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Shopify is one of the giants when it comes to commerce platforms, for online and brick-to-mortar businesses alike. The interface is very clean and user-friendly, they offer a lot of plan options and their mobile app is compatible with both iOS and Android devices. What we didn’t like about this company was the fact that some key features are only available with their most expensive packages and that there are transaction fees for using external payment gateways.
Shopify is one of the largest ecommerce platforms across the Globe. It is a Canadian company that was founded in 2005 and has important names in its customer base: Nestle, Tesla, GE and others. In 2013, it also made its entrance on the POS market, which is a notable progress for those who also have brick and mortar retail stores.
Shopify’s POS solutions are suitable for small and medium businesses, but can handle larger businesses, too.
Shopify serves the US and over 170 other countries worldwide. Over 400,000 businesses are powered by this company.
The POS software from Shopify is cloud-based and they also have POS apps which are compatible with Apple and Android devices. The software can be used with any browser and can be installed on multiple devices, without you being charged extra. Their POS system can be useful in various ways: it can help you process orders, accept payment, swipe credit cards, give receipts and so on.
With the POS app you can process transactions even if you are offline, because when you log in to your account, most of data will be downloaded on the device you are using. What you can’t do without a connection is process card transactions or have access to your clients’ database.
There is a free 14 days trial included, in case you want to test their system before signing up for any of their plans.
Shopify integrates with over 70 payment gateways: 2Checkout, Authorize.net, Paypal Payments Pro, Paypal Express Checkout, Amazon Pay, Coinbase, Cayan and many more.
Hardware-wise, Shopify offers one card reader for free and you can get more if you need to, but you have to pay for them. They also have barcode scanners, cash drawers and printers that go with the POS application.
Shopify’s plans include between 2 to 15 staff accounts (depending on the package), unlimited file storage, print shipping labels, free SSL certificate. Shopify and Advanced also include gift cards, discount codes, abandoned cart recovery and professional reports.
Although there’s an unlimited number of products supported, you have to be careful if you are using a tablet, not to go beyond 7,000, or the performance will be affected.
Also, if you want to enable staff accounts, you need to also pay for their “Retail package”, which is an extra cost of $49/month.
All plans include 24/7 support.
Your inventory will sync automatically if you have a Shopify store and you can choose how to sell your items (which ones online and which ones in store only). For those who don’t have a Shopify store, they have to add the inventory themselves, to back-end. You can do it using CSV import or one by one.
The mobile app is also very user-friendly, letting you administrate your shop directly from your smartphone.
Other useful features are the ability to accept more than one payment options in a single transaction, the ability to make a partial payment, allowing for layaway or deposits, the fact that you can generate custom payment options (such as gold coins, personal checks and so on).
You can choose between one of their available plans. There is Shopify Lite, which is basically an easy way to sell on Facebook. Credit card payments will only be $9/month.
There are 3 other basic plans: Basic Shopify ($29), Shopify ($79) and Advanced Shopify ($299) and a 4th one, Shopify Plus, designed for high volume merchants, which doesn’t have its costs displayed, you have to contact them for more details.
Credit card rates start from 2.9% +30c for the Basic plan (online) and 2.7% +0c (in person) and are only 2.4% +30c (online) and 2.4% +0c (in person) for the Advanced Shopify plan.
As far as transaction fees go, there are no fees if you are using Shopify Payments, but there are 2% for the Basic plan and 0.5% for Advanced Shopify, for external payment gateways.
For more details on Shopify’s pricing options access this link: https://www.shopify.com/pricing
Phone: 1-888-746-7439 (North America)
Social media: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shopify
Shopify is available for its customers on a 24/7 basis. You can contact them by phone, email or live chat and they claim the average waiting time is 7 minutes for live chat and 14 hours for e-mails.
Their help center is also comprehensive, you can find myriad of resources such as webinars, video tutorials, guides, podcasts, community forums and so on. They pretty much cover all the topics you might be interested in.
Our editorial staff evaluates products and services independently, but Best Review Guide may earn money when you click on links. Read our advertising disclosure.
By: Cristina | Last updated July 14, 2017 
