Sell in person with Shopify POS

Before you start

Shopify POS is a point of sale app for iOS and Android. You build a cart for each customer, take payment, and the order and inventory sync with your Shopify admin, your online store and your other sales channels¹.

What must be true first:

• Multi-location is turned on. Shopify POS needs multi-location activated in your store settings¹.
• You know which subscription you need. All paid Shopify plans include some in-person selling features at no extra cost. POS Pro is an add-on for any plan, billed monthly per POS location, and adds features such as staff permissions, exchanges and inventory transfers². Shopify Plus includes the first 20 POS Pro locations².
• Card payments through Shopify need Shopify Payments. Your store must be eligible, have Shopify Payments set up in the admin, and have two-step authentication on³. Shopify Payments for POS is available in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States³.

Worked example: a candle shop selling 40 products online in the US opens a weekend market stall and wants to take cards there.

Steps

1. Add your shop as a location. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Locations and click Add location. Enter a Name and Address. Turn on the Physical storefront setting if customers visit, then click Save⁴.
2. Decide if the location's stock sells online. Inventory at this location is available to fulfill online orders is on by default for new locations. Turn it off if stall stock should not be sold online⁴.
3. Confirm the Point of Sale channel is installed. Look for Point of Sale under Sales channels in your admin. It is installed on most stores by default; if not, install it from the Shopify App Store⁵.
4. Choose POS Lite or POS Pro for the location. Go to Sales channels > Point of Sale, then Settings > POS Pro Subscription. Click the location. To upgrade, click Add POS Pro > Approve subscriptions². Only the account owner can do this².
5. Install the app. Download Shopify POS on your iOS or Android device from its Shopify App Store listing¹.
6. Log in as the store owner. On the login screen, tap Log in, then Log in manually. Enter your admin email and password, tap Log in, enter your authentication code, and select your store and location⁵.
7. Turn on card payments. In the POS app, open the menu and go to Settings > Payments. Confirm that Credit/debit is activated³.
8. Connect a card reader. Supported readers include the Chip & Swipe reader, Chipper 2X BT, Shopify POS Terminal, BBPOS WisePad 3, Verifone Victa Mobile, and the Tap & Chip reader for US merchants⁶. If a reader isn't connected when you take a card, POS prompts you to connect it⁷.
9. Add your staff. Every staff member with POS access gets a unique PIN⁸. Staff added in the Shopify admin are assigned to all locations unless you unassign them; staff added in the app are assigned only to that device's location⁸. On POS Pro you assign each person a POS role; on POS Lite, admin users with POS access get full access⁸.
10. Ring up a test sale. Tap the product icon, search for a product and tap it, choosing a variant if asked⁹. Tap Checkout or Charge, then choose a payment type⁷.
11. Print a receipt. Tap the order icon, tap the order, then tap Receipt > Print receipt⁹.

Check your work

• In your Shopify admin, open Orders and find the test sale. POS orders sync with your admin¹.
• Check the product's stock at the stall location dropped by one. Inventory syncs across locations and channels¹.
• In the app, reopen Settings > Payments and confirm Credit/debit is still activated³.

Common problems

• A staff member can't log in with their PIN. Staff with limited admin permissions and POS-only staff can't use POS on a device until the store owner, an organization owner or a user with the POS device setup role logs in first⁵.
• I can't add POS-only staff. POS app only staff are available only on POS Pro, and can log in only to POS Pro locations⁸.
• There is no card option at checkout. Check that Shopify Payments is set up in the admin, your country is supported, and two-step authentication is on. Then confirm Credit/debit is activated in the app³.
• I can't add another location. Each plan has a location limit, such as 2 on Starter and 10 on Basic, Grow and Advanced. Deactivated locations don't count⁴.
• The card reader is not working at the counter. Follow the connection prompt in POS, or tap Manual card entry after reviewing its requirements and fraud risks⁷.
• The customer will pay later. Tap Mark unpaid. The order is recorded as a 0.00 payment⁷.
• An item isn't in my product list. Tap the Add custom sale tile, enter the price, then tap Add to cart⁹.