Shopify POS Internet Outage Procedure: Offline Payments for One Register

Using Shopify POS, you keep taking cash and custom payments with no internet. Offline card payments only work if you turned on Allow offline payments in the admin beforehand. Do that today and set a Device daily limit and Transaction limit. Give staff the Accept offline credit and debit payments permission. During an outage, collect a phone number or email on every card sale. Don’t log out or power off, and reconnect “ideally within 24 hours.” Canadian stores can’t take Interac offline, so plan for credit cards and cash.

This guide sets up Shopify POS offline payments for one store with one register. It keeps sales flowing when the connection drops, and prevents lost sales when the internet returns.

How do offline payments work?

Shopify says offline payments “extends offline checkout to let you accept credit and debit card payments when you don’t have an internet connection.” The POS app stores offline card payments on the device, in offline mode. Card payments “are captured after your device reconnects to the internet.”

What is an offline POS transaction?

An offline POS transaction is a sale recorded with no internet connection. Shopify says offline transactions “aren’t routed to the payment processor.” You might not know a transaction failed until you reconnect to the internet. Cash payments carry no such risk. Manual payments, such as cheques, follow your own house rules for each customer.

Who carries the risk

Shopify says payments can be declined “for many reasons, including insufficient funds or a lost or stolen card.” In practice, if offline transactions decline after the sale, the store can lose the money unless it can contact the customer. That is why customer information matters on every sale during an internet outage.

Before the outage: set it up once

Offline payments must be set up in the Shopify admin while you’re still connected. You can’t accept card payments offline without this step.

Turn on offline card payments

From your Shopify admin, go to Sales channels > Point of Sale, your point of sale settings.
In Customize the in-store experience, click Edit for the POS app, then click Checkout.
Turn on Allow offline payments.
In the Device daily limit field, enter the maximum total of offline card payments on one device.
In the Transaction limit field, enter the maximum per order you’ll accept offline.
Click Save and confirm.

Set the two limits

Shopify doesn’t publish default values for these two limits, so you set them in the Shopify admin. In our accounts, a single store sets the transaction limit near its highest normal ticket. The daily limit sits near one slow day’s card payments. Shopify says the limits apply to all retail locations. Every one of your offline payments is money not yet collected.

Give staff the permissions

Go to Settings > Users > Roles and open the POS role. Under Permissions > Checkout, turn on Accept offline credit and debit payments. In Settings, turn on Switch device to offline checkout so staff can force offline mode when the connection drops. Shopify’s February 18, 2026 changelog notes each activation is logged in the Store activity log.

Check the basics

Shopify POS app version 9.14.0 or later.
A supported card reader. Shopify lists Verifone Victa (Countertop and Mobile), POS Go, POS Terminal, Tap & Chip, Chipper 2X BT, Wisepad 3 and Chip & Swipe Reader.
POS Terminal users need local Wi-Fi still working. Shopify warns you can’t restart the router or change Wi-Fi networks while offline.
Keep a Bluetooth receipt printer paired to the POS device.
Know where the drawer key is; the drawer opens manually with it, online or not.

Can Shopify POS work offline?

Yes. Shopify POS checkout continues, sales sit in local data storage on the device, and Bluetooth hardware keeps running. Offline payments by card need the setup above.

Works offline	Doesn’t work offline
Cash and custom payment methods	Gift cards, selling or redeeming
Card payments, if turned on	Customer search, edit or create
Manual discounts	Exchanges, returns and voids
Bluetooth receipt printer	Pickup orders
Bluetooth and USB barcode scanners	Syncing orders and inventory

Offline card payments don’t cover every card. For customer cards, Shopify excludes “Swipe cards, Tap to Pay on iPhone, Tap to Pay on Android, and Manual card entry (MOTO) payments.” Offline payments aren’t available in France.

During the outage: the counter card

Print this and tape it by the register.

Don’t log out. Don’t turn the device off. Shopify warns: “Logging out of Shopify POS, or turning off the device might cause loss of offline orders.”
Tap Offline checkout. If the POS app doesn’t switch on its own, staff with permission use Force offline checkout.
Collect customer information on every card sale. Shopify says you “need to collect either a phone number or an email.”
Use a supported card reader, not the phone. Swipe, Tap to Pay on the POS phone and manual card entry won’t work offline.
Canadian debit: ask for credit or cash. Interac debit payments won’t go through offline.
Stay under the transaction limits. Over the limit, accept cash for the rest, or hold the sale.
Hold returns, exchanges and gift card sales. Write the customer’s name and number on a slip, and keep selling everything else.
Count the drawer at the start of the outage and again when it ends.

After the connection returns

When the internet returns, Shopify says card payments taken offline are processed automatically, and orders and inventory sync with the admin. Card orders show a Payment pending badge, which changes to Paid, or Card declined if it fails.

When the device reconnects

Check the device is connected to the internet, not just to Wi-Fi.
Open Orders and swipe the list down to refresh.
If orders still don’t sync, close and reopen Shopify POS.
If you were logged out, log back in and reconnect the card reader.
Filter for Card declined and contact each customer to pay another way.
Refresh products: tap the connectivity icon, tap Shopify, then Refresh.

Do not delete and reinstall the POS app. Shopify warns you could lose app logs and saved data such as register shifts.

Reconnect within 24 hours

Shopify says to reconnect to the internet “as soon as possible, ideally within 24 hours” to reduce declines. The longer payments offline wait, the more card present payments can fail.

How much does Shopify take from a $100 sale?

At Shopify’s published starting in-person rate on Basic, 2.6% + 10¢ USD, a $100 card sale costs $2.70. That rate is from Shopify’s pricing page, fetched October 18, 2026. In Canada, Basic is 2.6% + 0¢ CAD, or $2.60, and Interac costs 15¢ CAD. Offline card payments pay the same in-person rates once captured, the same as any online transaction pays online rates.

If you run Lightspeed Retail instead

Lightspeed’s offline mode for card payments “is only available with the Smart Terminal (WisePOS E)” and is labelled beta. To accept card payments offline there, you need that terminal. Interac isn’t supported offline in Canada. Lightspeed pre-fills the Per transaction limit and Total transactions limit at the maximum; you can lower them but not raise them.

Lightspeed is direct about risk: declined offline payments “represent a loss.” On reconnect, it syncs offline sales within a minute or two, or you choose Sync Offline Sales. Never clear the browser cache with an errored sale, or it is “unrecoverable.”

What POS system works offline?

Most POS systems that store sales on the device work offline, with limits. Shopify POS and Lightspeed both do. Ask any vendor which card reader works offline, what limits apply, and whether Interac works. Also ask how the system syncs when the internet returns.

A backup connection beats offline payments

The best outage procedure is not needing one. In our accounts, a mobile hotspot that the POS device can join keeps the store running smoothly through most short outages. Test it before you lose internet, and remember POS Terminal users can’t change networks once offline. Online orders and online payments keep arriving during an outage; you won’t lose them, and you’ll see them once you reconnect.