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Feature Request - Order Cut Off Times, Specific Delivery & Pickup Time frames, pre orders

Hi, I'm so glad we can now enable delivery online for our home based florist business.

However we have a major problem - I don't want customers to see an estimated delivery timeframe because its wrong in the cart / checkout. We make up all orders in the morning then deliver in the afternoon in a set time frame. For now I will have to write a big disclaimer on items for people to ignore this. Please make this optional or let me pick a specific time frame on business days?

 

Also a request for a digital product store - I would totally use Square if you can do automatic email fulfillment and send customers a download link. I don't want to be monitoring a digital store all day for orders that I have to fulfill manually, I would want my product immediately. I will definitely switch to square when you can do this. Thanks!

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Hey @Roselaine,

 

Thanks for reaching out!

 

We've been building out new Online Store features on a regular basis in the last couple of months, and we're prioritising development of features that are helping businesses pivot during COVID-19. Set or scheduled delivery times is a feature that's still in the works, but this one has been a popular request and is currently being worked on - while I don't have a set time frame for when it will be available, we'll release this feature once it's ready and works. We'll be posting an update here once it's available so please keep an eye out, I'll tag you in this thread too ๐Ÿ‘

Seamus
Square, Australia
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Dear community,

I am still a bit confused about how the delivery time square worked out. I can roughly see there are two elements might be involved, one is the preparation time in the general setting and another one is the delivery time after courier picked up, which is a time period you can configure.

 

So my understanding is: if someone ordered something today before my business close, the final delivery time is calculated as the preparation time plus the delivery time (a range). If this time pushes out of your business hour for that day, it will start from next day for delivery, your opening time, say 9am, plus the preparation time and plus the delivery item range. That's just my guess and the end result always puzzles me. Sometimes it pushes over 24 hours till the day after, sometimes it shows the customer a time after my business hours.

 

This is getting very confusing and complicated. I actually don't want the customer to see a time that when the delivery will happen. I don't understand your algorithm and even it is all correct, we probably won't fulfill within that time range anyway.

 

Can we simply change the configuration to say, if a customer orders before a certain time everyday, say before 12pm, when they check out, they will receive a message that their orders will be delivered on the same day. If they order after 12PM, they will receive the order next day. If falls on the weekend, we automatically add days to display the delivery on Monday.

 

Thank you,

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Admin

Hey @wangjueliang,

 

I've moved your message to this thread that we're using to track the feature request.

 

As you can see this one has been a popular request, and I am aware that the Ecommerce team are working on some improvements here. While I don't have an exact ETA or info on how the feature will work, I'll continue to monitor this thread and update every who has posted when I hear more!

 

To answer the question though - yep, the system will take into account your opening times and prep time when pushing an order through. So if you have a 15 minute prep time and close at 9pm, and the last order came through at 8:51pm, it should push the order the next day.

Seamus
Square, Australia
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Hi All,

 

We have a delivery driver who will take the van out with a batch of 30 to 50 cakes.

So customers need to select only which day they want the cake delivered. 

 

The timing & notifications is handled by 3rd party delivery management software.

 

Currently I have the scheduled delivery option set to ON.  which is working good.  Because customers can select a delivery date. 

But is there a way to hide/remove the delivery time combo box??

 

Cheers.

 

 

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Admin

Hey @FlySpray,

 

Thanks for your message. I've moved it to this thread so we can better track requests for this feature.

 

At the moment there's no way to remove delivery time frames - however as you can see in this thread it's a popular request, and our team is working on building a solution here. I'm going to update and tag everyone in this thread once I hear of a change, in the meantime you can try and set expectations through custom text fields on your website explaining delivery time frame.

 

I know this isn't the most elegant solution and customers can get confused though - I'm hoping we'll have more to announce here soon!

Seamus
Square, Australia
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Thanks for your speedy response.  I'll use custom text boxs as you suggest.

 

Is it possible to gain access to the CSS files behind my specific website?  I imagine it would be pretty simple to override the 'Hidden' tag of the element.  If so, I'm happy to share the solution with the group.

 

Cheers,

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Super Seller

I have the exact same problems and it's causing a lot upset customers as they don't read my fine print and just go off the posted time that shows up. Would love to have a feature that a) doesn't show the delivery time or b) we can choose our own delivery time that works for us. 

