How to use a barcode scanner with Shopify, including for live selling

Short answer

Shopify uses barcode scanners in Shopify POS, where a scan adds the product to the cart, and in a few inventory tasks such as receiving transfers. Elsewhere in Shopify a scan only searches for the product. To take items off stock as they sell on Whatnot, TikTok Shop or eBay Live, you need an app that turns each scan into a stock change.

What a barcode scanner actually does

Most scanners sold for retail are HID scanners: they type the code they read, just like a keyboard, and usually press Enter at the end. Shopify's own help says HID scanners emulate a keyboard and can be used with Shopify POS. Whatever box has the keyboard's focus receives the code, so what a scan does depends entirely on the app it lands in.

Where Shopify uses a scan

  • Shopify POS: scanning a product adds it to the cart during checkout. Shopify recommends Application mode for standard POS transactions.
  • Shopify POS on a phone or tablet can also scan 1D and 2D barcodes with the device's camera, after you tap the barcode icon.
  • Some inventory workflows, such as receiving inventory transfers, accept scans.
  • Stocky's inventory workflows need an HID scanner in Keyboard Mode.

What a scan doesn't do

Outside those workflows, scanning into a search box only finds the product (or an order or customer). It doesn't record a sale and doesn't change stock. That matters for live sellers: a sale on Whatnot, TikTok Shop or eBay Live happens on that platform, not in Shopify POS. When the platform's sync covers the product, Shopify's stock follows on its own. When it doesn't, for example an item sold from a generic or temporary show listing, Shopify still counts the item as available.

Make every scan match one product

A scan is matched against the Barcode field on each product variant in Shopify. Give every variant its own code: sealed retail product can use the UPC or EAN already printed on it, and one-of-a-kind items need a code you create and print as a label. The guide to setting up barcodes in Shopify for live selling walks through it, including bulk editing.

Choosing a scanner

We don't recommend specific models we haven't tested ourselves. These are the things to check on any scanner you consider:

  • It works in keyboard (HID) mode, typing the code like a keyboard.
  • It sends Enter after each code (often called a suffix or terminator setting).
  • 1D or 2D: a 1D scanner reads ordinary linear barcodes such as UPC, EAN and Code 128; a 2D scanner also reads QR codes.
  • Corded USB or wireless Bluetooth: corded needs no charging; wireless lets you move around the table.
  • It reliably reads your own labels. Test it before you depend on it in a show.

Scanning live-show sales into Shopify

ScanStation is a desktop app for Windows and Mac that turns each scan into a sale. Its scan window keeps the keyboard, so every code from a USB or Bluetooth scanner lands in its scan box. Each scan takes that item off its “available” count in Shopify and adds it to the show's packing list under its sale number, and Undo puts a mistaken scan back.

  • Before your first show, try your scanner in Test Mode on its two test items.
  • If an item has no label, or the label won't read on the night, sell it with Find an item in the store, which searches Shopify by name.
  • Don't scan items your platform's own Shopify sync already counted, or they come off twice.

Useful next steps

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