Sell experiential products that don't require shipping, like classes, consultations, and events.
In Squarespace, service products are classes, consultations, events (without physical tickets), or other services you offer. Since service products aren't shipped to customers, they don't require customers to pay for shipping or enter a shipping address at checkout. You can sell a service product as a one-time purchase or a subscription.
Tip: For merchandise, apparel, and other physical goods, visit Physical products. For ebooks, .mp3s, and other digital downloads, visit Digital download products.
Commerce is a premium feature available in Business, Commerce, Professional, and Premium plans.
Service products vs. appointments
Depending on the services you offer, you may want to use online booking through Acuity instead of service products. Before creating a product, review the main differences:
- Service products work well for classes and events that are free or require payments, but don't have to be booked at specific times. For example, a clothing store might add a service product to offer personalized styling services to customers, which they can use at any time by coming into the store.
- Appointments work well for services and classes scheduled for specific times or as part of a series. You can accept payment for an appointment when the client books, hold their card to charge later, or make the service free. For example, a barber shop might use Scheduling to offer appointments at specific times with their barbers. To learn more, visit Creating and editing appointment types.
To learn more, visit Choosing between service products, appointments, and events.
Step 1 - Select the product type
When adding a new product to a store page, select Service.
Step 2 - Edit the product information
Use the Name, Description, and Image fields to add information for your product.
Click Add images or drag and drop images from a folder on your computer to add images for the product. You can add multiple images.
Note: Multiple images will display as thumbnails. To add a unique image for each variant, visit Adding basic product variants.
Step 3 - Set pricing and stock levels
Under Pricing and Inventory, set the product's regular price, sale price, quantity, and SKU. To enable a sale, switch the toggle on beside On Sale. To give the product an unlimited quantity, switch the toggle on beside Unlimited quantity.
Step 4 - Add product variants
Variants are used to create additional options for a product, like different colors, sizes, or designs. To add variants, scroll to Variations and click Add. For detailed steps visit Adding product variants.
After adding product options and variants, return to the main product editor and click Edit all to customize:
- Image - Add a variant image, which will display when customers select the variant from the drop-down menu on the product details page.
- SKU - This is the inventory identifier for your product. Squarespace creates one automatically, but you can change it to a SKU that matches your inventory scheme. SKUs must be 20 characters or fewer.
- Units - The number of units available with an option to set an Unlimited stock value. To prevent customers from buying more than one of any service product at a time, uncheck Let customers buy multiple service products in checkout settings.
- Price - Set the price customers will pay for the product with additional options for sale pricing.
- Sale price - Set the price customers will pay when then product is on sale.
Step 5 - Add tags and categories
Scroll down to Organization and click Add beneath Categories and Tags to organize your products with tags and categories.
Adding categories to your products automatically creates category navigation on your store pages. The style of this navigation varies by template. To learn more, visit Organizing products.
Formatting tips:
- Tags must be 80 characters or fewer.
- Categories must be 25 characters or fewer.
- Tags and categories are case-sensitive. For example, entering Apples, apples, and APPLES creates three tags or categories.
- Tags and categories appear in alphabetical order.
Step 6 - Create a subscription (optional)
If you're eligible, you can sell the product on a recurring basis. Click Subscription and customize the subscription renewal details. Customers who buy subscription products save their billing and shipping information, and are charged automatically when their subscription renews. To learn more, visit Subscription products.
Step 7 - Add an SEO description (optional)
Scroll down to Marketing and click Edit to add SEO descriptions to your products. This helps search engines properly index your products, making it easier for people to find your content online.
Step 8 - Save
Hover over Save and click Publish to publish the product to your store page. This sets the product as available for purchase.
To schedule the product to publish to your live store later, hover over Save and click Schedule.
To save changes and close the editor, hover over Save and click Save. To learn more, visit Editing products.
Use service products to accept deposits
You can create a service product to accept partial payments from customers. When you’re ready to collect the balance, send customers a link to a separate, hidden product priced at the remaining value. This may be a good option if you sell made-to-order products, or services that last several weeks. There’s no built-in way in Squarespace to accept deposits, but some customers have used this method as a workaround.
In this example, let’s say you’re selling a custom dining table. The table costs $1,000, and you want to collect a deposit of $250 before you start building it. When it’s done, you want to collect the remaining balance. To do this:
- Create a new service product called Dining Table and set the price to $1,000.
- Create an automatic, product-specific, dollar-amount discount for $750. This way, you can list the product at full price on your store page, but collect a portion of the total amount at checkout.
- Enable express checkout, so customers skip the shopping cart page.
- Change the Add to cart button text to Pay deposit.
- Ensure the product description or additional information tells customers what to expect. For example, your lead time and your refund policy.
- After the customer pays the deposit, their order will appear in the Orders panel.
Tip: You can also add a custom product form to collect information from customers, like custom sizing, finishes, or engraving text.
Next, follow these steps:
- Add a new store page and move it to the Not linked section in the Pages panel.
- Add a new physical or service product to your hidden store page called Dining Table Balance, and set the price to $750.
- When you’re ready to collect the balance, email the customer a link to the hidden product. After they check out, their order will appear in the Orders panel.
To review all the payments a customer has made to your store to ensure they’ve paid both the deposit and the balance, go to the Profiles panel and click a customer’s name. A summary of their orders and the total amount they’ve spent in your store will display.
Additional options
Beyond the basics, you can further customize your service product with features like custom forms, buttons, and the ability for customers to buy multiple service products at once. To learn more, visit the Adding products to your store.
Next steps
After creating a product, you can:
- Use Squarespace's marketing tools to draw customers in and encourage purchasing.
- Promote your new products with Squarespace Email Campaigns. You can build mailing lists or create automated email campaigns to send marketing emails to customers after they make a purchase.
- Share products with followers and attract new customers by selling your products on Facebook and Instagram.