If you are thinking of getting a free ecommerce website from Square, you may want to rethink your decision. Square Up, offered by Square, is an online ecommerce store that Square offers. Just like Ebay, Etsy etc., with Square Up, a business owner can easily set up a simple website full of photos, pricing and information about products. Although it offers a space where merchants can build a website and sell through it, SquareUp comes with its own share of drawbacks.
SquareUp is a platform for buying free ecommerce websites, however, with limited scope for customization and a few other drawbacks
Marketing And Sales Of Products
Although Square offers transparency in terms of the contract, transaction fees, costs incurred on equipment as well as add on services, it has a few flaws. There is a lack of real time customer service and support. The company’s fund holding policies are also a major shortcoming. Most of their promotion-based material fails to mention anything about any of these two issues.
Contract And Costs
The pricing policy of a Square Online Store is basic and straightforward. It has a set cost for every transaction and there are no monthly fees. Nor are there any long term contracts with Square. The contracts for processing credit cards are transparent as well. However, even if the pricing on Square appears to be very attractive, there have been some complaints online, which point towards drawbacks in the contract. Square protects itself from frauds by placing controls or holds on large fund transactions or those which may appear to be suspicious to them. Such fund holds are exercised without even providing prior notice to all the merchants. This particular issue has been at the centre of a number of complaints.
Services And Complaints
Square Up offers features such as low fees and is easy to install. At the same time, it also offers the merchants with the option of linking their social media accounts, such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
However, there are many limitations associated with a Square online store. It is important to note that the appearance of the online store is just basic. With every product listing, there is only a single image. Another drawback associated with the Square Up is that there is limited scope for making customizations.
There is limited real-time customer support from Square. Their most preferred channels of communications with merchants tend to include email as well as social media. If you have an active account with them, you may also get in touch with them on phone. It has been pointed out in this context that many of the merchants who had posted their complaints online have received very delayed responses from them. Many others are still waiting for a response on the part of the company. Moreover, there have hardly been any efforts at altering the customer service aspect of the company. This can be a huge blockage in the smooth functioning of your ecommerce business and distress you.
Better Business Bureau Reports
As per the reports by the Better Business Bureau, there have been more than 1,000 complaints against Square and the numbers are only going up every month. There have been complaints regarding many issues. There are problems with services, as well as disputes regarding the collection as well as billing procedures. There have also been complaints over delivery as well as sales and advertising issues. A few complaints are also associated with warranty or guarantee problems. It has also been pointed out at the Better Business Bureau page of SquareUp, that the company’s fund holding procedures are also turning out to be an issue with the merchants. Square’s online store has also failed to make satisfactory resolutions to the problems faced by many merchants. In most of the cases, there has been a very slow and delayed response to the complaints made by the merchants.
The Verdict
For setting up your free ecommerce website Square Up may not be the best option. Although it offers transparency at many levels and the fees associated with setting up a Square online store are not very high, there are many drawbacks in using a Square online store. They have a very slow and delayed complaint resolution system. You do not have too much scope for customizing your website and you cannot host external domains on Square.
On the other hand, Shopify can make for a lucrative option if you want to set up your own ecommerce venture. Shopify has been built keeping e-commerce functionalities in mind. They are definitely not a me-too in the world on online shopping, as is Square Up. Their plans are available at minimal costs, from which many themes can be availed free of cost. Although Shopify may charge you with a basic payment every month, the return on investment in this case is such that you get more than what you invest, in terms of their product quality, customer service and a host of other features.
