Introducing UniShopping: An Online Store and Free POS for Retailers
A shop that sells both across a counter and online usually ends up paying twice: a monthly subscription for the web store, and a leased terminal plus another system for the register. The two rarely agree on how much stock is left.
That is why I built UniShopping: a branded online store and a full in-store POS in one platform, with no monthly subscription. In-store and cash sales are free. Online card orders are 2.5% + 30c, and that rate already includes Stripe’s payment processing fees.
Own the Storefront Instead of Renting a Listing
Every shop gets a mobile-first storefront at its own URL, built from a library of sections you add and order: hero, featured collections, image and text, gallery, FAQ, testimonials, newsletter, hours and map. You pick a template and a font pairing, edit your own header and footer navigation, and write the About and Shipping pages the same way. Nothing reaches a customer until you publish it.
Customers do not download an app or create an account. They tap the link, browse collections, pick a size or colour, and pay — shipped or collected in store. A custom domain can be pointed at the store when you are ready.
One Queue for Counter, Web, and Click & Collect
Counter sales, online orders, and click & collect land in a single queue on one iPad. Staff ring up walk-in and phone sales on the same device that shows web orders arriving in real time, with sound alerts, and stock comes down the moment an order is paid.
Card payments at the counter work three ways: Tap to Pay on a supported phone, a Stripe countertop reader bound to that location, or the machine you already have — keyed in and recorded as a manual payment, kept in its own column so an unreconciled figure is never mistaken for a reconciled one. At the end of the day the register closes with opening float, cash sales and refunds, expected drawer, counted drawer, and the variance by name.
Stock That Checkout Cannot Oversell
Inventory is counted into each location and tracked live across all of them, so the storefront and the register are reading the same number. Returns put stock back. Suppliers, purchase orders, and receiving at cost are part of the same system rather than a spreadsheet beside it.
Shipping rates are set by destination — by weight, by order value, or a flat rate per zone — alongside local delivery inside the postcodes you serve and free in-store pickup. Customers see the real cost at checkout rather than an estimate.
Printing Over the Wi-Fi You Already Have
A single order splits itself into the paper each station needs: a customer receipt at the register, a packing slip with no prices on it at the bench, and shipping or barcode labels at the label printer. Every link is the shop’s existing Wi-Fi — no cabling between the register and the packing bench, and no server box in the back room.
The starting hardware cost is about $169, roughly the price of one Wi-Fi printer, using the iPad and network you already have. There is no terminal to lease.
Built for a Fast Setup
Getting started follows three steps:
- Create an account and connect Stripe to accept card payments directly to your own bank.
- Add products, photos and variants — or import the catalog from a Shopify export — then count stock in and set shipping.
- Share the store link and manage orders from the dashboard.
The Shopify importer reads Shopify’s own export columns, every import runs as a dry run first, and past orders come across as read-only history so reports do not start empty. Most shops are live within an hour.
One Rate, One Deduction
The 2.5% + 30c on an online order is 1.75% + 30c to Stripe for processing the card and a 0.75% platform fee. Both are deducted from the payment as it settles, so there is one net amount and never a separate processing bill to reconcile. Payments are direct charges on your own Stripe account, and funds land in your bank on your own payout schedule.
There are no tiers. Every feature is included from day one — discounts, returns and store credit, staff logins with permissions and 2FA, customer records, accounting exports for Xero and MYOB, webhooks and a read-only API. There is no contract: stop taking online orders and you stop paying.
A Short List of What It Does Not Do
No gift cards (store credit instead), no one-step exchanges, no editing an order after it is placed, one currency, no live carrier rates, and no app store. Each of those is a deliberate trade so that money and stock stay correct rather than approximately right, and the docs set out what to do instead.
Start With the Shop, Not the Marketplace
Retailers should own the ordering experience and keep the customer relationship. A branded store, live inventory, shipping and pickup, a free counter POS, and printing that works over existing Wi-Fi should come together without a stack of plugins and a monthly bill.
If you run a shop and want to try it, you can get started with UniShopping.