08 · Using your own EFTPOS terminal or payment provider

HappierBiz is not a till. If you already take money on your own EFTPOS terminal, or through another payment provider, you keep doing that, and nothing at the counter changes. This page covers what to tell HappierBiz, how a payment taken at the counter is recorded against a booking or an invoice, what your customers see, and the two places where one sale can end up counted twice.

Online card payments in HappierBiz run through Stripe. You can run without it, or alongside it:

Either way, everything else works the same: bookings, the roster, timesheets, invoices, receipts and the accounting reports.

1. Tell HappierBiz you take payment another way

Open Finance → Money owed. Under the Stripe card is one line:

Not taking cards online? Cash, EFTPOS, bank transfer or your own payment provider are all fine, and bookings are simply paid later or in person.

Select I use another provider. You need the Manage settings permission.

What changes:

• The setup checklist stops asking you about payments.
• The line becomes Customers can pay you by your own provider or in person, with Undo beside it.
• When you edit one of your offerings, the choices A deposit and Pay in full are locked, with the reason shown. Bookings confirm without charging, and customers book now and pay you directly.
• An offering that already had a deposit set behaves the same way: its bookings confirm without charging. Nothing is deleted, so connecting Stripe later brings the deposit back as it was.

It is reversible. Select Undo, or connect Stripe at any time, which overrides it.

2. Put your bank details on your invoices

Settings → Invoice & tax details → How to pay. Enter the account name, BSB and account number, and use the free line for anything else you accept, such as paying at the counter. These print on every invoice and appear on the page a customer opens from their invoice email. With Stripe not connected there is no Pay online button, so this is how they pay you.

Add your ABN on the same card. Without it, none of your receipts can be tax invoices. See Payments, section 7d.

3. Your payment methods, in your words

Settings → Payments → How your customers pay you in person. The list starts as Cash, EFTPOS, Bank transfer and Card. Rename them, remove the ones you never take, or add your own, for example the name of your terminal. The words you choose are printed on the customer's receipt. Remove them all and the standard four come back.

4. Recording a payment taken at the counter

The money has already moved. Recording it tells HappierBiz, so the booking or invoice shows as paid, the customer gets their receipt, and your figures are right.

On a booking. Open the booking and select Take a payment. The amount starts at what is owing, and you can take part of it. Answer How did they pay? from your list, set When the money arrived if it was not today, and add a note if you want one. Or, on Finance → Money owed, select Mark paid on the row. Both need the Take / charge payments permission.

On an invoice. Open the invoice under Finance → Invoicing and select Mark as paid. It asks the same question. A part payment is recorded the same way, and the invoice stays open for the rest.

On a kiosk tablet. When a staff kiosk books somebody in and money is owing, the Booked in screen offers your payment methods as buttons. See Kiosk.

Whichever way you record it:

• It goes on the ledger as a real payment, dated the day the money arrived, in the words you chose.
• The customer is emailed a receipt straight away. If you are registered for GST and your ABN is saved, it is a tax invoice.
• It is counted in Paid history, in Collected, and in Accounting & reports, including the BAS figures.
• It is never filed as a card charge, so Reconcile with Stripe does not go looking for it.

⚠️ Check the amount before you save it. A payment recorded on an invoice can be voided from the invoice. A payment recorded on a booking cannot be removed.

5. What your customers see

• Booking online. No payment step. The confirmation confirms the booking and does not mention a card.
• An invoice. How to pay, with your bank details and your own words. No Pay online button.
• After you record a payment. Their receipt, by email, showing how they paid in your words and the day the money arrived.

6. Your books, where the two systems meet

Accounting & reports holds what went through HappierBiz. A deposit taken on your terminal and recorded against a booking here is in it. A coffee sold on your terminal and never recorded here is not. So the income figures, the BAS and the GST threshold check are a floor, and they say so on the screen. The whole picture is in your provider's own reports, or in Xero.

If you use Xero. Your terminal provider most likely sends Xero a summary of each day's sales. HappierBiz sends Xero your invoices, and can also send payment receipts. That is two ways for one sale to arrive, so:

• Leave Payment receipts unticked under Finance → Accounting & reports → What can go to Xero. Ticked, a deposit taken on your terminal and recorded here reaches Xero twice: once in the day's summary, once as a receipt.
• An invoice paid at your terminal is in Xero as your invoice and again in that day's summary. Tell your bookkeeper, so the sale is counted once. Taking invoice payments by bank transfer avoids it altogether.

7. Adding online card payments later

Connect Stripe from Finance → Money owed. It overrides I use another provider on the spot: deposits can be asked for again, invoices gain Pay online, and memberships can charge. Your terminal stays exactly as it is. You will have two payout lines to your bank, your provider's and Stripe's, and Xero reconciles both. The full guide is Payments.

8. Without Stripe, these are not available

• A deposit or full payment when somebody books online.
• Charging a saved card for a balance.
• Pay online on invoices.
• Memberships with a fee. Free memberships work.
• Refunding by card from HappierBiz. Refund on your terminal as you always have, then void the payment on the invoice. On a booking, the recorded payment stays.

9. Common questions

Related: Payments · Invoicing · Accounting & reports · Kiosk