Can you assign variable prices to POS items?

[SMO13]

I see several posts on this topic, gong back as far as 2014.  I did not find any post of a resolution or innovation.  Anyone have an update?

I'd like to have a couple products in my POS that are open priced.  That meaning that I have an item set up & can assign price for each order.  For example, we have small quantities of fabric we run out as remnants.  Each is has a different price and all are tracked as one inventory item in our system.

I know the work around, I am asking if there is actual resolution to the issue.  We are too fast paced to type in descriptions, using the work around, on each transaction.

[gonerrecords]

Please. This is a big deal.

[ESCandles]

I just spent a few hours trying to hack through this one myself and the "guru" that I spoke with felt that this is a novel request, yet I don't feel it is. At this point, while it is not helpful advice, all I can say is that POS stands what most people think it stands for, and that is not "point of sale"......

[GlassHeather]

I'm so glad people are talking about this! We also need this feature. We sell products at fixed prices but we also have repair services that have no fixed price. We'd still like to track the repairs and their associated analytics but don't want to use Custom Sale each time which I don't think will track what we want.

Any solutions??

Thanks

Heather

[ClareCinnabar]

Please update this Shopify! I have 4 shopify online stores and I really want to use the POS for my bricks and mortar store but we simply cant use Shopify POS until they put in an option for either a product with variable/open price or make it possible to have some trackable categories in the custom sale option. There would be so many more stores using this POS if they would update this feature. Currently I am using the paypal here app which allows you to create trackable categories and  you enter the price each time. Shopify will you be adding this as a feature? Or can anyone recommend an affordable POS with this feature?

[gizmo1922]

I also need this feature.  come on shopify.

[Nicole_Ingram]

basically any other POS has this feature. it's inconceivable that a company like Shopify hasn't figured out a solution to this, especially for the cost they charge for their "Pro" option.

[maurib12]

I’ll suggest you give square a try.

[Nicole_Ingram]

unfortunately square and Shopify don't really like eachother and we've already purchased the card reader etc through Shopify. 

[ClareCinnabar]

Agreed,
I am currently looking at moving all of my online stores to a different platform because I’m that sick of shopify and what you get for the price

[ndambrosi]

We need this too!

[kokorokoko]

I am one step away from cancelling my shopify account because they see completely out to lunch about how people actually use a real POS program in a retail brick and mortar shop. I need a variable price product to use the POS at all and its the only real reason I signed up for shopify. 

[Raven123]

I am beyond frustrated about this as well.  It is such an important feature and so basic I don't understand.  I just spent weeks uploading product building out my website, setting up the pos system and now I am realizing that it is going to create more work for me.  This is not even something I would have ever of thought would not be available on a POS system. 

Please Shopify add it.  I am now thinking that I need to switch again.  When speaking with customer service the rep was so smug and basically said yeah it doesn't sound like it is going to work for you.  When I called him out on having no empathy about the situation he repeated his response in a pretty robotic way.  I am a florist with a gift store...I am not a complex business.  Being able to enter a custom price on a product at the point of sale is a pretty basic feature.  SHOPIFY listen to your end users...your pos system is not made for small business users and that is a shame. 

[ClareCinnabar]

I Totally agree Raven! All the other POS systems have an open proce feature and it would be so great to be able to keep my online store inventory and my shop inventory in the same site and be able to do stock transfers. I really love my shopify online stores (we have 4 of them!) and cant use the POS! It seems so stupid that Shopify wont add this feature - imagine how many more subscribers they would have for just a little bit of development in the POS. Come on Shopify!! Get it happening!  I have opted for MOBI Pos. Its inexpensive and has a lot of functionality that would work just fine for your florist shop. The support is great too, theres just one guy I deal with and he emails me back straight away and doesnt seem to mind even the simplest of questions 😉

[clbetzler]

We need this feature too! Going back to square if we can't get this featured add...quickly!

[clbetzler]

We are too!

[Nicole_Ingram]

Hi Clare! Does mobi integrate well with your inventory through Shopify? Thank you!

[ClareCinnabar]

Unfortunately Mobi doesn’t integrate with shopify so I have to run separate inventories and I just keep all my online store stock separate in a cupboard and not on the shop floor. Shopify is so annoying that they won’t improve functionality of their POS to allow for variable price point. We run the Shopify POS for our other business in 2 bricks and mortar locations wth 3 different online store fronts and to be honest the Shopify POS system is appalling compared to what is offered with MobiPos. Shopify doesn’t even integrate with Tyro which is the leading and most common card reader in Australia, it has no open price option, the reporting is limited and the Point of Sale app on the iPad is clunky and not at all streamlined. It’s terrible to use when its busy in store and with having to constantly add custom items because there’s no variable price point it makes stock control a nightmare. I’m really happy with MobiPos and can recommend it. The reporting and functionality is great once you get to know its quirks and the help desk is awesome. They always answer emails with detailed help instructions. I’m running 2 stores on MobiPos with thousands of products and its affordable and does more than everything we need. If you wanted to have your online store stock on your physical store floor the only thing I could suggest is having the “ding” alert set on shopify so that when ever you hear it you check the order and grab that item off the shop floor and then perhaps end of day update the inventory in MobiPos manually which is super easy to do.

