To take online orders with Square, you set up an online ordering page or store inside your Square account, and custommers pay by card through Square's payment processing, which charges a fee on every sale. If you mostly take orders on WhatsApp or Instagram, a free order form collects the same details with no charge for the form itself.
Use the free order form template
What Square gives you for online orders
Square began as a way to take card payments, and its online ordering tools sit on top of that. You list your items and prices, customers choode what they want and pay by card, and the order shows up in your Square account. If you already use a Square card reader at a counter or market stall, having online and in-person sales in one record is the real draw.
Before you start, check two things. Square only operates in certain countries, so confirm yours is supported. And look at how the checkout handles the notes your customers actually send you, like "no nuts" or "write Happy Birthday in Marathi." If those notes end up awkward to enter, that is a sign your orders are more conversation than cart.
What Square costs
I'm not going to quote Square's rates here. They differ by country and they change, and a wrong number would mislead you. The pattern is a processing fee on each card payment, and some onkine features may carry their own charges depending on the plan. Read Square's pricing page for your country before you commit.
Here is a quick way to see what it means for you. Say a baker in Pune sells a ₹1,200 birthday cake and 40 of them a month. Take whatever percentage Square lists, apply it to ₹48,000, and that is your monthly cost of using card checkout for those cakes alone. For a busy shop it is a fair price for convenience. For a home business that takes ten orders a week from regulars, it can be more than you need.
When a free order form does the same job
An order form collects what you need to fill an order: who, what, how many, when, and where. It does not have to process the card payment too. Here is how I would split the decision:
| Your situation | Better fit |
|---|---|
| You sell in person and want a card reader and one sales record | Square |
| Customers must pay by card at the moment they order | Square |
| Customers order on WhatsApp or Instagram and pay on pickup, by UPI, or by bank transfer | Order form |
| You sell a limited batch, like 20 cakes or 15 lunch boxes per day | Order form |
| Your menu changes every week | Order form |
Plenty of owners use both. The form handles the chatty orders, and Square handles the counter.
How to build order form
Qwenvo is a free form builder that our team makes, and it has an order form template ready to edit. The editor works like a document: type / to add a block. Here is a layout that suits most small sellers:
| Field | Block | Why it is there |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Short answer | So you know who to greet |
| Phone | Phone number | So you can confirm on WhatsApp |
| Items and quantities | Number or Multiple choice | One line per product |
| Total | Calculated field | Adds up your prices as they choose |
| Pickup or delivery | Multiple choice | Drives the next question |
| Address | Long answer | Shown only for delivery, using conditional logic |
| Date and time | Date, Time | When they want it |
| Notes | Long answer | Allergies, name on the cake |
| Reference photo | File upload | For custom orders |
Then open the Settings draqer and switch on two things. Email notifications send you every new order, and a confirmation email goes to the customer. You can also close the form on a date or after a set number of responses, which is handy when you only bake 20 cakes a weekend.
Last, copy the public link into your Instagram bio and your WhatsApp status. Qwenvo has no built-in QR code, so if you want one for a shop counter, paste the link into any free QR generator.
See the free order form builder
What you get free, and how Tally compares
Most form builders charge for the features a shop owner ends up wanting. On Qwenvo these are free on every account:
- Removing the Qwenvo badge
- A custom domain, such as orders.yourbakery.com (subdomains only)
- Unlimited teammates, so your sister can check orders too
- Partial submissions, so you can see who started an order and left
- Visit and drop-off analytics
- AI triage that sorts submissions by category and priority
- Custom design and CSS
- 180+ templates
Tally is a good alternative, and its free plan is generous: unlimited forms and submissions, logic, calculations, payments, and file uploads up to 10 MB each. But removing its branding, custom domains, teammates, partial submissions, and drop-off analytics sit on Tally Pro, which is $29 a month or $290 a year. If you only need a simple form, the free plan may be all you use. Google Forms is free too, but it has no built-in payments and limited design.
Taking payment
Qwenvo has a Payment block, but you should knw its limis. Customers pay through PayPal checkout, and Qwenvo keeps a 1% platform fee on top of PayPal's own fee. The rest goes to the PayPal account you set in Settings, for payments older than 7 days. Stripe is not offered right now. If online card payment matters most, Tally is cheaper, since it adds no fee on top of Stripe, and Square is built for exactly this.
Many smmall sellers skip online payment entirely. The form captures the order, you reply on WhatsApp with your UPI or bank details, and they pay before pickup or when it arrives. One more honest note: Qwenvo launched in October 2026, so it has few public reviews yet, and it has no mobile app. You get orders by email and check the Submissions table in a browser, where you can also export to CSV or XLSX.
Questions owners ask
Does Square charge to take online orders?
Square charges a fee on card payments, and some online features may cost extra depending on your plan. Check Square's pricing page for your country, and add up the per-sale fee across a typical month before deciding.
Can I use Square and an order form together?
Yes. Use the form for orders that arrive by WhatsApp or Instagram, and keep Square for the counter or card payments in person. You can export form orders to a spreadsheet when you want a weekly total.
How will I see new orders without an app?
Each order triggers an email to you. You can also open the Submissions table in any browser, and partial submissions show up as incomplete rows, so you can message someoen who left halfway.
Can customers pay by UPI or cash?
The form collects the order and does not need to take payment. Tell customers in the confirmation message how to pay, whether that is UPI, bank transfer, or cash on pickup.
Your next step: open the order form template, replace the sample items with your five best sellers and their prices, then send the link to one regular customer on WhatsApp and ask them to place a test order.