Hi there!
I understand you’d like to manage all your product data in Square and have it sync to WooCommerce, while still making sure stock is reduced in Square when a customer places an order using PayPal in your WooCommerce store.
With the current Square for WooCommerce integration, the product data flow is one-way:
- Products created/managed in WooCommerce can sync to Square.
- Stock levels are updated in both directions, but only if the product is set to be managed from WooCommerce.
Because of this, what you’re aiming for — managing products in Square while also receiving automatic stock reductions from PayPal orders — unfortunately isn’t supported. The integration requires WooCommerce to be the “system of record” for product data in order to handle third-party payment methods (like PayPal) correctly.
However, I would suggest you submit a feature request here https://woocommerce.com/feature-requests/square/ This way, our developers can review it and consider it for future updates.
Okay, does Square still process the payments and orders if I’m only using Square and PayPal for payments, not WooPayments?
Hi @tompanda,
Yes — if you’re only using Square and PayPal as your active payment gateways, then payments will still be processed directly through those services. WooPayments isn’t required for Square or PayPal to work.
Just to clarify:
- Square plugin will handle card payments through Square and sync stock (when WooCommerce is the product system of record).
- PayPal plugin will handle PayPal payments independently.
So orders paid via PayPal will go through WooCommerce → PayPal, and orders paid via Square will go through WooCommerce → Square. You don’t need WooPayments unless you want to use it as an additional gateway.
Feel free to let us know if you have further questions or need any assistance.
If I have other products in Square that are not on WooCommerce, can I ensure these aren’t overridden by a sync from WooCommerce to Square?
Hi there!
Yes — you can ensure that products which only exist in Square (and not in WooCommerce) aren’t overridden during sync.
If you set WooCommerce as the system of record, only products that exist in WooCommerce will sync to Square. Products that exist only in Square will remain untouched.
I hope this helps.
Is it possible to see the stock number in WooCommerce so I can check that my sync has worked correctly? At the moment I just see “Synced with Square (Sync inventory)” next to stock management, and the three options of In Stock, On Backorder or Out of Stock
Hi @tompanda,
When a product is set to “Sync with Square” in WooCommerce, the stock quantity field isn’t editable in WooCommerce. That’s why you only see the status options (In Stock / On Backorder / Out of Stock) and the “Synced with Square (Sync inventory)” message, but not the actual numeric quantity.
The stock numbers are stored and managed on Square’s side. WooCommerce reflects stock availability, but it doesn’t display the exact count in the product editor.
If you’d like to confirm that your sync is working correctly, you can:
- Check the product in your Square Dashboard → Item Library to see the current stock count.
- Place a test order in WooCommerce and confirm the stock reduces accordingly in Square.
- Optionally, export your product/stock data from both Square and WooCommerce to compare and ensure they match up after orders are processed.
If you’d like WooCommerce to display Square’s stock numbers directly in the product editor, I recommend submitting a feature request here:
https://woocommerce.com/feature-requests/square/
That way, our product team can review it for future updates.
Okay thank you.
When we synced the data, it created a lot of new categories in Square. Can we avoid this so the only thing that gets updated is product and stock info?
Hi @tompanda,
I can see how it might be frustrating to find extra categories showing up in your Square account after syncing. The Square for WooCommerce integration does send product categories along with product data, which can sometimes result in new categories being created in Square.
To better understand what happened here, could you clarify whether the categories that appeared in Square are duplicates of ones you already had in your WooCommerce store, or if they are new categories from your site that hadn’t been in Square before? That will help us determine if the sync is duplicating data or simply filling in categories that didn’t exist in Square yet.
At present, there isn’t a built-in way to limit the sync to just product and stock information while excluding categories. If keeping Square’s categories unchanged is important, you may want to adjust them in Square after syncing or manage categories directly in WooCommerce so they stay consistent.
If you’d like more control over this process, you can also submit a feature request here so our developers can consider it for a future update: https://woocommerce.com/feature-requests/square/
So I’ve been told that all the all the categories in Square now have duplicates and the products between them are not the same.
Could there be a different naming convention between the two categories that could create these duplicates?
Hi @tompanda,
Thank you for your response and for clarifying. Since you’re managing your products in Square and already have categories set up there, switching to WooCommerce as the main source and syncing from WooCommerce to Square may result in duplicate categories—especially if the names differ or the products within them aren’t identical.
I recommend choosing a single platform as the primary source for syncing rather than syncing both ways, as two-way syncing can cause product mismatches over time. Could you confirm whether you plan to continue using WooCommerce as the source or Square as the source? Updating products on both platforms can create conflicts like the one you’re experiencing.
We need to use WooCommerce as the primary source, as this allows PayPal to update Square. But Square needs to take payments in other parts of our business that are not connected to the website.
Should I be removing the other categories in Square and just keeping those in WooCommerce?
Hi @tompanda,
I understand your situation, especially since you need WooCommerce to be the primary source so PayPal orders reduce stock correctly, while still relying on Square for in-person payments outside the website. That makes it important to avoid duplicate or mismatched categories between both platforms.
In this case, yes — if you’ve chosen WooCommerce as the system of record, the cleanest approach is to keep your categories in WooCommerce and remove the extra duplicates that were created in Square. This way, the sync remains consistent, and products sold through Square will still have their stock adjusted accurately while categories won’t conflict.
Before removing categories in Square, I’d suggest exporting your product data from both platforms so you have a backup reference. After cleaning up, manage categories only in WooCommerce going forward to keep everything aligned.
Feel free to let us know how it goes, or if you need help with the next steps.
I’ve just had to revert my Square back to an old export due to all the duplicates. It looks like products and categories were duplicated.
Can I get in contact with someone via email about this so I can share the logs of the products that we originally had and the ones that were mistakenly created in the export?
Hi @tompanda,
I understand how disruptive it must have been to deal with duplicated products and categories, especially since you had to revert Square to an old export. To review what happened more closely, please feel free to share the logs with us using a service like https://pastebin.com/, https://gist.github.com/, or https://quickforget.com/. Once we can look at the details, we’ll be in a better position to advise you on the next steps.
Feel free to let us know once you’ve shared the logs.
