> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Online-Only SKUs, Square Online > Online-Only SKUs: items visible on Square Online but not present at every location. The online-only complement to your retail catalog. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Card class:** [Non-Hero](/nerve-centre/overview#card-classes-explained) • **Category:** [Ecommerce Platform](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) > Items with present\_at\_all\_locations = false AND ecom\_visibility = VISIBLE. The online-only complement to your retail catalog. ## At a glance > A real-time count of catalog items that are published to Square Online (`ecom_visibility = VISIBLE`) but are not present at every location (`present_at_all_locations = false`). These are your deliberately web-only products: items you sell online but do not stock on the shop floor, drop-ship lines, web exclusives, oversized items, or made-to-order goods. The count is the size of your online-only catalog complement, the part of your assortment that exists for the website and not the till. | | | | ------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **What it counts** | `COUNT(items WHERE present_at_all_locations = false AND ecom_visibility = VISIBLE)`. Both conditions must hold: published online AND not stocked everywhere. | | **The two Square fields** | `present_at_all_locations` is a catalog flag controlling which locations an item exists at; `false` means it is restricted to a subset (often a web fulfilment location only). `ecom_visibility` is the storefront visibility enum (`VISIBLE`, `HIDDEN`, `UNINDEXED`, `UNAVAILABLE`); `VISIBLE` means it shows and sells on Square Online. | | **VAT / tax treatment** | n/a, this is a catalog-composition count. | | **Refunds / orders** | n/a. This is a catalog state count, not order-based. | | **Channels / sources** | **This is the web-exclusive slice of the catalog.** It is the intentional inverse of items sellable at POS but not online. Together they describe how your assortment is split across retail and web. | | **Currency / unit** | number (count of online-only items) | | **Time window** | `RT` (real-time, polled from the Square Catalog API every 5-15 minutes) | | **Alert trigger** | none. This is a catalog-composition card, not a threshold alarm. | | **Roles** | owner, operations | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your Square Online data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example A US home and garden merchant on Square: two retail stores plus a Square Online storefront that ships nationwide. Catalog of 2,100 active items. Snapshot taken on 12 Apr 26 at 14:00 UTC. | Catalog segment | Items | Notes | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----- | ------------------------------------------- | | Active catalog items | 2,100 | All non-archived items | | Present at all locations AND visible online | 1,460 | The shared core, sold in-store and online | | `present_at_all_locations = false` AND `ecom_visibility = VISIBLE` (this card) | 380 | Online-only complement | | Present at all locations but `ecom_visibility = HIDDEN` | 210 | In-store only, deliberately not online | | `present_at_all_locations = false` AND not visible online | 50 | Restricted and not on the web, e.g. staging | Three things to notice: 1. **Online-only is a deliberate assortment strategy, not an error.** The 380 web-only items are likely oversized or drop-ship goods (garden furniture, large planters) that do not fit the shop floor but ship fine, plus web exclusives. A healthy count here is a sign of a mature omnichannel assortment, not a problem. That is why the card has no alert: more or fewer online-only items is a merchandising decision. 2. **The two flags must both be checked, and one alone misleads.** An item with `present_at_all_locations = false` but `ecom_visibility = HIDDEN` is restricted AND not on the web, it is not online-only, it is nowhere customer-facing (the 50-item staging bucket). Only the items that are both location-restricted and visible online belong on this card. Reading `present_at_all_locations` alone would overcount. 3. **Online-only items still need inventory discipline.** Because they are not at every location, their stock is held at a web fulfilment location and must be tracked there. An online-only item with no SKU or with inventory tracking off is an oversell waiting to happen, the website will keep selling it. Pair with [Items Missing SKU](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square-online/items-missing-sku) to make sure the web-only catalog is properly identified. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why pair it with Online-Only SKUs | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Items POS-Sellable but Not Online-Visible](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square-online/items-pos-sellable-but-not-online-visible) | The exact mirror image. This card is web-only; that card is store-only. Together they map how your assortment splits across channels. | | [POS to Online Inventory Drift](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square-online/pos-online-inventory-drift) | Online-only items are correctly absent from POS, so they should never count as drift. Useful to confirm a flagged drift case is a misconfiguration, not a deliberate web-only item. | | [Items Missing SKU](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square-online/items-missing-sku) | Online-only items still need SKUs for inventory and reordering. A SKU-less web-only item is an oversell risk. | | [Total Catalog Items](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square-online/total-catalog-items) | The denominator. Online-only as a share of the catalog describes how web-weighted your assortment is. | | [Revenue from POS-Only Items](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square-online/revenue-from-pos-only-items) | The revenue mirror on the retail side. Comparing online-only count with POS-only revenue shows where each channel's exclusive assortment pulls its weight. | | [Out-of-Stock Products](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square-online/out-of-stock-products) | Online-only items that go OOS hit the web channel directly with no in-store fallback, so their stock-outs are higher-stakes. | ## Reconciling against Square **Where to look in the Square Dashboard:** [Square Dashboard, Items, Item