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Accepting card payments offline using Shopify POS

Offline payments is an optional feature that extends offline checkout to let you accept credit and debit card payments when you don't have an internet connection.

To accept card payments when offline, you need to activate offline payments in your Shopify admin. Card payments are captured after your device reconnects to the internet.

Some Shopify POS features work differently when you're offline. Learn more about Shopify POS offline features compatibility.

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Requirements for using offline payments

To accept card payments offline, you need to meet the following requirements:

Requirements for using POS Terminal Reader offline

If you use the POS Terminal Reader and it temporarily disconnects from the internet, then you can activate offline payments, but you must meet the following requirements:

  • Your local Wi-Fi network must still be working. If your router isn't working, or you're experiencing a full power outage, then you can't accept offline payments.
  • When you're offline, you can't restart your internet router.
  • When you're offline, you can't change networks. Remain on the Wi-Fi network that has lost the internet connection, unless you're switching to a network that has a confirmed connection.

Refer to Network requirements for POS Terminal for more information.

Considerations for using offline payments

Before turning on offline payments, review the following considerations:

  • Swipe cards, Manual card entry (MOTO) payments, Tap to Pay on iPhone, and Tap to Pay on Android aren't supported when offline.
  • Canadian businesses can't accept Interac card payments when offline.
  • Australian businesses can't accept eftpos payments when offline.
  • Offline transactions aren't routed to the payment processor. You might not know that a transaction has failed until you reconnect to the internet.
  • Payments can be declined for many reasons, including insufficient funds or a lost or stolen card.
  • To reduce the risk of declined payments, reconnect to the internet as soon as possible, ideally within 24 hours.
  • If a payment is declined after you reconnect, then you can use the email or phone number that you collected for the order to contact the customer and collect the payment.
  • If you have multiple store locations, then offline payment settings and transaction limits apply to all locations. Transaction limits automatically convert to local currencies for locations in different countries.
  • Offline payments aren't available for retail locations in France.

Set up offline payments

When you activate offline payments, you set two limits that control how much you can accept when offline:

  • Device daily limit: The maximum total of all offline card payments on a single device. For example, if you set the device limit to $5,000 USD, then your POS device can accept card payments until the total reaches $5,000 USD. Transaction limits apply to all store locations. If you have locations in different countries, then the limits automatically convert to local currencies.
  • Transaction limit: The maximum amount per order that you can accept when offline. For example, if you set the limit to $100 USD, then you can accept multiple cards on the same order, as long as the total doesn't exceed $100 USD. If the order total exceeds the limit, then you can use an alternate payment such as cash to complete it.

To accept credit and debit card payments when Shopify POS is offline, you need to activate offline payments in your Shopify admin.

Step 1: Activate offline payments

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Point of Sale > Settings.

  2. In the Customization section, click POS app to open the POS editor.

  3. Click Checkout.

  4. Activate Allow offline payments.

  5. In the Device daily limit field, enter an amount for the maximum total of all offline card payments on a single device.

  6. In the Transaction limit field, enter an amount for the maximum value per order that you can accept when offline.

  7. Click Save.

  8. In the confirmation window, confirm that you want to activate offline payments, and click Save.

Step 2: Give staff permissions to accept offline payments

Steps:

  1. In your Shopify admin, click Settings > Users.

  2. Click Roles.

  3. Click the POS role that you want to assign the offline payments permissions to.

  4. In the Permissions section, click Checkout, and then activate Accept offline credit and debit payments.

  5. Click Save.

Accept card payments when Shopify POS is offline

After you've activated offline payments, you can accept credit and debit card payments when Shopify POS is offline.

Steps:

  1. From Shopify POS, add products to the cart.
  2. Tap Offline checkout.
  3. Enter your customer's information.
  4. To process the offline card payment, choose one of the following options:
  • If only one card reader is connected to your POS device, then tap Card.
  • If multiple card readers are connected to your POS device, then tap the card reader that you want to process the offline payment with.
  1. Accept the card payment by letting your customer tap or insert their card.
  2. Tap Done.
  3. In the Receipt options screen, select either Email or Text to send a sales receipt to your customer. The receipt is sent after Shopify POS regains connection to the internet.

Reconnect to the internet to process card payments

Offline card payments save to Shopify POS and are processed automatically after you reconnect to the internet. When offline, card payment orders display in the Orders tab with a Payment pending badge. After the payment is processed, the badge changes to Paid. If the payment is declined, then the order displays a Card declined badge.

When Shopify POS is offline, card payment orders display in the Orders tab with a Payment pending badge. After the payment is processed, the badge turns into a Paid badge. If the payment is declined, then the order also displays a Card declined badge.

After Shopify POS reconnects to the internet, the following happens automatically:

  • Card payments that you accepted when you were offline are processed.
  • Orders are synced with your Shopify admin and display in the Orders section.
  • Customer information that you entered syncs with the correct order and connects to the correct customer account.

If you become logged out of Shopify POS when you're offline, then you need to log back in and reconnect your card reader to process payments that you accepted offline.

For information about syncing orders and inventory after reconnecting, refer to Reconnecting Shopify POS to the internet.