Manage online alcohol sales
About alcohol sales
If you’re selling physical or prepared food and beverage items online, you can sell alcohol with Square Online if permitted by law in your area.
Before you begin
Before you start selling alcohol online, do some research to find out what is and isn't permitted in your area. There may be additional licensing requirements or other restrictions related to selling alcohol online. If you have more questions, reach out to your local chamber of commerce.
Be sure to indicate which of your items in your Item Library contain alcohol. To indicate this for several items at once, learn how to Bulk edit items.
Label alcoholic items
To start selling alcohol online, you must first indicate which items in your item library contain alcohol. This could be a prepared cocktail from a bar that's set up for pickup, local delivery, or QR code ordering, or a non-perishable item like bottled wine set up for shipping.
To add an item that contains alcohol:
Sign in to your Square Dashboard and click Items & orders > Items.
Select an existing item or create a new one.
Under Fulfillment, set up your online fulfillment methods for the item and toggle on Item contains alcohol.
Select Save when finished.
Manage alcohol orders
If you have on-demand delivery enabled for Square Online, you may deliver items that contain alcohol. To set up alcohol with on-demand delivery:
- Log in to your Square Dashboard and select Account & Settings > Fulfillment > Pickup & Delivery.
- Select Edit by the location you want to set up alcohol for.
- Go to the Delivery tab and be sure you’ve selected On-Demand Delivery.
- Indicate that you plan to deliver alcohol. Your customers will have to present ID to accept orders that include alcohol.
- Complete all other fields and select Save.
Note: On-demand delivery of alcohol is only available via DoorDash. For orders that contain alcohol, the stock levels for all items in the order are decremented at the time of successful age verification and not at the time of successful payment.
If you have QR code ordering enabled for Square Online, you may serve items that contain alcohol after a customer orders from their table or chair. To set up alcohol with QR code ordering:
- Log in to your Square Dashboard and click Sales channels > Online > Fulfillment > QR code ordering.
- Select Edit by the location you want to set up alcohol for and edit the alcohol settings.
- Toggle on whether you intend to serve alcohol, and set an optional maximum quantity of alcoholic items that can be placed per order.
- Click Save.
Once alcohol is enabled for QR code ordering, be sure you’ve indicated which of your items include alcohol to complete the setup.
If an adult aged 21 or older isn’t home, or if ID verification can’t be completed, on-demand delivery couriers will return orders that contain alcohol to the pickup location. A $3.50 return delivery fee will be charged to you, which you can choose to pass on to customers. You can then issue a refund or contact the customer to arrange a pickup.
To charge an alcohol restock fee:
- Log in to your Square Dashboard and select Account & Settings > Fulfillment > Pickup & Delivery.
- Select Advanced settings and toggle on Restocking fee to charge customers the $3.50 restocking fee for failed alcohol deliveries.
- Click Save.
You can cancel an order that contains alcohol from the Order Manager in both your Square POS and Square Dashboard.
To cancel an order from Square Point of Sale:
- Select ≡ More > Orders and choose the order you’d like to cancel.
- Select Cancel Order.
To cancel an order from Square Dashboard:
- Log in to your Square Dashboard and select Orders.
- Select the order you want to cancel and click Actions > Cancel order.
Review alcohol sales requirements
Although you can add age verification pop-ups to your website, Square Online does not have a legally compliant age verification feature. It is your responsibility to verify the legal age of your buyers when selling alcohol for in-store and curbside pickup, in-house delivery, or QR code ordering.
When selling alcohol using on-demand delivery, the on-demand delivery courier will manage the age verification upon delivery.
On-Demand Delivery of alcohol is only available via DoorDash in Arizona, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawai’i, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.
While Square Online does offer an in-house delivery option for local delivery, the legal requirements for delivery of alcoholic beverages vary from one area to another. Unlike using on-demand delivery, with in-house delivery, it is solely your responsibility to be aware of and comply with any local and national rules and regulations related to the delivery of alcohol.
You may offer in-store and curbside pickup for online sales of alcoholic beverages in accordance with your local laws and regulations. Learn how to set up pickup options with Square Online.