Does Shopify have a virtual terminal?

What is a virtual terminal, and what does Shopify use instead?

A virtual terminal is a screen where you type a customer’s card on a computer, usually for phone or remote orders. Square describes its own as turning “your computer into a credit card terminal”. In Shopify, you type a card in two places: a draft order’s Collect payment > Credit card in the admin, and Manual card entry in Shopify POS.

Shopify’s explainer on virtual terminals lists PayPal, Stripe and Square as offering one, and says “Shopify POS supports this same card-not-present scenario”, with staff entering the card details by hand. Coming from Square? How a phone order works on Shopify POS and Square compares the two step by step. Square’s Card on File has a B2B-only equivalent on Shopify.

How do I use the Shopify admin as a virtual terminal?

Open the draft, click Collect payment > Credit card, key in the card and click Charge. Shopify turns the draft into an order. For an order that already exists and is unpaid, see getting paid for an existing order. You can use it once your Shopify Payments verification is complete. It suits a customer reading you their card while you’re at a computer.

1. In the Shopify admin, go to Orders > Drafts. Open the draft, or click Create order and add the items and customer.
2. In the Payment section, click Collect payment, then Credit card.
3. Enter the customer’s billing and credit card information.
4. Click Charge. The button shows the order total.
5. If the order doesn’t meet your checkout rules, Shopify lists them. Click Cancel to fix the draft, or Ignore and create order to go ahead.

Shopify’s getting paid for draft orders page has the full steps. The Charge credit card permission, under both Orders and Draft orders in staff permissions, lets a staff member “collect payment by entering credit card information”.

How do I key in a card in Shopify POS?

Use Manual card entry at checkout. Your payment provider and device must support manual entry, and it doesn’t work while you’re selling offline.

1. In Shopify POS, add items to the cart and tap Checkout.
2. Tap Manual card entry.
3. Enter the card details.
4. Tap Charge, then Done.

Shopify’s card payments help counts these as card-not-present payments, even with the customer at your counter, and notes that manual card entry carries additional fraud risk.

To switch keyed payments off on devices that don’t need them, see turning off manual card entry.

Does Shopify support MOTO payments?

Yes, in practice: you can take phone and mail card payments by keying the card into a Shopify draft order (Collect payment > Credit card) or with Shopify POS Manual card entry. Shopify’s card-not-present guide says payment providers classify phone and mail orders as MOTO (mail order/telephone order), and Shopify’s chargeback help uses the term on a POS option it calls Allow manual card entry (MOTO).

Taking a card by phone in Shopify: key it in or send a link weighs the fraud risk against sending the customer a link.

Is there a way to take a phone payment without typing the customer’s card?

Send a link instead. Shopify’s help says: “For telephone or mail orders, consider sending a draft-order invoice.” The customer opens the link, enters their card on Shopify’s checkout and pays, so nobody in your store hears or types the card number. Supported card payments can use 3D Secure at that checkout.

• From a draft in the Shopify admin: Send invoice, or Share > Copy link (Shopify’s steps).
• From a draft in the Shopify app on your phone: Share > Copy link, then paste it into your own message (how to text a draft order’s link).
• From a Quick Sale in the Shopify app: Collect > Payment link.
• From the POS counter (POS Pro): see the next section.

If the customer is collecting, turn on pickup for your location under Settings > Shipping and delivery, then add Pickup in store to the draft and choose that location.

Taking phone orders without card details follows the order from the call to collection. How each Shopify payment link differs compares draft invoices, Quick Sale links and POS links.

Is there a virtual terminal alternative for phone orders at the Shopify POS counter?

Yes, on POS Pro: send the customer a link from Shopify POS instead of keying their card. More actions > Send cart emails the cart, and Shopify keeps it as a draft until the customer completes checkout. Or tap ⋯ > Create draft order (saving drafts in Shopify POS) and send it from Load Drafts > Email to customer. Checkout can add shipping to either, so the total the customer pays can differ from the one you quoted on the phone.

Instead of reading a card number back over the phone, staff can send a link from the POS cart with Pay Link, from Countermade, the Shopify POS apps from Invenire Studios. Before the link goes out, staff see the total up front, with a note when checkout will add shipping. The customer pays on Shopify’s own secure checkout, so staff never see or type card details. With Pay Link:

• Staff can see whether a link has been paid.
• Tap twice by mistake and you still get one link, not two.

Pay Link needs Shopify POS Pro. If customers collect, turn on pickup in store for your location, as with drafts above, so they can choose pickup instead of delivery. Shopify POS payment links: native options vs Pay Link sets it beside Send cart and POS drafts.

Next step

Open any draft under Orders > Drafts and find Collect payment in the Payment section before your next phone order comes in, or send the draft’s invoice link instead.

Pay Link isn’t on the Shopify App Store yet. Join early access and we’ll email you when it’s ready to try in your store.