POS at Las Vegas event but I’m based in UK

[NQualter]

Hi, I am exhibiting at a conference in Las Vegas in 2 weeks. I don’t currently have Shopify POS but do have regular Shopify for online sales. I’m looking to get the lite version as I dont plan on doing a lot of in person sales. I’m based in the UK, what do I need to set up to process payments while in the US?

[Imogen]

Hi there, @NQualter! Thanks for taking the time to reach out to the Shopify Community Forums with your question around Shopify POS and selling in person internationally! My name is Imogen. It's good to meet you!

Merchants are able to accept in-person POS payments using Shopify Payments and a Shopify card reader in one country per Shopify store. This is due to a Shopify Payments account being required to process payments via Shopify POS and using Shopify POS hardware, and each Shopify Payments account being tied to a specific country. As such, if you're looking to sell in-person internationally and process payments via Shopify Payments or POS Hardware, you'll have to create a new store specifically for selling in the U.S, and then set up Shopify Payments as you did before with your original store. 

With the above context in mind, instead of using Shopify Payments and Shopify POS Hardware to process these payments in the U.S, you could look into using a different payment processor/processing hardware to process the transactions in the U.S, and record those transactions within your POS App via a 'Custom Payment' method.

When it comes to selling in-person, folks can be left with a lot of questions about getting set up and feeling prepared. For folks asking POS questions, I always recommend that they download the POS App to their device, login to the app, and then access the 'more' menu. From there, a 'support' tab will appear, and then a 'contact support' option. There will be information presented here (most often an email address of a phone number) that can be used to reach out directly to our Retail Specialists with any questions you may have about preparing for this event. These folks are a great resource to connect with if you're unsure about the best next steps to take in regards to your in-person selling plans!

[NQualter]

That’s great, thank you. I want to spend as little as possible and was looking at getting the wisepad card reader 3 as I’ll only need it once a year for 3 days. Would that work assuming I set up new Shopify store and payments system? I assume I can do all the setting up in the UK and then just travel with the new card reader?

[Shay]

To add to what Imogen shared and to clarify, you would need to have and prove that you have a legitimate physical business based in the US to enable Shopify Payments for US conventions. Having a temporary presence there for a convention will not be enough for that. This would be part of a standard KYC (Know Your Customer) review that most online gateways would require. 

If you do not have a physical presence in the USA then using a third party card reader setup for in person sales in the USA would be the best option. 

[NQualter]

Ahh thank you, that’s the crucial part that I needed to know. We are only going to be in a hotel for a few days so yes, that was my concern that an address we weren’t resident at would be an issue. I have a zettle I use to take payments in the UK, will that work if I set up new shopify store ?

[Ollie]

Hey, @NQualter.

Thanks for the quick response. 

The availability of third-party payment gateways on the Shopify will depend on the general location of the store. We do have a great article that lists the available third-party payment gateways depending on location here. 

With that being said, if you have successfully connected the third-party payment gateway to your store, you should be able to successfully process orders.

Let us know what you think and if you have any additional questions.