Shopify you need to update your POS system, its totally shite!

[Nicole_Ingram]

did you ever find a solution? I am in the same situation. just migrated all our products over to Shopify and paid someone way to much money to set up the framework for a new website only to discover that a basic feature isn't usable on their POS.

[ClareCinnabar]

I just replied to another person so hopefully you can find it in the thread. Shopify has never updated their terrible POS which I use in 2 of my locations. I use MobiPos in the other 2 and its great. Functionality, reporting, helpdesk, pricing. I love it and have thousands of products running in it and it works really well. Shopify POS on the other hand is hopeless. I’ve found it easier to use MobiPos and run 2 separate inventories.

[Harel]

Hi guys,

After adding a product to your cart, click on the product's name -> discounts > price override.

You can do so to the entire cart as well if preferred.

Happy Q4!

[ClareCinnabar]

Hi, regarding the open price workaround, this isn’t really an option where you have a very busy store with hundreds of items with open price points. The user experience is clumsy and requires a lot of concentration and tapping through. Can I suggest you have a loot at the way MobiPos has an open price option? This is a really great POS app and it’s cheap. We are using it currently because of the open price option but if Shopify added a feature like this I would switch tomorrow and so would many other bricks and mortar stores

[jdlm]

Also the feature doesn't appear to be available on an iPhone. Maybe it's just a tablet feature?

[SMO13]

This multi-step work around is not a solution to a problem so many of us fast-paced retailers need. Hapy Q4 to you too.

[Felizhome]

This workaround would be fine for us except that it does not allow us to do this if the price we want to enter is higher than we have in the system.  We then have to have the products in at ridiculously high retails which isn’t ideal for reporting purposes.  Simply changing it to allow any price to override would be a good start.

[PaulNewton]

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@Felizhome wrote:

This workaround would be fine for us except that it does not allow us to do this if the price we want to enter is higher than we have in the system.  We then have to have the products in at ridiculously high retails which isn’t ideal for reporting purposes.  

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If the situation allows it because you have different products in the POS channel try just adding a variant to be the higher priced anchor item. 

An alternative for by-the-measure products is to invert the problem and use the quantity as the price( so $1 worth of item is $0.01 price x 100)

Merchants should keep in mind a complication here is letting POS operators being able to casually modify a price point is not a good thing for reporting and more importantly audits. 

This also goes hand in hand with having POS able to handle draft orders https://community.shopify.com/c/Shopify-for-Retail-Stores/Complete-Draft-Order-on-Shopify-POS-missin... so you may want to review the draft orders process and other comments in the link thread to see if that's a feature request thread that may apply to you and if so toss your hat in.

[SMO13]

That reply says nothing to me except that someone thinks they know better how to run my business than I do. I don't need a work around, I need an open price item, a "miscellaneous" button if you will, for a fast paced checkout solution to bad barcodes/missing tags/whatever I want to use it for. I know what fits my business as do so many others who have commented on this thread in support of this option going to developers. The reply from the "shopify partner" is demeaning in that they know how to run my business better than I.
I do not understand why the shopify partner wants to give business advice (why we don't need what we need) instead of working to get the needed task (see how many comments are on this post & other similar posts) into development.
The reply made me feel like I was talking to the wall, not a partner.

[PaulNewton]

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@SMO13 wrote:
The reply made me feel like I was talking to the wall, not a partner.

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Knowing the options now is always better than wishful thinking over a feature with no known date of release.

Understanding the complications behind a feature is just plain healthy for business awareness and as a mindset. 

So if you think someone giving viable alternatives that could help other merchants is somehow "demeaning" to you, or telling you how to run your business then that's entirely on your ego.

[Msunflower]

But then it shows as a price with it marked out   on the receipt.  It’s not a discount.  We don’t want our customers to think that

[Filljoy]

Hi all,

Our company has developed an app that solves this issue and I'm happy to share that it was just approved earlier today! You can find it here: https://apps.shopify.com/pos-variable-priced-products-1. If this URL ends up changing, please search for "POS Variable Price Products" in the Shopify App Store.

Here is a short video demonstrating its functionality: https://youtu.be/PGQWpaCf5No?t=83

It also features the ability add tax-exempt line items, adjust inventory, and retain COGS reporting. 

For any merchants who are specifically selling by weight, we also have another app specifically designed for that use case (currently with a 5-star average rating): https://apps.shopify.com/sell-products-by-weight

I'm the founder and developer - if you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to email me directly at hello@filljoy.co.

