Choose Credit at payment time and the terminal wakes for chip, tap, swipe or manual entry. You can capture signatures, save cards on file, pre-authorize and capture later, void or refund from the card transaction history, and recover unconfirmed transactions without double-charging.

With an integrated processor connected, card payments are the fastest tender at the register: the point of sale sends the exact total to the terminal, the customer pays however their card works, and the approval lands on the sale. This article walks through the whole card flow — the happy path, and what to do when a terminal misbehaves.

If you have not connected a processor yet, start with choosing a payment processor and setting up credit card processing. Feature availability varies by processor, so treat everything below as "where your processor supports it."

Charge a card at the register

1. Ring up the sale as usual — see ringing up a sale.
2. In the Add Payment panel, click the Credit button. The payment amount field fills with the full amount due; lower it for a split payment.
3. Click Add Payment, then Process Credit Card. The terminal wakes with the amount and the customer pays by chip, tap, or swipe.
4. Unless the location has Disable Amount Confirmation when processing credit card turned on, you confirm the amount before it goes to the pad.
5. When the processor approves, the payment attaches to the sale and you finish the receipt normally.

Notes on the flow:

• A Debit button appears alongside Credit only on PHP POS Payments and Dejavoo with Show Debit payment option when using integrated credit card processing enabled in Store Config; on other processors the customer picks debit on the pad.
• Prompt for CCV when swiping (Store Config → Payment Types) makes swiped cards ask for the security code.
• If the processor approves only part of the amount (a partial approval), the register keeps the approved portion as a "Partial Credit" payment and asks you to complete the sale with another tender.
• Cancelling a sale that already has card charges voids them automatically — the register reports "Sale cancelled and any partial credit card payments have been voided."
• On PHP POS Payments Premium, a Show Terms & Conditions checkbox appears next to the payment controls when the location has Terms & Conditions text configured on its form. Tick it and the terminal displays the full terms for the customer to read and sign before the charge goes through — see PHP POS Payments.

Manual entry

When the physical card will not read — or for phone orders — there are two ways to key the card instead:

• For one sale. On processors that support keyed entry from the register (Datacap USB and TranCloud, CardConnect, PHP POS Payments, Square Terminal, Valor, Dejavoo and Stripe), a Manually Enter Card checkbox appears with the payment controls once a card payment is added. Tick it and just that charge is keyed — depending on the processor the number is typed on the terminal's keypad or into an on-screen form — and the register goes back to normal card reading afterward.
• For the whole session. Open the register's three-dot menu and choose Use Manual Entry (the menu toggle appears on PHP POS Payments and Dejavoo). Every card payment then opens a keyed-entry form instead of waking the terminal until you choose Disable Manual Entry from the same menu.

The Registers & Terminals tab's Register to use for manual entry & payment links setting decides which terminal account keyed payments run under. Manual entry cannot be combined with a card on file in the same charge.

Signatures

The receipt asks for a signature when any of these is true: tips are enabled and the sale was paid by credit or debit; Capture signature for all sales is on in Store Config; the sale used a non-integrated credit payment or a store account; or the EMV terminal reports the card was not PIN-verified.

Capture happens on the receipt screen: sign in the on-screen signature box, or click Capture Digital Signature to use a connected Topaz signature pad — hardware setup is in scales, scanners and customer displays. Options that tune the behavior:

• Auto Capture Signature (Store Config → Receipt) — grabs the signature automatically instead of waiting for a click.
• Capture signature for all sales (Store Config → Sales) — require a signature on every sale, not just card sales.
• Override Signature Text (Store Config → Receipt) — customize the text printed with the signature line.
• Hide Signature (Store Config → Receipt) — removes the signature area entirely.
• Disable Signature Capture for PHP POS Credit Card Processing (Store Config → Receipt) — skips terminal signature capture on the house processing.

If your merchant agreement wants a signed slip on file, Automatically print duplicate receipt for credit card transactions (Store Config → Receipt) prints a merchant copy after every card sale; Always print duplicate receipt for all transactions extends that to everything.

Cards on file

During a card payment you can check Save Credit Card for Customer to store the card as a secure token on the customer's profile — the number itself never touches PHP Point Of Sale. On a later sale for that customer, the Use CC # dropdown lists the cards on file (or Do not use saved card to take a fresh one) and charges the one you choose without the card present. Cards on file are the backbone of recurring charges and series billing and of collecting on invoices.

A customer can keep several cards, with one marked as the default that recurring billing uses. Adding, defaulting and removing them is covered in saved cards on file.

Pre-authorizations

Where the processor supports it, you can authorize an amount now and capture it later, once the final total is known — a typical use is holding a deposit when a work order is booked and capturing when the job is done. Pre-auth transactions show with type "Pre Auth" in the card transaction history, and the Capture action there finishes them; PHP POS Payments Premium can also capture from its in-app portal. Premium locations can additionally present Pre Work Order Authorization Terms and Post Work Order Terms on the terminal for the customer to sign — see PHP POS Payments.

