Shopify POS in Australia: pricing, hardware and when to use something else

Shopify POS is the app you use to sell in person: at a shop counter, a market stall, a pop-up or a trade event. Sales, customers and stock sit in the same Shopify admin as your online orders, so a sale at the counter reduces the same inventory your website sells from. Reports show online and in-store together.

That single admin is the main reason to choose it. If you already run Shopify online, adding a shop or a stall does not mean a second system, a second product list or a nightly import. If you are comparing platforms from scratch, read our Shopify pricing guide in AUD first.

You may see the older name POS Lite online. Shopify's Australian POS pricing page no longer uses that name. It describes a casual in-person selling tier that comes with each paid plan, and an upgrade called POS Pro.

Plan prices are $56 a month for Basic, $149 for Grow and $575 for Advanced on monthly billing, or $42, $114 and $431 billed yearly, and Plus is from $3,700. The $129 is charged per location that you upgrade, so a business with two shops and one stall pays for Pro at the locations that need it.

Shopify's Australian pricing page lists in-person card rates on Shopify Payments of 1.85% on Basic, 1.75% on Grow and 1.65% on Advanced, with no fixed fee per transaction. Plus is 1.45%. Online standard card rates are 1.7% + 30c on Basic, 1.55% + 30c on Grow and 1.35% + 30c on Advanced.

The absence of a fixed fee matters in a shop. On a $12 coffee or a $9 card, a 30c fee is a big share of the sale. See Shopify Payments in Australia for how those rates compare with other providers, and the fees when you use a third-party gateway, which are 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus.

Hardware availability differs by country. Shopify's US Tap and Chip reader is marked US only, so do not order it for an Australian shop. Shopify's Australian hardware store lists the WisePad 3 card reader at A$69 and the Shopify POS Terminal at A$379 at the time of writing. Prices change, so check the store.

Shopify's POS hardware page also names other equipment. You need a smartphone or tablet, plus a card reader. Optional extras include an iPad stand, barcode scanners, cash drawers and receipt printers. Named items include the POS Hub, which connects peripherals to a tablet by USB, the Engage 2D G2 barcode scanner and the Eddy tablet stand. You can bring your own hardware, though Shopify advises checking compatibility first.

1. Step 1

   Decide the setup

   A counter needs a tablet or terminal, a card reader, a scanner if you have over a few dozen products, a receipt printer and often a cash drawer. A stall needs a phone and a reader, or just a phone.

2. Step 2

   Check compatibility

   Before buying a printer or scanner you already own, confirm it works with Shopify POS in the help centre.

3. Step 3

   Buy from the Australian store

   Order from Shopify's Australian hardware store so the reader works with Australian cards and networks.

4. Step 4

   Test a full sale

   Run a sale, a refund and an exchange on the real hardware before opening day.

Tap to Pay turns a supported phone into a card reader. Shopify's changelog says Tap to Pay on iPhone with Shopify POS expanded on 15 October 2024 to Australia, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It needs an iPhone with an NFC chip and Shopify POS, and Shopify says no additional hardware or card readers are required. Payments are processed through Shopify Payments, so the standard in-person rates apply. Shopify also has a Tap to Pay on Android listing that includes Australia.

It suits markets, pop-ups, deliveries and the occasional in-store sale. It is also a handy backup for a shop if the main reader fails. For a busy counter, a dedicated reader or terminal is faster and easier to keep charged.

In Shopify, each physical place you hold stock is a location. Online orders and POS sales draw down the same stock counts. For a brand that sells both ways, this is the thing that removes overselling: the last unit sold at the counter is no longer available on the website.

• Set up each shop, stockroom or warehouse as a location, and decide which ones can fulfil online orders.
• Use POS Pro if you need inventory management, which the Australian pricing page lists as Pro-only.
• Choose click and collect or local delivery options for shoppers who want to pick up in store.
• Count stock regularly. A system is only as accurate as the last stocktake.
• Plan how returns work. The included tier only accepts returns at the original purchase location, so a customer who buys online and returns in store needs POS Pro.

Shipping and click and collect rules affect margins and promises, so see Shopify shipping in Australia. If you take card refunds in store, your policy should match the Australian Consumer Law, covered in our returns policy guide.

The Shopify integration listed on Xero's app store syncs sales from the Shopify online store and Shopify POS, along with payouts, fees and taxes, and matches payouts from Shopify Payments to your bank feed. It is listed as free for Xero subscribers. You can sync a daily summary or a transaction per sale.

Cash sales are the usual wrinkle. Confirm with your accountant how cash takings and banking are recorded, and check that the sync lines up with your BAS.

Shopify POS is designed around a Shopify store. If your physical shop is the main business and the website is an add-on, a retail-first system may suit you better. We build on Shopify, so weigh our view with that in mind.

Square

Square's Australian pricing page lists a free POS plan with no setup or monthly fee, a 1.6% rate per in-person tap or insert, and hardware from $65. Merchants who signed up before 30 May 2024 pay 1.9% on Square Reader, Stand and Tap to Pay. For a cafe, salon or stall with a small range and no online store, that is hard to beat. If you only need in-person sales, Square is probably cheaper than Shopify's lowest paid plan plus POS Pro.

Lightspeed

Lightspeed's retail POS lists an Australian pricing page with tiered plans, and it has a Shopify app for X-Series. Lightspeed is aimed at retailers with many registers or large catalogues who need strong stock control, and it is worth a demo if you run several shops with a lot of SKUs. We have not verified its current AUD prices, so get a quote directly rather than rely on a blog.

Running two systems has a cost: you need to sync products, stock and customers between them, and reports live in two places. Choose a hybrid only if the retail system gives you something you cannot get from Shopify. Our apps and integrations service handles these connections when you do.

The most common mistake is treating the shop as a separate project. Plan products, photography, pricing and stock as one catalogue. Decide whether prices differ in store and online, and whether staff can apply discounts. Check your theme and tax settings for GST, which we cover in the GST setup guide.

If you want a hand, the Launch package is $8,900 ex GST and covers payments, GST and shipping setup. POS locations, hardware and staff training can be added to scope. Use the cost calculator for a quick estimate, or contact us.