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Admin

Hey @FlySpray,

 

At the moment it's not possible to access or edit the CSS for Square Online, sorry I couldn't be of more help here!

 

@whimsy90 thanks for your feedback, I'll tag you once I hear of movement with these features - while I don't have an ETA it's a feature that's in the pipeline.

Seamus
Square, Australia
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We mostly run online and most pre-order on our current setup..I was a little disappointed when I setup the square terminal for our new store to take over counter sales. But was extremely disappointed to find out that ppl Can not order in advance...we currently have ppl placing orders all the way to December 2020...there really shouldnโ€™t be a forced feature that only allows customers to select and order only on your opening times..and then not be able to pickup or have delivered in our selected times of operation. The fact you go to the trouble filling out the times in delivery and the pickup section as they are different, to find you canโ€™t actually select a date to come in these times?? Doesnโ€™t sound practical with everything going on, ppl PRE-ORDER!! But clearly with limited functionality with square!

 

This feature is something that we and Iโ€™d say a lot of businesses rely on, we will just have to stick with our original website and itโ€™s Integration to PayPal!

really not happy I spent hours setting up items before realizing that it canโ€™t take orders outside opening hours..really bad design with limit non user friendly options,  definitely havenโ€™t thought of all types of businesses and the way they operate, nothing mentioned when purchasing that it only covers one type of sales.

Sadly at this stage will be looking elsewhere now..as unfortunately all this terminal is good for is the odd over counter add on sale, yet more solidly a paper weight?!? ๐Ÿ˜•

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Admin

Hey @WoofGateaux,

 

Thanks for the detailed feedback here.

 

Having expanded options for pickup and delivery is something we've heard a lot of feedback about - I've moved your post to this feature request thread so we can track all the feedback for this in one place.

 

This is feedback I've shared internally (and will continue to do so), as far as I know expanded options are in the works, however I don't have a time frame for release. Hopefully it's sooner rather than later! It's understandable though if you need another system to better suit your present needs. I'll update this thread in any case once I hear of changes being implemented. 

 

Regarding your feedback about Square Terminal - what was the expected functionality here that you're disappointed isn't present? Square Terminal is a stand alone card payment device that features our Point of Sale app, card readers and receipt printer all built into the one unit to take card payments and record your cash and other payments. It's an alternative to having a merchant processing terminal from a bank and is sold outright rather than having a monthly rental cost.

Seamus
Square, Australia
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I see a lot of issues and u continue to add ppl to this tread..yet nothings been done! 
can I ask why?

i also donโ€™t want to hear itโ€™s not your department and โ€œthat you have passed on the issues raisedโ€

there are a lot of good points brought up yet absolutely nothing has changed..thatโ€™s a disgusting!

seriously itโ€™s time to act !!

stoo the comments back with no action plan

i want to hear the new update will include this ..so far you have been beyond unhelpful, but great at avoiding straight forward answers! 

My original msg was over 7mths ago

yet here we are..so sadโ€ฆI really wanted to set everything up with square

ive given you more then enough time..clearly this was wrong..your happy to take money from sales and terminal purchases..but donโ€™t help to mound into the issues your clients face.

u do realize there is a pandemic out there..a lot of businesses are struggling..times have changed..!!

seriously get on board and support it close down and stop ripping ppl off with endless promises!

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Admin

Hey @WoofGateaux,

 

Thanks for the feedback and sorry to hear you're unhappy with Square Online.

 

If you'd like to see what our eCommerce team have worked on and released recently you can actually view a history of updates we've made to the Square Online platform in the last year via our Product Updates board. I'm not going to post each and every one, but here's the last 6 months worth.

 

Some of the features we've launched have been driven by feedback from our Seller Community. If you'd like to read more than the last 6 months worth, simply scroll back through the Product Updates section ๐Ÿ‘

 

I know it can be frustrating to see new features released that aren't the specific ones you're looking for! With that said though I need to be clear that Square's Community staff do not have the ability to take the action you're suggesting.  While we're here to advocate for our sellers and have your voices heard internally, we are not able to promise you any specific features, or make new features happen on demand. In most cases, we're not able to share internals goings on at Square or projected product roadmaps because Square do not publicly release this information.

 

If you'd like to read more about how Feature Request work please read this article.
 

If you'd like to share more information about the exact nature of what you're looking to do and how this would benefit your business, then this would be the most helpful way to get your voice heard. Let me know how the system currently works vs how you'd like it to work, and how this would benefit your business.

