Card-present PCI compliance details

Ask Me Anything Q&A Winteredition25ama

Topic summary

A higher education campus merchant has purchased Shopify POS hardware but cannot activate it due to IT department security requirements.

Core Issue:

  • Campus IT is blocking network connection until receiving:
    • PCI compliance confirmation for card-present transactions (especially card swipes)
    • Clarification on which Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) applies to their use case
  • Current Shopify help documentation conflicts with IT department’s understanding of applicable SAQ requirements

Current Obstacles:

  • As a small-revenue account, the merchant has struggled to reach a Shopify representative who can address technical compliance questions
  • IT department needs direct communication with someone who can provide authoritative answers in technical/compliance terminology

Seeking: A pathway to connect campus IT staff with a knowledgeable Shopify representative who can resolve the PCI compliance questions and enable hardware deployment.

Status: Unresolved - POS hardware remains unusable pending compliance clarification.

Summarized with AI on November 1. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

I’m on a higher ed campus, and I’ve purchased and am trying to activate POS hardware (in addition to our online store). Our campus IT department will not allow me to connect the Shopify POS hardware to the network until they get confirmation of PCI compliance for card-present transactions, particularly card swipes, as well as details on which SAQ we would have to complete as a merchant accepting card-present transactions (the SAQ info in Shopify’s help documents runs counter to what they believe should apply). I’m a small account that currently does not generate much revenue (I’m trying to grow sales with the help of Shopify!), so it’s been difficult to get interaction with a human at Shopify who can answer questions to the satisfaction of the IT folks, and without that I have a bunch of POS hardware that I’ll never be able to use. Is there a way for me to connect my IT folks with a human at Shopify who can “speak their language” and answer their PCI compliance questions satisfactorily?