Noteworthy general information on payments

Cashless payment should work simply and at all times. Payroll accounting must be a positive experience for owners, employees and customers. It is also essential that cashless accounting is congruent with the bookings in the POS system in every respect. If this is the case, all that remains to be done is a comprehensible statement of incoming payments.

Acceptance of all payment methods for customer loyalty

As in the topic on eSolutions Payment linked below, the motto for payment terminals is now also: Accept all means of payment!

Of course, Mastercard and Visa are the leaders and giropay is still standard in Germany. But unlike in the past, you can't simply decline cards at the payment terminal, because the trend towards smartphone payment "hides" the previously visible cards behind Apple Pay and Google Pay. Your customers should be able to decide for themselves which cards they put in "their smartphone" and you should not simply refuse payment because you think you can save on fees. The only right way is to accept as many payment methods as possible, because if nobody needs them, providing them does not cost any additional fees. Otherwise you will scare away guests unnoticed, but with lasting effect. AMEX, for example, is often unpopular because of the high discounts on acceptance. However, this can also be a fallacy, as AMEX pursues a strategy of providing special customers with the payment. AMEX customers also have a higher per capita turnover, as we were able to determine using the example of our own analyses (annual data 2023):

With double the average receipt, any additional 1.5% costs for payment should also be acceptable in your concept. The analysis of our data shows further information that you can evaluate for yourself, but unfortunately it does not show the loss of sales due to unnecessarily declined cards.

Further documentation: Best practice eSolutions payment methods and warning against errors with smartphone payment!

The full-service time-out trap

Misunderstandings with the time-out are the most annoying problem cases and can be largely avoided with simple understanding. If they do occur, they can be easily removed.

The challenge: The POS system talks to the payment terminal (also with PayPOS), the payment terminal talks to the data centre and the data centre talks to the card systems (issuers). First a payment request is sent this way and then the confirmation (sometimes also the rejection) is sent back the other way round. The POS system therefore waits the longest for an answer. As these systems are not continuously interlinked, time intervals are used in which a response is waited for, so-called "timers". If a timer expires in this chain, this is referred to as a time-out and the process cannot be completed by the cash register. When paying at the petrol station or supermarket, this is usually possible within a few seconds (standard timer there approx. 30 seconds). In the catering trade, it can take a little longer, especially if the payment terminal has to be brought from the till to the table! This is why time-outs occur more frequently in the catering industry.

 

As long as the timeout between the cash register and the payment terminal has not expired, any other fault in the communication chain can be reported by the payment terminal to the cash register. This means that the cash register usually knows exactly whether the payment has worked or not. There is a secure technical method between the payment terminal and the data centre that cancels the payment in the event of a malfunction (an auto-cancellation so that these two instances always have the same status). Unfortunately, there is no such technical solution in the communication protocol between payment terminals and POS systems. This means that the cash register timer always has to wait a little longer than the payment terminal timer for security reasons.

 

There is a time-out setting in Hypersoft for the waiting time of the cash register, which defines the maximum waiting time for the payment terminal to respond. There is also a time-out setting in the payment terminal for the maximum waiting time for the data centre. Therefore, the time-out setting of the cash register should always be slightly longer than that of the payment terminal. The Hypersoft time-out setting for the payment terminal should therefore be set to a value between 3 and 5 minutes. This value should then be one minute longer than the timeout in the payment terminal.

1. After each installation or modification of Hypersoft, the time-outs should be tested once in practice.

2. Any change to the time-out of Hypersoft or the payment terminal also requires a necessary change at the other location.

If everything is set correctly, no disruptive timeout should occur unless the connection is terminated for another reason (error in the WLAN or connection interruption).

If Hypersoft does not receive a response, you not only have a long waiting time, but also a transaction for which the POS system has no payment status. Hypersoft therefore cancels the attempt when the timeout occurs (see: Terminal loses connection) and treats the process as unclear. The transaction is coloured blue in the table list. Example Blue Table:

You must now decide whether the payment was made or not and close the transaction congruent with the situation that actually occurred.

How to avoid the blue table problem...

