Taking card payments on a reader

Available in the United States and Canada. Elsewhere, card payments are recorded by hand on the payment screen — see Payments & tenders.

What this is

Instead of a separate card machine that you then copy amounts from, the reader talks to IntelliPOS directly. You tap Charge card on the reader, the customer taps, inserts or swipes, and the sale finishes by itself — right amount, every time, nothing typed twice.

The money is yours, directly. You connect your own Stripe account, so payouts go to your bank on Stripe's normal schedule. IntelliPOS never holds your money and takes no cut of your sales. Card numbers never touch IntelliPOS either — the reader talks to Stripe, and we only receive the approval, the card brand and its last four digits for the receipt.

What it costs — all of it

Stripe charges its standard published rate, billed to your Stripe account. IntelliPOS adds nothing — no percentage, no per-swipe fee, no monthly reader fee. The numbers, exactly as Stripe prints them (United States; Canada is the same in Canadian dollars):

• In person on the reader: 2.7% + 5¢ per successful charge. On a $100 sale that's $2.75 to Stripe and $97.25 to you.
• Online (website orders, online sign-ups): 2.9% + 30¢.
• Payouts: your first payout arrives 7–14 days after your first sale (Stripe's hold on every new account); after that, money reaches your bank 2 business days after each sale in the US, 3 in Canada.
• Refunds: the customer gets the full amount back on their card; Stripe keeps its original fee.
• Disputes (chargebacks): Stripe charges $15 when a customer disputes a payment. IntelliPOS emails you the moment one opens, with the receipt and the date you must respond by.
• The reader: a Stripe Reader S700 or WisePOS E, bought once from Stripe (about $249–349), no monthly fee.

The same facts are printed on Settings → Card payments before you connect anything, with a link to Stripe's pricing page. If your Stripe account has its own agreed rate, Stripe's dashboard is always the truth for what you pay.

Setting it up (about 15 minutes, once)

You can do all of this yourself — nobody needs to switch anything on for you.

1. Go to Settings → Card payments.
2. Connect Stripe. You'll be handed to Stripe to enter your business details and the bank account you want paid into. If you already have a Stripe account you can sign in and reuse it.
3. Come back and pair your reader. On the reader: swipe from the left edge → Settings → Generate pairing code. Type that code into Reader pairing code and press Register.
4. That's it. "Charge card on the reader" now appears on your till and on table settle, on every device you use — no restart, no re-login.

Which reader to buy

A Stripe WisePOS E (around $250) or a Stripe Reader S700. Buy it from Stripe so it's already the right model for your account. Contactless cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay all work — they're just a tap, with nothing extra to set up.

Taking a payment

1. Ring the sale as normal and press Charge.
2. Press Charge card on the reader — that one tap sends the amount to the reader. Your customer's display (if you have one) tells them to tap, insert or swipe, and shows the amount.
3. The customer pays. The sale completes on its own and the receipt is ready.

If a card is declined, IntelliPOS says so in plain words ("Insufficient funds on the card") and the reader is ready to try again — a different card, or cash. Nothing is charged and nothing is recorded until a payment actually succeeds. The customer can also press Cancel on the reader themselves; the till sees it straight away.

If you press Cancel at the very moment the customer taps, the card may still be charged — no card machine can stop an approval that is already in flight. IntelliPOS checks with Stripe before it believes anything: if the card was charged, the till says so, completes the sale as a card sale and never asks for cash. Your customer is never charged twice.

The receipt prints the approval the card networks require: the card's brand and last four digits, how it was read (contactless, chip, swipe, Apple Pay…), the authorization code and the card's EMV details. Printed, on screen, in the PDF and in the emailed receipt — the same everywhere, online or offline.

No reader yet? Using a separate card machine

Until your reader is paired — or any time you take cards on a stand-alone card machine — the till records the card payment by hand:

1. Ring the sale and press Charge, then pick Card.
2. Take the payment on your card machine the way you always do.
3. Only when the machine shows APPROVED, press Mark paid — Card. You can jot the approval code from the machine's screen into the optional box — it makes end-of-day checking easier.

Never mark a card paid before the machine approves — your report would claim money that never arrived. Once a reader is paired, this by-hand card option is replaced by Charge card on the reader while you're online, so there is always exactly one way to take a card.

Tips on the reader (restaurants & cafés)

Restaurants and cafés in the US and Canada have this on by default: the reader asks the customer for the tip before they pay, so nobody has to ask out loud. The tip is added to the sale by itself, so your reports, the server's takings and your bank all agree. Tips are worked out on the food, never on the tax. Shops, pharmacies and gyms have it off. Change it any time in Settings → Card payments.

Sales tax

Set your combined rate in Settings → Payments & tax. If you sell items that aren't taxed — most unprepared groceries, for example — turn Charges sales tax off on those products and IntelliPOS handles a mixed basket correctly, including partial refunds.

How much you hold for the tax office. In the US, Canada, Europe and other countries that file sales tax or VAT, the Overview shows a tax card for this month so far: the tax you collected, minus the tax you gave back on refunds. That net figure is what you file. Tap it for the full month on Settings → Tax, pick last month to file, and download the file for your accountant. Reports also shows how much of your gross is sales tax and how much is tips, because neither is your money to keep.

