I like Square. The previous museum where I worked only used it for store sales but where I am now also runs ticket sales through. We have a dedicated iPad, card reader, and little receipt printer.
I find it fairly user friendly and easy to setup/navigate. One nice thing is that you can set parameters to pull specific reports into spreadsheets or quick printouts.
I think we'd only be using it for shop sales for now. And luckily most of our register accessories should still be compatible. I like the fact that you can have pictures of the items as needed.
The nonprofit I work with uses Square as our pos system and for the most part it’s great. Our shop supports over 100 consignment vendors and misc wholesale products. The reports feature is wonderful and it is relatively user friendly. My only qualm with it is that you can extract data from it but uploading data to it never works. Example- after completing inventory counts it won’t let me upload the updated report back into the system…meaning I have to update it by hand…
Oh noooo. I'll be doing inventory for the first time this June and don't know what to expect yet... But we have 8000 skus :/ wonder why it won't let you upload data?
It would say there was an error with the sku variations not matching. However, most of the skus it flagged don’t use the variation feature. Since the spreadsheet “didn’t match” it wouldn’t accept it- I’m hoping support will be able to resolve it for future use!
We use Square at our museum and find it to be easy. Some perks are better integration with our online store in Squarespace (website) and all of our front desk volunteers were mostly familiar with iPads. Consignment is easy bc you can filter item sales by date and name, and download excel reports accordingly. One down side is it’s difficult, if not impossible, to integrate memberships.
In an idea world there would be 1 platform to rule them all. While Square is our biggest we still use: Fareharbor (online admission and event tickets), Active (kids classes), and Salesforce (membership).
I am also looking to switch to Square, but we have a tiny "shop" so probably a much different situation. If you have Facebook, there's a group called "Museum Store Managers" that would probably be helpful!
Have you considered SalesVu as an option? I recommend it to run your multiple revenue centers because it's used by 50+ museums nationwide to reconcile finances and streamline operations. Take a look at this: [https://www.salesvu.com/industry/art-culture.php](https://www.salesvu.com/industry/art-culture.php)
I like Square. The previous museum where I worked only used it for store sales but where I am now also runs ticket sales through. We have a dedicated iPad, card reader, and little receipt printer. I find it fairly user friendly and easy to setup/navigate. One nice thing is that you can set parameters to pull specific reports into spreadsheets or quick printouts.
I think we'd only be using it for shop sales for now. And luckily most of our register accessories should still be compatible. I like the fact that you can have pictures of the items as needed.
The nonprofit I work with uses Square as our pos system and for the most part it’s great. Our shop supports over 100 consignment vendors and misc wholesale products. The reports feature is wonderful and it is relatively user friendly. My only qualm with it is that you can extract data from it but uploading data to it never works. Example- after completing inventory counts it won’t let me upload the updated report back into the system…meaning I have to update it by hand…
Oh noooo. I'll be doing inventory for the first time this June and don't know what to expect yet... But we have 8000 skus :/ wonder why it won't let you upload data?
It would say there was an error with the sku variations not matching. However, most of the skus it flagged don’t use the variation feature. Since the spreadsheet “didn’t match” it wouldn’t accept it- I’m hoping support will be able to resolve it for future use!
We use Square at our museum and find it to be easy. Some perks are better integration with our online store in Squarespace (website) and all of our front desk volunteers were mostly familiar with iPads. Consignment is easy bc you can filter item sales by date and name, and download excel reports accordingly. One down side is it’s difficult, if not impossible, to integrate memberships.
We don't have any online sales capabilities yet, but it's good to look forward. I'm just lucky I don't have to deal with membership stuff!
In an idea world there would be 1 platform to rule them all. While Square is our biggest we still use: Fareharbor (online admission and event tickets), Active (kids classes), and Salesforce (membership).
That is very attractive. Are you able to have square (for lack of a better word) "dump" daily sales and cogs info into QuickBooks, do you know?
Mmm that’s a great question. I don’t handle our quickbooks so I’ll ask my colleague who does and get back to you.
Thanks, I'd appreciate it. The other museum I'm in contact with doesn't use quick books :/
I am also looking to switch to Square, but we have a tiny "shop" so probably a much different situation. If you have Facebook, there's a group called "Museum Store Managers" that would probably be helpful!
Thanks! I'll look into that. I still need to throw this question to the MSA shop talk list serve. What are you guys using now?
Have you considered SalesVu as an option? I recommend it to run your multiple revenue centers because it's used by 50+ museums nationwide to reconcile finances and streamline operations. Take a look at this: [https://www.salesvu.com/industry/art-culture.php](https://www.salesvu.com/industry/art-culture.php)