 

Reading your original post in this thread, it looks like you were wanting customers to be able to order ahead outside of your opening hours - this is currently doable for both pickup and delivery.

 

Was the issue that you wanted the pickup/delivery timeframe to be outside of your normal business opening hours? EG the shop is closed to the public but you still have someone making deliveries? 

 

Feel free to clarify exactly what you were looking for, and I can either tell you how to do it, or pass on a clear use case to our team!

 

 

Seamus
Square, Australia
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Super Seller

I would love to see something with a calendar option for pre-orders. Also the ability to choose our own times rather than depend on the prep/store hour feature would be great! 

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This feature is supposedly "in the works", "available soon" for 6 months... Can we get a real update and ETA for this feature here? With winter starting and businesses starting to rely more and more on delivery, this is really killing us here during this pandemic. Get it together Square, or you're going to keep losing customers.

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Admin

Hey @gvillenave,

 

Thanks for your feedback, I appreciate this is a much sought after feature and I understand it would be very useful to a lot of our merchants. I regularly pass on feedback from this thread as a way of making sure our sellers are being heard on this one.

 

Unfortunately though, I don't have any further information to share on the possible future availability of this feature. As general policy, Square announces new features when they're ready to go.

 

One workaround that I have heard used is to create item variations as a way of setting different pickup days/times. I know it's not the same as having the actual feature available, but it's worked for some sellers so just putting it out there in the event it may help!

Seamus
Square, Australia
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Beta Member

I offer pickup every day of the week with 5 hours prep time. (I have this set up and working fine)

I also want to offer delivery on Fridays between 9-11am, but I need orders placed by Wednesday night. 

How can I set this up? 

 

Thanks, Mim. 

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Admin

Hey @MimG,

 

Thanks for getting in touch!

 

I've moved your comment to this thread - set pick up times / pre-orders is a feature that would cover this, we're currently tracking feedback on this one. It's been a popular request for Square Online, so I'm hoping this is something that can be implemented soon.

 

I'll update this thread if I hear more about this feature becoming available.

 

Sorry I can't be of more help for now!

Seamus
Square, Australia
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Beta Member

Thanks Seamus. Hopefully a solution comes through soon. 

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I would also like a pre-order option.  If I create an invoice and it is paid before the day of pick up, the transaction goes into sales for the day of payment not the day of pick up. This results in the till being short on the day of pick up as it is balanced on quantity of stock sold on the day.  Even if I could just forward date the invoice to day of pick up it would be helpful.

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Admin

Thanks for the feedback @Dandee,

 

I've moved your message and the other thread across to this one, we're we are tracking demand for the feature.

 

While I don't have an ETA on if or when it may be available, it's been a popular request so I hope it's something we'll have more info to share on ASAP.

Seamus
Square, Australia
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I'm currently running a forizen meals business where customers can order during the week for collection the following thursday afternoon.  WIth the current prep time settings (i have it set to 5 days) depending on when they order the system defaults to the the following pick up day of the week after whic is wrong.  Is there any way to set a specifica collection day?

 

For example, if a customer orders on the monday the collection day in the confirmation email is the thursday the following week, this is correct.  Hoewever, if the customer orders on the friday, because of the prep time setting, it defaults to the thursday the two weeks after which is wrong.

 

Any ideas?

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Admin

Hey @cpeach,

 

Thanks for getting in touch and welcome to the Seller Community!

 

I moved your message to this existing thread, which covers a feature request for set pick up times/dates, order cutoff times and pre-order options, which would give you the functionality you're looking for here. Hopefully we'll be able to release these features in the future to give you more specific pick up options.

 

In the meantime, I think what may be happening here is that when taking prep time in to consideration, the system currently doesn't take into account the weekend as "business days" and doesn't allow for setting a "days" timeframe that counts weekends.

 

If you changed this setting to 4 business days, I imagine that this would help with your Friday orders, but then also move the order cut off day from Monday to Tuesday. I know it's not the exact answer you're looking for, but it may be worth consider which option would be the preferable one with how the system currently works. In the meantime I'll pass your feedback to our eCommerce team - I can see that the addition of a "5 days" order prep time vs a "5 business days" one would help solve the issue in your specific case here!

Seamus
Square, Australia
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