I am looking to set up a cash drawer that will automatically open when the payment type is cash, but that doesn’t require a printer. We have no need or desire to offer printed receipts to our instore customers - they are used to getting via text or email - but I have not been able to find a cash drawer that can work with Shopify without adding a printer in the middle.
1 Like
Unfortunately, with Shopify POS, a cash drawer cannot open automatically without a receipt printer. The drawer needs the printer because the printer sends the electrical signal that triggers the drawer to open after a cash transaction. (Shopify Help Center)
Even if you don’t plan to print receipts, the standard setup is still:
POS device → receipt printer → cash drawer. (Shopify Help Center)
Possible workarounds:
-
Use a receipt printer but disable printed receipts in POS (customers still get email/text receipts).
-
Use a manual cash drawer that opens with a key instead of automatically.
-
Some people keep the printer hidden under the counter just to trigger the drawer.
So right now, Shopify doesn’t support a direct Bluetooth/Wi-Fi cash drawer connected to the POS device without a printer in between.
Hope that helps!
1 Like
Yeah, I already have a workaround in place out of necessity… and that’s the point, it’s a workaround and a step backwards from our previous POS that worked without the need for a printer. This feels like Shopify forcing us spend on unnecessary hardware to overcome something they should provide as an option for retailers as a basic thing - similar to how they do by relying on partners to develop apps that we have to pay additional fees for to bridge other gaps. Not saying Shopify doesn’t have its advantages, we wouldn’t have made the switch otherwise, but the printer should be an optional add on. But given I know it’s possible for systems to work without a printer, we have no need for a printer and the workarounds are a step backwards in our operations, I’m logging this here for Shopify to be aware this is an issue.
What were you using with your previous setup? I’m not aware of any printerless drawers.
We were using Square for POS before and it didn’t require a printer.
So, you were using a usb driven cash drawer that connected to the Square POS hardware?
Yes, but not quite sure why you’re asking though? This doesn’t help solve the issue of Shopify not enabling this. I have looked a the Shopify Hub that’s just been released and so far it doesn’t seem as though it will address this issue.
Hey there @emFBO
This is Aaron from the Retail Team here at Shopify!
Thank you so much for sharing your question with the Shopify Community!
At this moment, for the cash drawer to open automatically, it would require a supported receipt printer. The reason being is because the cash drawer is connected to the receipt printer, which is what is connected to the Shopify POS app.
I completely understand your point in that customers prefer to receive their receipts via text or email (I’m the exact same), and having to manually open and close the drawer for a cash transaction is not ideal, and indeed cumbersome. For this, I would highly recommend getting in-touch with our Retail Team by visiting the Shopify Help Center to submit your feedback/recommendation so that we can forward it over to our development team.
My hope here (as you also mentioned) is that at some point, the new Shopify POS Hub would be able to support a direct connection for a cash drawer. This would eliminate the need to purchase a receipt printer, and I think it would be a great option to support further hardware components or brands. For example, not too long age, we had released an update for the POS app to support HID barcode scanners, which allowed the app to support and work with many barcode scanner options, and it would be a great recommendation for the same to be applied with cash drawers.
Thanks,
Aaron | Retail Support Specialist
Hi Aaron, thanks for getting back to me.
I do have a question for you - the impression I had was joining the community was the way to capture issues for the various product teams within Shopify, that these topics are monitored for enhancements and issue resolution. (I got this from Sidekick that told me it doesn’t have a way to capture issues and share with the product teams - a place I would think to be a great source for the teams to see the conversation/get context around issues). I think what you’re saying is that I need to separately submit feedback/recommendations through the Help Centre?
Hey @emFBO
That’s a great question!
The Shopify Community is more so a forum where merchants and Shopify Partners can find solutions, share insights, and get advice to grow your business alongside Shopify. It is more utilized as a platform for conversation.
Reaching out to our Help Center and connecting with our Retail Team would allow you to authenticate your store/account and once that is in-place, we can submit your feedback or recommendations to our development team. Ultimately, it’s a way for us to submit feedback from an actual business or Partner using Shopify.
Thanks,
Aaron | Retail Support Specialist