Shopify POS Payment Options: A Practical Guide

Understanding Shopify POS Payment Options: The Complete Guide

If you're looking for information about Shopify POS payment options, here's a quick overview of what you can accept:

Shopify POS payment options are a critical part of creating a seamless checkout experience for retail customers. Whether a store is running a pop-up shop, a brick-and-mortar location, or selling at events, the ability to accept various payment methods can significantly impact sales and customer satisfaction.

With Shopify POS, merchants can offer customers flexibility at checkout by accepting all major credit and debit cards, contactless payments via digital wallets, cash transactions, gift cards, and buy-now-pay-later options through Shop Pay Installments. The system also supports split payments, allowing customers to use multiple payment methods for a single purchase.

What sets Shopify POS apart is its integrated approach — connecting in-person sales seamlessly with the online store, unifying inventory, customer data, and financial reporting in one back office.

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Shopify POS Payment Options: What Can You Accept In-Store?

Today's shoppers expect options when they pay. Whether they're reaching for cash, tapping their phone, or wanting to split a purchase across multiple methods, a retail business needs to be ready. Here's the full range of Shopify POS payment options available for in-store transactions.

Default Shopify POS Payment Options

When a Shopify POS system is first set up, several payment methods are ready to go without any extra configuration:

Cash remains a staple for many businesses, especially small-ticket retailers and markets where physical currency is preferred. Shopify enables cash tracking to help monitor the drawer balance throughout the day.

Credit and debit cards are must-haves for modern retail. With Shopify POS, merchants can accept all major cards including Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. Transactions flow seamlessly through the system when using Shopify Payments.

Contactless payments have surged in popularity since 2020. Customers can tap their phones or smartwatches to pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and other digital wallets, creating quick, friction-free checkout experiences.

Gift cards serve double duty as both a payment method and a marketing tool. Shopify POS handles both digital and physical gift cards.

Advanced Shopify POS Payment Options

Beyond the basics, a POS can be configured to accept a variety of alternative payment methods:

Shop Pay Installments lets U.S. merchants offer buy-now-pay-later flexibility. Customers can split purchases into four interest-free payments while the merchant gets paid the full amount upfront — a feature that tends to help with higher-priced items where a customer might otherwise hesitate.

Additional BNPL solutions can be integrated through third-party providers. Options like Sezzle, Zip Pay, Splitit, and Klarna give customers more ways to manage cash flow while making purchases.

PayPal isn't directly integrated with Shopify POS, but can be accepted through third-party payment gateways.

Cryptocurrency acceptance is becoming more common. Using solutions like SensePass, a business can accept various cryptocurrencies with automatic conversion to its preferred currency.

Open banking enables real-time bank transfers for direct account-to-account payments, which can reduce transaction fees compared to credit card processing.

What makes Shopify POS payment options useful isn't just the variety — it's how they all connect to the same commerce system. Every transaction, regardless of payment method, flows into the same reporting system and connects to inventory and customer data.

How to Activate, Deactivate, and Configure Payment Types

Step-by-Step Activation Flow

To customize which payment methods customers can use, follow these steps in the Shopify POS app:

1. Tap the ≡ menu icon in the corner
2. Select Settings from the menu
3. Tap Payment types to see all options
4. Under Default payment types, toggles appear for:
5. Cash
6. Credit/Debit
7. Gift Card

Flip the switches on or off depending on what to accept. For cash, enabling cash tracking as well makes end-of-day drawer counts easier.

For retailers in the US wanting to offer Shop Pay Installments, there's a bit more to it:

First, make sure it's turned on for the online store. Then in the Shopify admin, go to Settings > Payments > Shopify Payments > Manage, and select Enable Shop Pay Installments on Point of Sale.

The screens look slightly different between iPhone and Android devices, but the core steps are identical.

Managing Custom Payment Methods

What about payment situations that don't fit the standard options? This is where custom payment methods are useful. They work well for:

Checks from regular business customers, store credit for returns without receipts, external card terminals if a business uses hardware outside Shopify's ecosystem, or any other payment type unique to the business — including in-house layaway or deposit arrangements.

Adding a custom payment method:

In the POS app, go to Settings > Payment types, then under Custom Payment Types, tap Add custom payment type. Give it a clear name like "Check" or "Employee Discount," and hit Save. Toggle it on when needed.

When a payment method is turned off, it simply disappears from the checkout screen — making things cleaner and faster for staff. It can always be turned back on later.

For more detail, see Shopify's official guide to Activate payment methods or the complete Shopify POS Set Up process.

Shopify Payments and Integrated Hardware: Card Readers, Tap to Pay, Supported Countries

Taking card payments in a store is straightforward with Shopify POS payment options. Whether using dedicated hardware or a smartphone, Shopify Payments handles card transactions directly.

Setting Up Card Readers in Shopify POS

Shopify offers several card reader options to fit different business needs:

The Tap & Chip Card Reader is suited to merchants on the move. At $49, this portable Bluetooth device handles contactless payments, chip cards, and traditional magnetic stripe cards.

For a more permanent setup, the POS Terminal adds a customer-facing display. At $349, it's built for established retail locations.

International merchants might use the WisePad 3, which supports various regional payment methods and works with Shopify POS.

The POS Go combines a card reader and barcode scanner into one handheld device, letting staff complete sales anywhere in the store.

Getting a card reader ready: 1. Make sure the reader is charged and powered on. 2. Open the POS app and go to Settings > Payment types. 3. Find the Hardware section and select the specific card reader model. 4. Follow the on-screen instructions to pair via Bluetooth. 5. Run a test transaction to confirm everything works.

