Why are there no Android-compatible card readers in Australia?

[rowan99]

I just started a store and have been working on it but now I find that in Australia we can only get a card reader that works with iphones and not Android. Considering how many people hate Apple products this is so disappointing.

I wanted to sell my products at markets and link a card reader with my store, but no go. They don't even have future plants to offer an android card reader.

Now I have to decide whether Shopify is even the platform I want to go with.

I can't use Square as they refuse to accept any of my identification documents and I can't do anything about that as they aren't an Australian company.

I can't tell you how disappointed I am

[Mac]

Hi, @rowan99! 

Thanks for reaching out in our Community forums and for sharing your concern, I’d be happy to help.

I appreciate you sharing your feedback and I'm sorry that you have found the experience regarding your POS disappointing. I will absolutely share your feedback with the appropriate team. Please keep an eye on the Shopify Changelog to see if the compatibility for this device changes. 

As an alternative, you can look to set up a custom payment method to collect payments since our POS app will not connect to third party readers. Essentially Shopify POS tracks the fact that there was an order and the amount of the order,  and then the external credit card terminal actually processes the order. Here are the steps on how to implement this: 

• Open Shopify POS and head over to Settings > Payment settings > add a custom payment gateway and name it your third party processor > Save
• Then, add product to checkout and click the "Checkout" button
• From there, you will want to select the custom payment option you've just created and minimize Shopify POS app by hitting the "home" button
• After that, open the 3rd party payment solution (if it is an app) and accept the payment (The way you accept the payment will differ per gateway)
• Once payment is processed, open the Shopify POS and complete payment within Shopify

Feel free to reply back to this thread with any questions or updates and we can continue our conversation further!