Setting Up Square for Your Shop

What Square is

Square is a payment company. You've definitely seen their small white card readers — at coffee shops, food trucks, farmer's markets, and pop-ups. Square also processes online payments through your website.

The key thing that makes Square different from Stripe:

• Stripe is online-only. You sell on a website, you use Stripe.
• Square handles online AND in person. If you also sell at events, in a market booth, or at a physical location, Square gives you one account that covers both.

If you sell only online, either Stripe or Square works fine. If you sell in person too (or are planning to), Square is the better fit because your online sales and in-person sales show up in one dashboard, with one inventory list, one set of tax reports, and one bank deposit.

What it costs you

Free to sign up. You pay Square only when you make a sale.

For online sales (which is what we use Square for): 2.9% + 30¢ per sale. Same as Stripe.

You sell something for...	Square takes...	You receive...
$5	$0.45	$4.55
$20	$0.88	$19.12
$50	$1.75	$48.25
$100	$3.20	$96.80
$500	$14.80	$485.20

(In-person sales via Square's card readers cost less — about 2.6% + 10¢ — but that only matters if you also use Square in person.)

SiteGlowUp takes $0. The fee above is entirely Square's.

Where Square works

Available in: USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Japan, Ireland, France, Spain.

If your country isn't on this list, use Stripe instead — see Setting Up Stripe.

Important: you need to sign up at Square FIRST

Unlike the Stripe path (where we walk you through their signup inside the connect flow), Square requires you to create your Square account at squareup.com first, then come back to connect.

If you click "Connect Square" before having a Square account, Square will redirect you to their signup page — but it's much smoother to handle account creation as a separate first step.

Step 1 — Sign up at Square (5-10 minutes)

1. Open squareup.com in a new tab
2. Click Get Started or Sign Up
3. Square asks for:

- 🏢 Your business type (single location, multiple, online-only, etc.) — be honest, pick what matches you - 📛 Your business name (or your own name if you're a sole proprietor) - 🏠 Business address (or home address) - 📞 Phone number - 🆔 EIN (if you're a registered business) or SSN (if sole proprietor) - 🏦 Bank account for payouts (routing + account number) - 📷 Identity verification (driver's license photo, etc.)

1. Click through and confirm
2. They'll send you a verification email — click the link
3. You're done with Part 1. You now have a Square account.

Square's signup typically takes 5-10 minutes. Verification is usually instant; occasionally takes a few hours.

Step 2 — Connect Square to your shop (1 minute)

1. Open your dashboard at app.siteglowup.ai → pick your site
2. Click Addons in the left menu → find the Shop card → click Manage (or Enable if you haven't yet)
3. You'll see two cards: Stripe and Square. Click Square
4. Square opens their consent screen. Sign in with the Square account you just created
5. Square shows you what permissions we need to ask for:

- Read your business name (so we can show "Connected to: [your business]" in your dashboard) - Read and write items (so when you add a product to your shop, it also appears in Square) - Create checkout orders and read details - Create payment links

1. Click Allow
2. Square sends you back to your dashboard with a green "Square account connected" banner

You're done. Now add some products — see Selling on Your Website.

The big advantage: Square + in-person selling

If you also sell at events, in a market, or at a physical location:

• Add a product on SiteGlowUp → it automatically appears in your Square Register (the iPhone/iPad app you use with their card readers)
• Sell a product at an event → the sale shows up in the same Square dashboard as your online sales
• Square inventory (if you turn it on) decrements regardless of where the sale happened
• Year-end tax reports cover everything in one place

This is the killer feature for hybrid sellers. Stripe doesn't have anything equivalent.

How money flows

1. Customer pays $20 on your shop
2. Square deducts their fee (~$0.88) and the remaining $19.12 lands in your Square balance
3. By the next business day, Square sends your balance to your bank
4. The deposit appears in your bank account (under your business name)

Square's next-business-day payouts are faster than Stripe's default 2-day schedule. Nice cash-flow advantage if that matters.

There's also an Instant Transfer option (1.75% extra fee) that sends money to your bank within minutes if you really need it now.

Where to manage things after setup

Most money operations live in Square's dashboard, not ours:

What	Where
All sales transactions	squareup.com/dashboard → Transactions
Refund a customer	Square Dashboard → Transactions → click the payment → Refund
Dispute (chargeback) info	Square Dashboard → Disputes (also emails you when one opens)
Change which bank gets payouts	Square Dashboard → Account & Settings → Banking
When your next payout will arrive	Square Dashboard → Balance → Payouts
Year-end tax forms (1099-K)	Square Dashboard → Tax Forms (in January)
Your shop's order list	Your SiteGlowUp dashboard → Shop → Orders

Common questions

"Do I need a registered business?"
No. Sole proprietorship is fine — sign up with your SSN, sell under your own name.

"What will my customers see on their statement?"
Your business name. (Set in your Square account profile.)

"What about sales tax?"
Square has free built-in tax tools for US sellers — set them up under Items → Taxes in your Square Dashboard. For other countries, you can set up custom tax rates. Once configured, Square automatically adds tax to checkout based on the buyer's address.

"What if a customer disputes a charge?"
Square emails you. Log into Square's dashboard → Disputes → click the dispute → upload your evidence (receipt, shipping confirmation, customer messages). Square submits it to the customer's bank, who decides in 30-60 days.

"My Square account got locked"
Happens occasionally, especially for sellers in higher-risk categories (digital goods, subscriptions, items that pattern-match to fraud). Square emails you and asks for more info; respond promptly and they usually unlock within a day.

"I already use Square for in-person sales — does this work with my existing account?"
Yes — same account. Click Connect Square in your dashboard, sign in with your existing credentials, click Allow. The shop addon connects to your existing setup. Products you've already added in Square Register can be added to your online shop too.

"Square vs Stripe — which should I pick?"

• Square: if you sell in person too, or want next-business-day payouts


• Stripe: if you sell only online, or live outside Square's supported countries

For US online-only sellers it's basically a coin flip. Both are great.

"Can I switch from Square to Stripe later?"
Yes. In Shop Settings, click Switch provider. Your Square account stays linked (in case you switch back) but your products need to be re-created for Stripe. See Setting Up Stripe.

"How do I disconnect Square from my shop?"
Two ways:

• From our side: Shop Settings → Switch provider or Disconnect


• From Square's side: Square Dashboard → Apps → find SiteGlowUp → click Disconnect. Square cuts our access immediately

Need help?

Issues with Square itself (verification stuck, payout delays, disputes, tax tools) — Square's support: squareup.com/help is excellent.

Issues on our side (Connect button broken, signed up at Square but the dashboard doesn't show connected, products not appearing) — email support@siteglowup.ai.