library](https://squareup.com/dashboard/items/library), plus the Square Online site editor. In the item editor, an online-only item shows **Site visibility = Visible** while its **Locations** setting is restricted to a subset rather than "All locations". To audit at scale, export the catalog to CSV and filter for items where the all-locations flag is off and the online visibility is set to visible. Other Square Dashboard views that *look* like the same number but aren't: * **Square Online, Items, Visible**: counts everything visible on the web, including items present at all locations. You also need the location-restriction condition to isolate online-only. * **Items, Item library, Locations filter**: shows items restricted to a location set, but does not filter by online visibility, so it includes restricted items that are hidden online too. * **Items, item editor, single item**: shows both flags for one item at a time, the place to fix, not to count. **Why our number may legitimately differ from Square Dashboard:** | Reason | Direction of divergence | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------- | | **Both conditions required**. We require `present_at_all_locations = false` AND `ecom_visibility = VISIBLE`. A dashboard view filtered on only one flag will report a different, larger set. | Vortex IQ lower than a single-flag view | | **Visibility enum nuance**. Square's `ecom_visibility` has four states (`VISIBLE`, `HIDDEN`, `UNINDEXED`, `UNAVAILABLE`). Only `VISIBLE` counts here; `UNINDEXED` (sellable by direct link but not in nav) is excluded. | Vortex IQ excludes UNINDEXED items | | **Item vs variation**. This card counts at the item level for catalog composition; SKU-related cards count at the variation level. | Different granularity from SKU cards | | **Archived items**. Archived items are excluded here. | Vortex IQ lower than a full export | | **Sync lag**. The most recent \~5 minutes of catalog edits may not be in our index. | Self-resolves within minutes | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** | Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`google_analytics` product views](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-analytics/top-products-by-revenue) | Online-only items should generate web product views; POS-only items never do | GA4 sees only the web storefront, so online-only items appear in its product reporting while store-only items do not. A web-only item with zero GA4 views may be buried in navigation (check it is `VISIBLE`, not `UNINDEXED`). | **The Square two-flag model:** Square separates *where an item exists* (`present_at_all_locations`) from *whether it shows online* (`ecom_visibility`). That separation is what makes a clean online-only catalog possible, you can stock an item only at a web fulfilment location and still publish it to the storefront. This card is the intersection of those two flags, which is why reading either flag alone gives the wrong number. ***
Same-metric documentation cross-reference (for agencies running multiple platforms) A web-exclusive catalog slice exists on other commerce platforms, modelled through each platform's own location and channel-visibility settings. * [`shopify.online_only_skus`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/online-only-skus) * [`bigcommerce.online_only_skus`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/online-only-skus)
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **What makes an item "online-only" in Square terms?** Two conditions together: `present_at_all_locations = false` (the item is restricted to a subset of locations rather than stocked everywhere) AND `ecom_visibility = VISIBLE` (it is published and sellable on Square Online). An item meeting both is sold on the web but not carried on every shop floor, the deliberate web-only complement to your retail assortment. **Why do I need both flags? Isn't one enough?** No, and reading one alone is the most common mistake. An item with `present_at_all_locations = false` but hidden online is restricted AND off the web, it is not online-only, it is nowhere customer-facing. An item visible online but present at all locations is part of the shared core, sold in-store too. Only the intersection (restricted location set plus visible online) is genuinely online-only. **Is a high online-only count a problem?** No, which is why there is no alert. The count reflects a merchandising decision: how much of your assortment is web-exclusive (oversized goods, drop-ship lines, web exclusives, made-to-order). A growing online-only catalog often signals a maturing omnichannel strategy. Watch the trend for unexpected jumps (a bulk import that wrongly restricted items), but there is no universally good or bad level. **Do online-only items still need SKUs and inventory tracking?** **Yes, arguably more than shared items.** Because an online-only item is sold without an in-store fallback, an inventory error goes straight to a web oversell with no shop floor to catch it. Make sure online-only items have SKUs ([Items Missing SKU](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square-online/items-missing-sku)) and tracked stock at their fulfilment location, or the website will keep selling stock that is not there. **What about UNINDEXED items, do they count?** **No.** Square's `ecom_visibility` enum has four states: `VISIBLE`, `HIDDEN`, `UNINDEXED`, and `UNAVAILABLE`. Only `VISIBLE` counts here. `UNINDEXED` items are sellable by direct link but hidden from site navigation and search, a deliberately limited-exposure state, not a fully published online-only item. If a web-only item you expect to see is missing from this card, check it is `VISIBLE` and not `UNINDEXED`. **Should an online-only item ever show up as inventory drift?** **No.** An online-only item is correctly absent from POS, so its "not at POS" state is by design, not a mismatch. If an online-only item is appearing on [POS to Online Inventory Drift](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/square-online/pos-online-inventory-drift), it is likely misconfigured, recheck its `present_at_all_locations` and `ecom_visibility` settings to confirm it is genuinely meant to be web-only. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Online-Only SKUs* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Square Online and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.