Update February 2021: Squarespace added Afterpay as an option in the US, Australia and New Zealand. PayPal Pay-in-3 is available in the UK.
Update March 2024: Squarespace added Klarna to Squarespace Payments. This is now available to sellers in the US where Squarespace Payments is available.
It isn't possible for anyone - including professional developers - to integrate a new payment processor or payment method into the Squarespace ecommerce system. This aspect is under Squarespace control.
To explain, Squarespace is slightly different to other web hosting platforms because it is "serverless". This makes it much easier for you to build a website or an online store with technical knowledge and it ensures that your site will keep running safely and securely because there's a team at Squarespace who take of all the technical infrastructure for you! For them to do this whilst keeping payments secure and compliant, they lockdown the checkout and payment systems and don't allow you to change them.
It will take time for Squarespace to integrate new payment methods and I think it's highly unlikely that Squarespace will integrate Klarna any time soon. If you really need this particular service then the only workaround is to use an alternative e-commerce checkout on your Squarespace site (such as Shopify Buy Buttons), or move to another platform that supports it (like Shopify). If it helps, I wrote about how to do this here: How to add Afterpay or Klarna to Squarespace.
Squarespace makes it pretty impossible to set up a checkout process for offline payments, unless you like imperfect workarounds. Either Squarespace is simply unaware of such a need (seems unlikely) or their business model is beholden to the payment processors (they probably get a cut off the transaction back from the processor) - the suppression of such a basic feature is otherwise inexplicable.
I am venting my frustration here, because I like Squarespace, and would like them to fix this. In comparison -
Ecwid - extremely easy to use, great features set, design ethos - Soviet housing block utilitarian;
Shopify - works well except for the usurious toll they take on every transaction, including offline
WordPress/WooCommerce - the Rube Goldberg site builder with a Dewey Decimal System inspired admin dashboard
Why do I like Squarespace - in one word - design. Simple to use admin dashboard that does not hurt my eye or sensitivities, as well as outstanding website design. Where does Squarespace fall short - basic features critical to commerce such as offline checkout (and other finer customisation details, but lets stick to offline checkout today).
CURRENT WORKAROUNDS FOR OFFLINE CHECKOUT
- Create a 100% Discount Code so customers can checkout without a card. Issue - you are literally offering the customer a 100% discount since you can't even change the words (automatic description "Save 100% on any order" appears at checkout and in order conf email)
- Wishlist extension . Issue - the faq says this substitutes the checkout process, i.e., you cannot have some customers adding to Wishlist and others checking out with carded payments. This solution would be great for those whose entire business is offline but for others who have a mixed customer base (some with credit cards, some debit cards, some paying through bank transfers, others at store) this does not seem to be the solution
- Square for Offline - this is not available outside the USA! It is 2020, and the rest of the world is not so shabby as to be ignored
Squarespace should rightly be proud about its design, and its Values , one of which is Simplify. Surely offering a simple solution to add Offline checkout is possible and long overdue? Anthony Casalena, are you listening, because no one else at Squarespace apparently is.