Voids and refunds

Money goes back the way it came, so the reversal hits the same card that paid:

• Delete the sale and the card payment is voided with it — the register confirms "Sale has been deleted and credit card payment voided."
• Process a return against the original sale and refund to the card — the full flow is in returns, exchanges and trade-ins.
• Work from the transaction history: on PHP POS Payments Standard, Premium, and Dejavoo, the register menu's View/Edit Card Transactions page lists transactions by date with sale ID, amount, cardholder, masked card number, entry method, and response, and offers Void (full or a partial amount), Refund (enter the refund amount), Reverse, and Capture actions. Premium adds a Batches page and the full PHP POS Payments Portal.

The page is gated by the Sales permission action View/Edit Card Transactions, so you can let managers reverse charges without giving cashiers the same power.

When something goes wrong

The charge approved but the sale didn't complete. A network hiccup between the terminal and the register can strand an approved charge. Do not run the card again. The register shows a large red banner — "There are 1 or more transactions that are approved but do NOT have a completed sale" — with a View Unconfirmed Transactions link, and the banner stays until every stranded charge is dealt with. The link opens the Unconfirmed Credit Card Transactions page, which lists each charge with its date, amount, the register it was taken on, and the processor's Transaction ID. Press Load Sale & Confirm and the register rebuilds the sale tied to that approved charge so you can complete it without charging again. Delete removes the record instead — after confirming "Are you sure you want to delete this unconfirmed transaction?" — for a charge you already voided or resolved another way. This is what keeps customers from being charged twice.

The terminal is offline. On PHP POS Payments Premium and Dejavoo the register shows an offline banner — "Your credit card terminal is OFFLINE please check connection before processing sale" — with a Use Manual Entry button so the line keeps moving. Check the terminal's power and network (Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or cellular), and on Datacap setups check that the Windows listener is running. When the location's backup-gateway credentials are on file — PHP POS Payments Merchant ID (Backup Gateway), PHP POS Payments Consumer Key (Backup Gateway) and PHP POS Payments Secret Key (Backup Gateway) on the location form — the register menu also offers Use Backup Gateway, which routes card payments through the backup processor until you choose Disable Backup Gateway.

The pad is stuck mid-prompt. The register resets the pin pad automatically after a completed receipt; power-cycling the terminal clears anything else. Confirm the register still has the correct Terminal ID / EPI / HSN mapped under Registers & Terminals after any hardware swap, and on Datacap setups run Initialize credit card reader from the location.

EBT

Where the processor and your merchant agreement allow it, check Use Integrated EBT on the location and EBT becomes part of the integrated flow:

• EBT and (on most processors) EBT Cash appear as tenders once Enable EBT Payments is on in Store Config → Payment Types. On PHP POS Payments Premium the integrated tender is EBT only.
• Choosing EBT pre-fills the amount with the EBT-eligible portion of the cart — items flagged Is EBT item on their item form.
• EBT Balance and EBT Cash Balance buttons at the register run a balance inquiry for the customer before you charge.
• An Enter voucher toggle records offline EBT vouchers with a voucher number and auth code (not used on Valor).

Tender configuration itself — including WIC — is covered in payment types, tips and split payments.

Common questions

Do I have to type the amount into the terminal? No — that is the point of integration. The register sends the exact amount; the customer just presents the card. You only confirm the amount on screen, and even that step can be turned off per location.

How do I key in a card number? For a single sale, tick the Manually Enter Card checkbox next to the payment controls. For the rest of the session, use register menu → Use Manual Entry, then take the Credit payment normally and turn it back off with Disable Manual Entry.

Can I charge a customer's card without them present? Yes, if a card was saved to their profile: choose Use CC # during payment. Saving happens with the Save Credit Card for Customer checkbox on an earlier charge.

The terminal charged the customer but the sale vanished. Did they pay twice? No — open View Unconfirmed Transactions from the warning banner and load the charge; the register completes the original sale against the existing approval. Never re-run the card.

How do I refund to the card? Process a return against the original sale, or use Void / Refund on the View/Edit Card Transactions page (PHP POS Payments and Dejavoo). Voids reverse a charge before settlement; refunds send money back after.

Why does the receipt keep asking for a signature? One of the signature triggers is on — most often tips are enabled or Capture signature for all sales is checked. Turn on Hide Signature in Store Config → Receipt to remove the signature area entirely.

Can I take a deposit and charge the rest later? Yes, two ways: a pre-authorization captured later (where supported), or a partial payment with the balance kept as a layaway — see suspended sales, layaways and estimates.