Keeping card reader firmware updated and maintaining a stable Bluetooth connection helps avoid disconnection issues, particularly before busy shopping periods — reader placement relative to the POS device matters too, since Bluetooth range issues are a common source of dropped connections.

Detailed setup instructions are on the Shopify POS Card Reader Setup page.

Displaying Accepted Card Types to Customers

Shopify POS Terminal can automatically show which payment methods a store accepts right on its idle screen, without any manual signage. In the Terminal's customer display settings in the Shopify admin, merchants can turn on Show payment options to display accepted card brands — the setting applies across every POS Terminal device at every location automatically. It sits alongside the display's other customization options: a custom logo, a background image or color, and a post-purchase thank-you message.

This feature is specific to the POS Terminal's customer-facing screen. Stores using the Tap & Chip Reader or Tap to Pay on a smartphone — which don't have a dedicated customer display — should rely on standard card network decals near the register instead, and can add a payment icons block to the online checkout to keep branding consistent across in-person and online channels.

Free Tap to Pay on Smartphones

Tap to Pay technology for smartphones is one of the more useful recent additions to Shopify POS payment options — no extra hardware needed.

This feature turns compatible iPhones (XS or newer running iOS 16+) and select Android devices into card readers. The phone becomes the payment terminal, accepting contactless credit and debit cards, plus digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Setting up Tap to Pay: 1. Update the Shopify POS app to the latest version. 2. Go to Settings > Payment types. 3. Enable the Tap to Pay option. 4. Complete the guided setup process.

This free option suits seasonal businesses, pop-up shops, market vendors, and staff who need to move around the store — and it's a low-cost way to test in-person sales before investing in dedicated hardware.

Shopify Payments currently supports in-person transactions in 14 countries, including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and several European markets. With Shopify Payments and EMV-compliant readers in these regions, customer signatures can be skipped for faster checkout.

For more on Shopify Payments, see the official Shopify Payments page.

Going Further: Split Payments, BNPL, Gift Cards, Custom & Alternative Methods—Plus Fees and Reporting

Handling Split & Partial Payments in Shopify POS

Some transactions call for multiple payment methods — a customer using up a gift card balance and covering the rest with a credit card, or splitting a bill between two cards. Shopify POS handles this with split payments.

To use this feature: tap the Split payment button during checkout, enter the amount for the first payment method, select that method, and repeat for any additional payment types. Tap "Done" once the total is covered.

For situations where a customer can't pay the full amount at once — deposits on custom orders, or layaway — partial payments work similarly. Accept whatever portion they can pay now, tap Mark as partially paid, and the order is saved with that status. When they return to complete the purchase, the order appears in the Orders screen to collect the remaining balance.

Shop Pay Installments and Other BNPL Choices

Buy-now-pay-later options have become popular, especially for bigger purchases. US-based merchants can offer Shop Pay Installments right within the POS system.

The process is straightforward for customers: they select Shop Pay Installments at checkout, complete a quick approval process, and the purchase is split into four interest-free payments. The merchant gets paid the full amount upfront, with no risk on their end.

Outside the US, third-party solutions like SensePass can integrate other BNPL options like Sezzle, Zip Pay, Splitit, and Klarna with Shopify POS payment options.

Gift Cards as Payment & Marketing Tool

Gift cards pull double duty — they're both a payment method and a marketing tool that can bring new customers into a store when recipients redeem them.

Setting up gift cards in the POS: go to Settings > Checkout > Payment types, tap Gift Card, and activate Accept gift card payments. To issue gift cards, go to Settings > Products > Gift cards and choose between digital, physical, or both.

Fees, Payouts, and Daily Reconciliation

Keeping track of different payment methods and fees is one of the more tedious parts of running in-person retail. Shopify Payments simplifies this with:

• No extra transaction fees for orders processed through Shopify Payments
• Clear processing rates based on the Shopify plan
• Combined reporting for both online and in-person sales

To reconcile daily sales, go to Analytics > Reports in the Shopify admin. Under Finances, the Payments report can be filtered by payment method, date range, or location to match against cash drawer counts and bank deposits.

The main advantage of Shopify POS isn't just the variety of payment methods it accepts — it's how everything works together, with unified reporting across online and in-person sales.

For a deeper look at how to keep selling even when an internet connection drops, see the guide to Shopify POS offline mode.

Conclusion

Shopify POS payment options give a retail business the flexibility it needs at checkout. Whether customers prefer traditional methods like cash and cards or newer options like contactless payments and buy-now-pay-later plans, Shopify covers the range.

A few practical guidelines for configuring payment options:

Offer choices. Each payment method added removes a potential barrier to purchase — a customer who might walk away if only cash is accepted will often complete the purchase if they can tap their phone or split payments across cards.

Keep checkout simple for staff by only activating the payment methods actually in use. Too many options can confuse new employees and slow down checkout during busy periods.

Match hardware to the business. A small pop-up shop may do fine with free Tap to Pay on an iPhone, while a busy boutique may benefit from dedicated POS Go devices staff can carry throughout the store.

Use Shopify's unified reporting to see how customers actually prefer to pay, and adjust from there.

Stay open to new payment technologies as they emerge — Shopify regularly adds new Shopify POS payment options, making it straightforward to keep a payment stack current.

Payment flexibility isn't just a nice-to-have — it has a direct line to conversion. Retailers that offer a fuller range of payment methods generally see fewer walkaways at checkout and, for higher-priced items, better completion rates with installment options in the mix.

At First Pier, we help Shopify merchants configure the payment setup that fits their business — from initial hardware selection to BNPL and split-payment configuration. If you're setting up in-person sales for the first time or reworking an existing setup, Shopify POS implementation is where to start, or get in touch for personalized advice.