Point Of Sale (POS)
The POS is used to complete appointment sales, sell extra products or services, take payments, process returns, and manage register cash-up. Here we will take a look at all of these different components to the POS window, but if you are looking for something specific, visit our Help Center and use our search function or view a breakdown of the different elements.
Accessing the Point Of Sale
The best way to use POS is from the Appointment Book: click the customer’s booking, then choose Complete Sale. This automatically loads the customer and the booked services into the sale.
POS can also be opened from:
Sales > Sell in the main navigation.
or
The Sell button to the right side of the Appointment Book.
Those alternate methods start a blank sale. The customer and booking services will not be loaded automatically.
What Is A Register?
A register is the Pointa version of a till or cash register. It groups the sales and payments taken through that selling point so they can be reconciled later.
Most businesses only need one register. Larger businesses may use multiple registers if they have more than one payment point, location area, or cash drawer.
A register has an opening float, sales during the day, cash movements, counted payments, and a closing float. Closing the register is the POS “cash up”.
Best Practice: Complete A Sale From The Appointment Book
Go to the Appointment Book.
Click the customer’s booking.
Review the booking details.
Select Complete Sale.
POS opens with the customer and booked services already loaded.
Add any extra products, services, packages, or gift cards if required.
Check the cart.
Select Pay.
Take payment.
Select Complete Sale.
The final Complete Sale step is important. If payment is taken but the sale is not completed, the sale may remain open and cause follow-up issues.
Opening A Register
Before selling, a register must be selected and opened.
Open POS by selecting Sell.
Enter the opening float.
Add an optional opening note.
Select Open Register.
Best practice is to open the register at the start of the trading day and close it at the end of the day when doing EFTPOS settlement and cash-up. Daily closing gives cleaner reconciliation and makes discrepancies easier to find.
If yesterday’s register is still open, Pointa may prompt you to close it before selling. See the register closing and shifts section for when to close, when to keep selling, and how shifts work.
Adding Extra Items To A Sale
Items can be added to the sale in several ways:
Use the category buttons: Products, Services, Packages, or Gift Card.
Search in the product search box.
Scan a product barcode, if the barcode has been loaded against the product.
Use Bookings to add unpaid bookings.
Use Credit to add an account credit payment item for the selected customer.
If POS was opened from Sales > Sell or the Appointment Book Sell button, the sale starts blank. You will need to add the customer and items manually.
Editing Items And Commission Staff
Click an item in the cart to edit it.
Depending on the item, you may be able to:
Change quantity.
Change price.
Apply a discount.
Add a note.
Assign commission staff.
Remove the item.
If the sale is created from the Appointment Book and only contains booked services, the staff and commission assignment should usually already be correct because it comes from the booking. Consideration may need to be given to the assigned commission-earning staff for items manually added to the sale.
Some items may be locked and cannot be edited or removed.
Parking And Retrieving Sales
Use Park Sale when a sale needs to be paused while serving another customer.
To park a sale:
Select Park Sale.
Add a note so the sale can be recognised later.
Confirm.
To retrieve a sale:
Select Retrieve Sale.
Choose the parked sale.
Continue the sale.
Shift managers can use Park Open Sales from the register menu. This is useful when open sales on other devices are preventing the register from being closed.
Taking Payment
Most sales are paid with one payment method.
Select Pay.
Select the payment type, such as Cash or EFTPOS.
Follow the prompt for that payment type.
When payment is complete, select Complete Sale.
For split payments or partial payments, edit the amount before choosing the payment type. After the first payment is accepted, the remaining amount will stay on screen. Repeat with the next payment type until the balance is zero, then select Complete Sale.
Cash Payments
Cash payments show:
Amount to pay.
Amount given by the customer.
Calculated change.
Use the cash buttons or type the amount given, then take payment.
EFTPOS Payments
EFTPOS payments may either communicate with the terminal (‘integrated EFTPOS’) or show a manual accept/decline prompt, depending on the setup. Complete the payment on the terminal, then follow the Pointa prompt.
Returns
The most user-friendly way to process a return is from the customer record.
Go to Customers.
Find and open the customer.
Go to the Sales tab.
Open the original sale.
Select Return.
POS loads the items from the original sale as a return.
If only one item is being refunded, remove the other items from the cart.
Go to payment and process the refund.
Select Complete Return.
Alternate method: go to Sales > History, find the sale, open it, and choose Return.
Sales History
Use Sales > History to search previous sales.
You can filter by:
Date range.
Customer.
Register.
Sales person.
Status.
Opening a sale lets you view details, print or email an invoice, and start a return where allowed.
Cash Management
Cash Management records cash movements that are not normal sale payments.
Use it for things like:
Petty cash taken out.
Extra float added.
Cash removed for banking.
Cash removed during the day if the business is not doing daily register close/cash-up.
Recording drawer movements so the register can still be reconciled later.
Cash Management is not for normal customer payments. Those should be processed through the sale payment screen.
Closing The Register / Cashing Up
Best practice is to close the register at the end of each trading day. This should line up with EFTPOS settlement and the business cash-up process.
From POS, open the register menu.
Select Close Register.
Review expected payments.
Count the payment types that require counting, especially cash.
Enter counted amounts.
Confirm banked cash and closing float.
Add an optional closing note.
Select Close Register.
Pointa compares expected and counted totals and shows any difference. Closing the register creates a shift record for later review.
Daily closing of the register is the cleanest way to match POS totals, EFTPOS settlement, cash movements, and banking.
Please note that the register can only be closed once per day.
Shifts
A shift is the period between opening and closing a register. Shift history shows:
Register used.
Opened and closed times.
Staff who opened and closed.
Opening and closing notes.
Sales totals.
Payment totals.
Differences.
Cash movements.
EFTPOS settlement receipt, if available.
Use shifts when checking end-of-day totals or investigating a discrepancy.