Tips. Restaurants and cafés see a Tips card next to Cash and Card on the Overview. Tips are already inside those totals, but they belong to your team.

Tips by staff. At close, the Z-report on screen, on the printed slip and in the shift email lists tips by person — a table's tip goes to the waiter who served it, a counter tip to the cashier who rang it — so you hand out tips from one number, and your records show who earned what for payroll. The same figures are on Reports → Tables by waiter and Sales by cashier, and every team member can see their own tips for today and the last 7 days under My pay on the till. Tips are never part of a refund.

Refunds

Refund the sale as normal from its receipt. The money goes back on the card first, to the card that paid — automatically, no card machine, no typing. The confirmation and the reprinted receipt say exactly where the money went ("$6.00 back to VISA ••4242 · $4.00 cash"); the customer's bank posts it in 5–10 business days. You'll see the same refund in your Stripe dashboard.

If you refund in Stripe instead (from Stripe's own dashboard), IntelliPOS notices: you get an email naming the receipt and the amount, and the owner issues list shows it, so you can record the refund with the right items and keep your sales, tax and drawer true. Nothing is changed for you — it's your call what was returned.

Disputes. If a customer's bank disputes a payment, IntelliPOS emails you at once with the receipt, the reason, and the date to respond by — and again when it's decided. Respond in Stripe with the receipt; a dispute with no response is lost automatically.

Who took what — accountability

Sales lists every sale with the cashier and how it was paid — cash, "VISA ••4242", a split, or on credit — so you can check any card charge against your Stripe dashboard without opening each receipt. The shift report and the Z-report total cards separately from cash, per cashier.

If something looks wrong

• "Charge card on the reader" isn't there. Work down the list: are you in the US or Canada? Is Stripe connected (Settings → Card payments)? Is a reader registered? All three must be true — the button only appears when a charge can actually go through, so it never fails in front of a customer.
• "This account was connected in test mode." The account was set up in Stripe's practice mode. Press Disconnect Stripe on that page and connect again — you'll get a real account, then pair your reader to it.
• Stripe says onboarding is incomplete. Stripe still needs a detail from you (often an ID document). Press Finish Stripe onboarding.
• The reader is offline. The reader needs Wi-Fi; the till says "The card reader is offline — check its power and Wi‑Fi". If your till loses internet, the reader button steps aside and says so — take cash, or record the card by hand, and everything syncs when you're back.
• "Couldn't confirm with Stripe whether the card was charged." Stripe was unreachable for a moment. Do not take cash yet — the till keeps checking and finishes the sale as soon as Stripe answers; a late approval is never lost (the owner's Payments-without-a-receipt list catches anything the till missed).

Available in the United States and Canada. Elsewhere, card payments are recorded by hand on the payment screen — see Payments & tenders.

What this is

Instead of a separate card machine that you then copy amounts from, the reader talks to IntelliPOS directly. You tap Charge card on the reader, the customer taps, inserts or swipes, and the sale finishes by itself — right amount, every time, nothing typed twice.

The money is yours, directly. You connect your own Stripe account, so payouts go to your bank on Stripe's normal schedule. IntelliPOS never holds your money and takes no cut of your sales. Card numbers never touch IntelliPOS either — the reader talks to Stripe, and we only receive the approval, the card brand and its last four digits for the receipt.

What it costs — all of it

Stripe charges its standard published rate, billed to your Stripe account. IntelliPOS adds nothing — no percentage, no per-swipe fee, no monthly reader fee. The numbers, exactly as Stripe prints them (United States; Canada is the same in Canadian dollars):

• In person on the reader: 2.7% + 5¢ per successful charge. On a $100 sale that's $2.75 to Stripe and $97.25 to you.
• Online (website orders, online sign-ups): 2.9% + 30¢.
• Payouts: your first payout arrives 7–14 days after your first sale (Stripe's hold on every new account); after that, money reaches your bank 2 business days after each sale in the US, 3 in Canada.
• Refunds: the customer gets the full amount back on their card; Stripe keeps its original fee.
• Disputes (chargebacks): Stripe charges $15 when a customer disputes a payment. IntelliPOS emails you the moment one opens, with the receipt and the date you must respond by.
• The reader: a Stripe Reader S700 or WisePOS E, bought once from Stripe (about $249–349), no monthly fee.

The same facts are printed on Settings → Card payments before you connect anything, with a link to Stripe's pricing page. If your Stripe account has its own agreed rate, Stripe's dashboard is always the truth for what you pay.

Setting it up (about 15 minutes, once)

You can do all of this yourself — nobody needs to switch anything on for you.

1. Go to Settings → Card payments.
2. Connect Stripe. You'll be handed to Stripe to enter your business details and the bank account you want paid into. If you already have a Stripe account you can sign in and reuse it.
3. Come back and pair your reader. On the reader: swipe from the left edge → Settings → Generate pairing code. Type that code into Reader pairing code and press Register.
4. That's it. "Charge card on the reader" now appears on your till and on table settle, on every device you use — no restart, no re-login.