• With Adyen payment terminals, we have the option of asking the Adyen data centre about the status in the event of a time-out, so such a problem with Hypersoft Pay powered by Adyen usually corrects itself within a minute.

• If you use PayPOS devices, there is no waiting time because you can complete the transaction directly at the table (at the customer's).

• Most of the time, the system is not trained with all staff and is not tested when new installations or changes are made. Both can be avoided by careful handling.

• A perfect WLAN is less worrying than a defective one. If the payment terminal still has reception, a human being between the device and the recipient can trigger the cancellation. The same can happen if many people (with WLAN-capable devices) are only present.

Further documentation:

Terminal loses interface

Hypersoft Timeout Settings

Operator authorisations for cashless payments

In the following topics you will learn, among other things, how important it is to familiarise yourself with cashless payment and to educate every employee about the conditions and the possibilities. This way, you can ensure that cashless payments are always a positive experience for your customers and that there are no problems with settlements afterwards.

To be on the safe side, you can block cashless payments at connected payment terminals until they are trained to do so at your location. The lock then also appears in Hypersoft Pay@Table as an easily understandable message.

Technical and commercial risks

Commercial Charge Back Risk...

In the standard system, each means of payment is evaluated by the computer centre within a very short time and a decision is made on the basis of a risk assessment as to whether the payment is accepted. An accepted payment therefore has a residual risk that the money cannot be paid out to you - a charge-back can theoretically take place. Therefore, avoid cashless payments that are not up to your standard, are large in amount and are made by customers whose status is unclear to you.

Therefore, also consider the situation when risk management refuses payment in a complex process. Think about the procedure for these cases and train your staff on the procedure you have determined. A simple possibility with the Hypersoft system would be to issue an invoice that your customers then pay afterwards. They then deal with the respective situation in a correspondingly different way with their personal risk assessment.

Risks due to limitations...

Beachten Sie dass es je nach Zahlungsanbieter und gewissen Voreinstellungen minimale und maximale Beträge gibt, sie wie im Bereich Hypersoft Pay Amount Window beschrieben. Settlement attempts outside this payment window will result in a payment rejection. This also makes sense if you look at the above commercial charge-back risk.

The rejection can surprise (solvent) customers and compromise employees. Train your staff on these conditions and the possibilities to deal with them in the best possible way. If a guest asks if you accept XY card, you may have to answer with a yes and the limit.

Another limitation is expired timers, e.g. if the machine or POS system aborts the payment before it is completed due to a set but not reconciled time window.

POS Settlement Risks...

The risk when the individual payment voucher cannot be accurately linked to the cash register transaction is not only an internal fraud problem, but can also create extremely critical situations when audited by tax authorities. If you consider the occurrence of separate invoices and cashless tips, a payment terminal that is not connected simply cannot provide audit security and fraud control. Look carefully at the services of Hypersoft Pay@Table, with which you can do all these things and more masterfully. (Non-cash tips alone can lose an existing tax exemption in Germany if they cannot be attributed, so that you as the holder owe the subsequent taxation).

This technology requires optimal coordination of all components, so please also note our general WLAN information on payment terminals at Connection of the POS terminals via WLAN. Think about connecting at least one terminal stationary and via LAN.

Default risks of cashless payments...

Depending on the type of operation, a failure of cashless payment can cause problems or even make it impossible to charge guests. This can be largely prevented with technical measures. Problems and measures:

issue	Measures
WLAN fails	Check whether WLAN is still working in an area. Use at least one stationary terminal for emergencies. Install a backup WLAN
Connection to the Internet fails	Use a router with an additional SIM card that maintains communication with the data centre in emergency mode.
Connection to the POS system fails	Check the possibilities to decouple the payment terminal from the POS system for emergency operation and create instructions for this emergency.
Payment terminals fail	Create invoices and ask the guests to transfer the payments "or pay tomorrow". Practise the emergency procedure with your staff. If there is an ATM nearby and there are other options, you can of course use them.

Alternatives in case of emergency...

For emergencies, we have considered the alternatives and make further recommendations in the chapter Payment terminals in emergency operation.

