Point of sale

The point of sale add-on turns a browser, tablet or till PC into a register. You ring up a sale, take payment and print or email a receipt, and the sale is recorded in PayMidWare.

Before you start

1. Turn the add-on on from the Integrations page. It is an optional add-on to your plan.
2. An Admin gives your Staff the Point of sale area under User roles. People who were already signed in need to sign out and in again to pick it up.
3. Open Register settings and review currency, tips, the cash discount and the receipt footer.
4. Open Registers and check your register and location. A register called Main at a location called Main is created for you the first time anyone opens the register.

Then choose Register from your account page or the top menu. Your Sales and Drawer shifts pages are next to it. Card payments at the register are a keyed card, a card saved on the customer, or a QR code the customer pays with on their own phone. Physical card readers are not available yet.

Ringing up a sale

On the Register page, tap products to add them, or use Custom item for something not in your catalog. Use the search box to find a product.

• Discounts. Give a line a discount as an amount or a percent. Staff can discount up to the limit set in Register settings. A larger discount needs an Admin.
• Customer. Pick an existing customer or quick-add one. A sale does not need a customer.
• Tax. Pick a tax rate. Tax is worked out line by line, the same as on an invoice.

Taking payment

Choose a payment method in the payment panel:

• Cash. Enter the amount handed over and the register shows the change.
• Check.
• Card. The customer's card is typed into your gateway's secure card field. Card numbers never pass through PayMidWare. This works when your default gateway is Stripe, Square or Authorize.Net.
• Saved card. A card already saved on the customer.
• QR. The customer scans a code and pays on their own phone.

Change the amount on each payment to split a sale between people or methods. Each payment is its own leg, and the sale is complete when the balance reaches zero. A sale you walk away from stays open: use the open-sales list on the Register page to resume it, or void it if nothing was paid.

To take payment on an invoice you already sent, find it by invoice number on the Register page. You can take the full balance or, if the invoice allows partial payments, part of it. The payment is recorded on the invoice. Tips are not offered on these.

Tips and the cash discount

Turn on Take tips at the register in Register settings. You can set up to three suggested percentages, which start at 18, 20 and 22. The payment panel then shows Tip on this payment with None, your three suggestions with their dollar amounts, and a custom amount.

• Each payment has its own tip, so people splitting a bill each choose theirs.
• A percentage is taken on the pre-tax share of the amount being paid. Tips are not taxed.
• Customers paying by QR code can add a tip on their phone.

Set Cash discount (percent) in Register settings to reward customers who pay cash. Zero turns it off and the maximum is 20 percent. It applies only to cash payments, and only to the cash portion of a split sale; it does not apply to check, card or QR payments, or to collecting on an invoice. The discount comes off the price before tax, the tax is recalculated on the lower price, and tips are never discounted. This is a discount for paying cash, not a surcharge on cards. Card brand and state rules differ, so check them before you advertise it. Card surcharging is not part of PayMidWare.

Pay by QR code

1. In the payment panel choose QR, enter the amount (it starts as the whole balance), and press Show QR code.
2. The customer scans the code, enters their card on their phone and, if tips are on, chooses a tip.
3. The register updates by itself when the payment goes through. A countdown and a Cancel button are shown while it waits.

A code is good for 15 minutes and one code is live per sale; making a new one replaces the old one. If a card is declined the customer can try another card, and after five failed tries the request fails. A smaller amount makes it one leg of a split payment. QR payments appear when your default gateway supports keyed card entry (Stripe, Square or Authorize.Net). If you do not see the QR button, ask support.

Cash drawers and shifts

A shift tracks the cash in a register's drawer. Open Drawer shifts, choose the register and press Open with the starting float. Only one shift can be open on a register at a time. If Cash and checks need an open drawer is on in Register settings, the register will not take cash or checks until a shift is open. To close, count the drawer and enter the amount. This is a blind close: staff do not see what the system expected, while managers see the expected cash and the variance. A register cannot be renamed or switched off while its drawer is open.

Sales, refunds, voids and receipts

The Sales page lists sales with a date and status filter, totals and a tender breakdown. Download CSV exports the list. Open a sale to see its receipt.

• Print or email the receipt. The footer comes from Register settings.
• Void a sale that is still open and has no payment on it.
• Refund a paid sale, in cash or back to the card. Refunds are for Admins and other managers only.
• Resolve a payment whose result the gateway never confirmed. This is also Admin only, and it prevents a customer being charged twice.
• Copy to an invoice to create a paid invoice for the sale.

If Copy completed sales to invoices is on, every completed sale becomes a paid invoice automatically, so your QuickBooks or Salesforce connection picks it up. These invoices count toward your plan's invoice limit. A refund does not change the linked invoice, so adjust that separately.

Registers, locations and product availability

A register is a named till at a location. Managers add them on the Registers page. Names must be different, ignoring capital letters. You always keep at least one active location and register, and registers are switched off rather than deleted. With more than one active register, the Register page shows a picker and remembers your choice in that browser. Each register has its own cash drawer.

To control what each register sells, open a product and use its Point of sale card. Hide from the register keeps a product off every register, though it can still be sold on invoices and schedules. Availability rules limit where and when it can be sold: all registers, one location or one register, on chosen days of the week, between optional start and end times in your business time zone. An end time earlier than the start runs past midnight and belongs to the day it started. A product with no rules is sold everywhere, always; once it has rules, it is sold only where at least one rule matches. Custom items and collecting on an invoice are not governed by these rules.

Register settings

• Currency. Three letters, such as USD. Applies to new sales.
• Take tips at the register and Tip suggestions. Up to three percentages.
• Cash discount (percent). 0 to 20. Zero is off.
• Sign register cashiers out after (minutes idle). 1 to 60, default 15.
• Largest discount staff can give. A percent of a line. Anything larger needs an Admin to ring it up.
• Cash and checks need an open drawer.
• Copy completed sales to invoices. Off by default.
• Receipt footer. Printed on every receipt, for example your return policy.