Which reader to buy

A Stripe WisePOS E (around $250) or a Stripe Reader S700. Buy it from Stripe so it's already the right model for your account. Contactless cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay all work — they're just a tap, with nothing extra to set up.

Taking a payment

1. Ring the sale as normal and press Charge.
2. Press Charge card on the reader — that one tap sends the amount to the reader. Your customer's display (if you have one) tells them to tap, insert or swipe, and shows the amount.
3. The customer pays. The sale completes on its own and the receipt is ready.

If a card is declined, IntelliPOS says so in plain words ("Insufficient funds on the card") and the reader is ready to try again — a different card, or cash. Nothing is charged and nothing is recorded until a payment actually succeeds. The customer can also press Cancel on the reader themselves; the till sees it straight away.

If you press Cancel at the very moment the customer taps, the card may still be charged — no card machine can stop an approval that is already in flight. IntelliPOS checks with Stripe before it believes anything: if the card was charged, the till says so, completes the sale as a card sale and never asks for cash. Your customer is never charged twice.

The receipt prints the approval the card networks require: the card's brand and last four digits, how it was read (contactless, chip, swipe, Apple Pay…), the authorization code and the card's EMV details. Printed, on screen, in the PDF and in the emailed receipt — the same everywhere, online or offline.

No reader yet? Using a separate card machine

Until your reader is paired — or any time you take cards on a stand-alone card machine — the till records the card payment by hand:

1. Ring the sale and press Charge, then pick Card.
2. Take the payment on your card machine the way you always do.
3. Only when the machine shows APPROVED, press Mark paid — Card. You can jot the approval code from the machine's screen into the optional box — it makes end-of-day checking easier.

Never mark a card paid before the machine approves — your report would claim money that never arrived. Once a reader is paired, this by-hand card option is replaced by Charge card on the reader while you're online, so there is always exactly one way to take a card.

Tips on the reader (restaurants & cafés)

Restaurants and cafés in the US and Canada have this on by default: the reader asks the customer for the tip before they pay, so nobody has to ask out loud. The tip is added to the sale by itself, so your reports, the server's takings and your bank all agree. Tips are worked out on the food, never on the tax. Shops, pharmacies and gyms have it off. Change it any time in Settings → Card payments.

Sales tax

Set your combined rate in Settings → Payments & tax. If you sell items that aren't taxed — most unprepared groceries, for example — turn Charges sales tax off on those products and IntelliPOS handles a mixed basket correctly, including partial refunds.

How much you hold for the tax office. In the US, Canada, Europe and other countries that file sales tax or VAT, the Overview shows a tax card for this month so far: the tax you collected, minus the tax you gave back on refunds. That net figure is what you file. Tap it for the full month on Settings → Tax, pick last month to file, and download the file for your accountant. Reports also shows how much of your gross is sales tax and how much is tips, because neither is your money to keep.

Tips. Restaurants and cafés see a Tips card next to Cash and Card on the Overview. Tips are already inside those totals, but they belong to your team.

Refunds

Refund the sale as normal from its receipt. The money goes back on the card first, to the card that paid — automatically, no card machine, no typing. The confirmation and the reprinted receipt say exactly where the money went ("$6.00 back to VISA ••4242 · $4.00 cash"); the customer's bank posts it in 5–10 business days. You'll see the same refund in your Stripe dashboard.

If you refund in Stripe instead (from Stripe's own dashboard), IntelliPOS notices: you get an email naming the receipt and the amount, and the owner issues list shows it, so you can record the refund with the right items and keep your sales, tax and drawer true. Nothing is changed for you — it's your call what was returned.

Disputes. If a customer's bank disputes a payment, IntelliPOS emails you at once with the receipt, the reason, and the date to respond by — and again when it's decided. Respond in Stripe with the receipt; a dispute with no response is lost automatically.

Who took what — accountability

Sales lists every sale with the cashier and how it was paid — cash, "VISA ••4242", a split, or on credit — so you can check any card charge against your Stripe dashboard without opening each receipt. The shift report and the Z-report total cards separately from cash, per cashier.

If something looks wrong

• "Charge card on the reader" isn't there. Work down the list: are you in the US or Canada? Is Stripe connected (Settings → Card payments)? Is a reader registered? All three must be true — the button only appears when a charge can actually go through, so it never fails in front of a customer.
• "This account was connected in test mode." The account was set up in Stripe's practice mode. Press Disconnect Stripe on that page and connect again — you'll get a real account, then pair your reader to it.
• Stripe says onboarding is incomplete. Stripe still needs a detail from you (often an ID document). Press Finish Stripe onboarding.
• The reader is offline. The reader needs Wi-Fi; the till says "The card reader is offline — check its power and Wi‑Fi". If your till loses internet, the reader button steps aside and says so — take cash, or record the card by hand, and everything syncs when you're back.
• "Couldn't confirm with Stripe whether the card was charged." Stripe was unreachable for a moment. Do not take cash yet — the till keeps checking and finishes the sale as soon as Stripe answers; a late approval is never lost (the owner's Payments-without-a-receipt list catches anything the till missed).