Best,
Derrick

[maurib12]

This Shopify thing is getting out of control. I understand that developing an app takes time but this kind of functionality should exist natively.  I'm already seeing me paying more on apps than the Shopify Pro subscription 😕 

Anyways ; I have tried installing your app on a test store but it doesn't let me install it. 

[Filljoy]

@maurib12 I've created an exception for your development store, please try again. 

[smallakin]

I agree that this is a simple feature that should be a basic option.  I switched from Square and WooCommerce and am trying to launch POS in my store but keep hitting roadblocks.  I have spent a LOT of time building out many variants on products that used to be a variable price item in Square.

I'm not interested in another app as someone mentioned above.  This should just be another product and I already had to add too many paid apps to gain the same functionality I had on my WooCommerce site.  I'm considering only switching the website and sticking with my Square for Retail at this point.

[JBeckman]

Yep! Square for Retail handles this perfectly!

[Almanaturals]

We shouldnt have to pay for an app to do something that should be a very basic included function of a POS system. 

[POCgolfLtd]

Hi This would work but for the fact you cant override the price to more than the original price

[MikeLLLL]

We too would love this feature.. almost every other POS ive used has it.. seems like a basic function and one that people have been asking for for years.

Come on shopify, make it happen

[Red_Stick_Spice]

We have been asking Shopify to fix this half baked feature since the day POS was introduced and they have been completely silent. The current implementation is completely useless and in our case causes our customers to be charged the wrong tax amount as there is no way to assign a tax override to the single custom sale button Shopify gives us. Calls to Shopify to discuss are frustrating at best. I’m left to wonder if they even care about the customer

Shopify we need a response, even if it’s to say we will never fix this. We just need to know.

[LovejoysOnMain]

WORK-AROUND  (not pretty!)

Create 2 items, e.g. "meal-dollars" and "meal-cents".  Set the price at $1 and $.01 respectively.  Set your taxable option.  Set a separate TYPE (e.g. "Meal") for exclusive reporting purposes.

When checking out, simply adjust the QTY of each item to reflect the total price in both dollars and cents.

The receipt will show large quantities, but will accomplish your purposes for reporting.

[Red_Stick_Spice]

I dont think Shopify moderates their own forum as they refuse to comment...but hopefully they read this suggestion and finally realize how absurd this limitation is on their customers.

Come on Shopify please fix this...or at the very least respond that it will never be fixed so we can move on...you owe us that.

"WORK-AROUND  (not pretty!)

Create 2 items, e.g. "meal-dollars" and "meal-cents".  Set the price at $1 and $.01 respectively.  Set your taxable option.  Set a separate TYPE (e.g. "Meal") for exclusive reporting purposes.

When checking out, simply adjust the QTY of each item to reflect the total price in both dollars and cents.

The receipt will show large quantities, but will accomplish your purposes for reporting."

[maurib12]

You need to call customer service and let them know you need this.

Eventually they will add it.

[HKJ]

Ok, I'm going to suggest another workaround, please don't tell at me - I don't work for Shopify, and yes, it should be a regular feature.

Would it work (at least for some merchants) to add a custom sale to an inventory item in the cart, and call it, say, "price modification"?

This way, you keep track of inventory, but can modify what the customer pays in the same transaction.

[HKJ]

*yell...

[MAP2]

Perhaps the solution is to start making waves about this enormous problem for small retailers (me included) outside of this Forum; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.  Maybe then, Shopify will take notice and come up with a solution.  The app mentioned in an earlier post apparently won't work for everyone.  And of course there is the monthly fee for it.....

[HKJ]

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@MAP2 wrote:

Perhaps the solution is to start making waves about this enormous problem for small retailers (me included) outside of this Forum; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.  Maybe then, Shopify will take notice and come up with a solution.  The app mentioned in an earlier post apparently won't work for everyone.  And of course there is the monthly fee for it.....

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They'll notice a lot quicker if people leave...

Someone (me?) should start a topic listing the features Shopify doesn't offer which would seem basic to a POS. I personally don't have a great need for a variable (open) price product, but I can see where in certain stores it would be essential. 

[Msunflower]

Yeah My year is up in July and I’m leaving.  Going to square.  Cheaper and better features even in the free version.

[MikeLLLL]

whilst its not an open price.. our MSM sent over this solution this morning for a price override in the new POS. this is a win for us

[HKJ]

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@MikeLLLL wrote:

whilst its not an open price.. our MSM sent over this solution this morning for a price override in the new POS. this is a win for us

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It's a solution to reduce the price. It doesn't work to raise the price.

I think adding a custom sale to the order is a good solution for that in some cases.

[KingsStat]

And if you put a high price by default so you can 'price override' down to your required price, you get stupid discounts printed on the receipt...

Can't believe how long such a basic feature has been ignored.

[digimatt]

They're *almost* there with the price override option, it just needs to not show as a discount on the receipt, and perhaps let you increase as well as decrease the price.