General information on payment terminals

In general, the integration of POS terminals in the way it is carried out by Hypersoft is the maximum performance variety to connect payment terminals in the catering industry. We do this for our clients, who prefer controlled and at the same time legally secure solutions.

The use of payment terminals at the POS system can be differentiated into two methods:

1. POS terminals not connected to the cash registers
2. POS terminals linked to the cash register. With Hypersoft we have method 2. of the connected terminals are still differentiated into two classes:

1. Connected terminals for retail and Quick-Service (market standard)
2. Connected terminals for Digital Services and Full-Service Restaurants with Pay@Table (Hypersoft Standard)

Detailed information on this topic can be found in the sections Hypersoft Pay Adyen Terminals, Hypersoft Pay@Table and for other solutions in Other payment terminals.

Printing at payment terminals with Hypersoft Pay

Internal printer...

If a payment terminal has an internal printer, the printing of the customer and merchant receipt is controlled by the device. If you have any questions about this, please contact the supplier of the device if it is not a Hypersoft Pay payment terminal. As a rule, only the correct settings need to be made in the event of problems.

Special feature: Hypersoft can also send invoices and NoCOO receipts to the internal printer on the Saturn F2.

No internal printer...

If a payment terminal does not have an internal printer, you can output the printout via a Hypersoft belt printer (together with receipts from the POS system) or have the printout made via any POS printer of the Hypersoft system. If the terminal does not print, the setting in the terminal that the printout is transferred to us is usually switched off, which can happen, for example, after a device replacement or with new devices. As a rule, only the correct settings need to be made in the event of problems.

Contactless payment

Contactless payment is technically a different use of the respective "card". For example, cards from certain issuers may not always be accepted or certain functions may not be supported. In these cases, it often helps to repeat the settlement but then with the card inserted.

Limitation of contactless payment with epay...

With epay payment terminals we support the increase of the payment amount directly at the appointment for tips. In this context, the payment cannot be executed contactless by epay. Book the tip in advance or do without the combination of tip and contactless payment.

Protection of the payment terminals in the event of a cash register failure

In the standard system, the payment terminals are started from the main cash register (the server). If the main cash register or the network to it should fail, the payment terminals are also unavailable for the other cash registers. For this reason, it can make sense to have terminals started by other cash registers. If, for example, a Quick Service cash register has a fixed payment terminal, this could be started directly from there. You can make this deviating setting in the Terminal setup mode in the Start via station field.

Allocation of the payment terminals

You can determine per cashier station which payment terminals are offered there. It can be a fixed terminal or, for example, a selection of several mobile terminals. This also applies to the subsystem(s) that can control a large number of mPOS devices and payment terminals. For the assignment, use the field Terminal number.

International installations

For international installations, these or other partners are used, depending on the country. We also use the international connection options of type I via ZVT. Terminals with manual bookings at the cash register system are often used there, as this is typical for the country. We currently work with the ZVT standard for older connections and with current connections we are oriented towards NEXUS (active with Hypersoft Pay powered by Adyen).

DCC / Dynamic Currency Conversion

With Hypersoft Pay powered by Adyen card devices, your customers can pay in their preferred currency. The (possible) additional costs incurred here are borne by the cardholder.

Generally, DCC is designed to give a customer with a currency other than yours the choice at the payment terminal of paying in their local currency or in their currency.

If the customer now selects his or her national currency for payment, the terminal usually remains stuck in the currency selected by the customer in the case of a connection with ZVT (this is not the case with a Nexus connection such as with Hypersoft Pay powered by Adyen). To counteract the ZVT DCC problem, the cash register manufacturer can send your national currency with each payment (for security). This then requires some kind of "initialisation", which does not work as standard with all devices and firmware versions. Therefore, we would like to support DCC only with partner companies and after coordination or testing of the devices used.

Settle transaction without amount

A transaction without an amount (e.g. only pre-order cancellations) cannot be completed as a cashless transaction (at 0,-). Such a request is automatically completed by the system to BAR.

Set operator permissions and reports

Depending on the workflow, the following settings for operator permissions and operator reports, for example, may be useful for you:

BZV processes detailed...

Tips detailed...

Block payment types for operators individually...

Technical description of the card IDs and internal handling

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