POS: card terminal (add-on)

With the card terminal your VidiPOS register takes card payments directly on the card reader: the register sends the amount to the reader, the guest taps their card or phone, and the result lands on the receipt without anyone typing it in. Everything is set up in the back office under POS › Card terminal. Everyone with the permission POS: register settings (view) can see the page; pairing, renaming, setting defaults, removing and configuring tips need the same permission to edit. Only staff who may edit POS: cancel receipt can issue refunds.

What the card reader does

The first supported reader is the SumUp Solo. It is not connected to the tablet via Bluetooth; it is connected to the SumUp cloud over Wi-Fi or mobile data. VidiPOS talks to SumUp over the internet — the reader only needs to be switched on and online, and it can sit at a different spot than the tablet. You maintain the SumUp access (API key and merchant code) as before in the POS integration settings; the card terminal page only shows whether it is stored — the key itself is never displayed. SumUp receives the callback address (webhook) from VidiPOS with every payment; there is nothing to enter at SumUp.

Pairing a card reader — step by step

1. Switch the Solo on and connect it to Wi-Fi or mobile data.
2. On the Solo open Connections → API and have it show a code. It has 8 or 9 characters and is valid for 5 minutes.
3. In the back office under POS › Card terminal, open the dialog with the “Pair a card reader” button at the top right, choose the provider, type in the code, give the reader a name (for example “Solo counter”) and, if you like, choose the register it works at right away.
4. After “Pair” the reader appears in the list with provider, model and online status. If the code has expired or is wrong, you see an error message — simply have the Solo show a new code.

Edit in the reader’s row opens a dialog where you rename it and change its assignments; the bin icon next to it removes it. Removing also unpairs it at SumUp; this is not possible while a payment is running on the reader.

Default reader

Each reader can be assigned to a register, a device and an operator. At the register the order is: the reader of the signed-in operator, then the device’s, then the register’s. If the business has only a single reader, the register always uses it. Each register, device and operator has at most one reader — if you assign a different one, the previous reader loses the assignment.

Paying at the register

In the app, staff tap the “Card” tile when taking payment. A waiting dialog appears: the amount shows on the reader, the guest pays, and as soon as the provider confirms the payment it is booked on the receipt. With Cancel you stop a payment as long as the guest has not paid yet. If the connection drops in the middle of a payment, the app resumes it the next time it opens — nothing is ever charged twice.

Tips

Staff choose the tip in the app as usual before starting the card payment. If none was chosen there, the reader can offer the guest percentages. The rates (exactly three different whole percentages, default 3, 5 and 10 % — SumUp always requires three) and the waiting time on the reader (30 to 120 seconds, default 60) apply to the whole business; if all fields are empty, tipping on the reader is off everywhere. If a rate is invalid, the form marks exactly that field. Per register there is the switch “offer a tip on the reader if none was chosen in the app” — it is switched on from the start. VidiPOS takes the tip from the reader out of the provider’s answer and assigns it like the register’s other tips (employees or business).

Outage: “Card external”

If the reader is offline or the provider cannot be reached, you can take the payment on another device and record it in the app as “Card external”. The app asks for a short note (for example the receipt number of the other device), which appears on the receipt and in the journal.

If the result on the reader stays unclear (the app shows “checking the result”), you may also record “Card external” and finish the transaction. Should the reader payment later turn out to be successful after all, it appears under Register › Card terminal as “no receipt” with the note “recorded in the app as ‘card (external)’” — refund it there so the guest does not pay twice.

Cancellation and refund

When you cancel a receipt with a card payment, VidiPOS refunds the amount to the card — including the tip. After the card was presented, SumUp needs up to about 30 seconds before a payment can be refunded; a cancellation right afterwards therefore retries a few times on its own. If the refund still fails, the payment appears under Terminal payments with the state “refund failed” and the note Action needed; there you try again with Retry refund.

Card payment without a receipt

Rarely a card is charged but no receipt was created — for example when the tablet switched off during the payment. After 10 minutes VidiPOS marks such a payment as “no receipt”. In the app you can assign it to an open transaction or refund it; in the back office it is listed with action needed and can be fully paid back with Refund. Also listed there: payments with an unclear outcome that have been open for more than 10 minutes — Check status now asks the provider immediately. The tab shows the number of such cases as a badge.

Card slip and girocard

What the receipt shows: below every card payment at the reader the VidiPOS receipt carries its own section “Card payment” — on the paper bon (58 and 80 mm), on the digital receipt (QR code), in the PDF and therefore in the receipt e-mail too. For the guest it replaces the provider’s customer slip and shows what the provider reports: the card brand with the last four digits (“VISA •••• 1234”), the card’s application and AID, the entry mode (contactless, chip, magnetic stripe or manual), the verification (PIN, signature, none or on the device), the authorisation code, the provider’s receipt number or transaction, the terminal ID, the date and time at the provider and the amount charged including the tip. Whatever a provider does not deliver is left out — never guessed: SumUp reports no AID and no application name, Stripe no terminal ID. VidiPOS never stores the full card number, card verification data or cryptograms.

The provider’s merchant and customer card slip remains available as a supplement: the guest gets it on the reader or by text message or e-mail from SumUp. The SumUp Solo also accepts girocard.

Stripe as a second provider

Alternatively you can pair server-driven Stripe smart readers through your business’s connected Stripe account — with the registration code the reader shows. Tipping on the reader works the same way there. With Stripe, girocard is only supported by the S700 reader.

Test mode

As long as the connection runs in test mode (badge next to the heading), no real money moves. Pair a test reader with the code 000000; it behaves like a real reader so you can try out the register, tips and cancellations at your leisure.