Can you connect a Stripe M2 card reader to a Shopify POS app?

Retail & Point of Sale
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Topic summary

Connecting a Stripe M2 (or any non‑Shopify) card reader directly to Shopify POS isn’t supported when Shopify Payments is unavailable. Hardware integration is restricted to Shopify card readers used with Shopify Payments.

The “Custom payment method” in Shopify POS records the tender type only; it does not enable pairing with a Stripe reader. There is no native way to connect or control the Stripe reader from the Shopify POS app.

Workaround: process the charge on the Stripe reader by manually entering the order amount, then mark the sale as paid in Shopify POS using your custom payment method for Stripe.

Operational requirement: perform manual end‑of‑day reconciliation between Shopify POS reports and Stripe totals to ensure amounts match.

Common practice: merchants in regions without Shopify Payments typically use this manual flow.

Status: Resolved with a manual process; no built‑in integration available.

Summarized with AI on January 26. AI used: gpt-5.
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Has anyone used a stripe card reader to collect payment through for Shopify POS? We cannot use Shopify payments so we aren’t able to use a Shopify card reader. I have read that you can use an external card reader, but I am not sure how to connect the Stripe card reader to our Shopify POS app. I’ve added a custom payment method in the settings section of our POS app for Stripe, but I can’t seem to figure out how to connect the card reader to Shopify POS.

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Hi Taylor,

Since you’ve mentioned that you cannot use Shopify Payments, then it is not possible to connect the card reader to Shopify POS.

And you have also mentioned that you have already setup a Custom Payment Method, hence that will be your only option for now.

You will have to manually enter the amount into your Stripe Card Reader to process the transaction, and then select your set custom payment method once the charge goes through. You must manually consolidate the end-of-day closing on both POS side and your card reader to ensure the amount is correct.

This is at least, to my knowledge, how merchants in countries without Shopify Payments are doing it.

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