : Video for Zebra Software... longer videos available on YouTube 

Make Labels with Zebra ZSB printers software: ZSB Software more videos on YouTube 

3) I ordered a blue tooth scanner from square but then read that square for retail is not compatible with this type of scanner?

    Test the barcode scanner once you get it.  I bought a Tera brand scanner 2 years ago that is not approved and it would not connect to Square, works fine with a PC and to search Square Dashboard. A few weeks later I bought a Zebra DS-6878 2D scanner refurbished through Amazon and it was not on Squares list either but it does work with the Square Stand and USB hub.  I have found out, if Brand X is on Squares list maybe a item similar from the same manufacturer will work.  Or the item uses the same internal software as a compatible Square reader.  If it does not work with Square it may work with your laptop to search for items or to help out in other ways.  Now the DS-6878 scanner is on the list I believe and is about $90 refurbished on Amazon.  I have not been able to connect it via bluetooth, but use it with the Square Stand and USB hub.

4) fellow shop owners who have not started entering inventory from scratch, did you have a system that worked well for your business? 

Right not we are taking a section at a time but this has been much more difficult than I originally thought.  We have a 10,000 square foot building, and a lot of my items do not have barcodes and others with barcodes were not in a csv file for easy importing.  Basically, what I try to do since everything had old sticker price tags on them, is if it does have a barcode, I scan the item in square and add it quick.  For name I just hit a letter or a few numbers scroll down and enter the price.  If the person is not in a hurry I enter the full name of the item its category etc.   I write down the item on a piece of paper so I know what it was and go get it when its not busy. Then enter it in Square correctly searching for the item by SKU that was saved when the person checked out.  Yes We still do not have everything in Square but am up to over 2600 items and still counting.  Now that it is our slow time, we are doing it section by section with a scanner and laptop.  This could be where the scanner that does not work with Square is compatible with your computer to enter the data. We have our Square dashboard on the laptops and search the item by barcode if it has one, if not we do a search by a identifying number, like a  model number and then create barcodes for them by model number or some other combination.  Example is we get wax Melter (warmer) lights which do not have SKU's on them but they each have unique codes for example EX-171 on them, we use these codes for our SKU.  But now if a product does not have an SKU, Square can autogenerate one for you and you can use that for your barcodes.

[Gourmet1]

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I'm relieved to know that I am not the only one entering inventory this way. It's taken me a while to update my system (instead of taking inventory the old-fashioned way), but I'm determined to see this through!

You've been very helpful.