Pick PHP POS Payments for the smoothest EMV path, connect a processor you already have (Worldpay, Heartland, CardConnect, Square, Stripe and more), or record standalone terminal charges without any integration. Processing is always configured per location, so a multi-store business can mix processors.

When a customer pays by card, PHP Point Of Sale can drive the card terminal for you — this is called integrated processing. The register sends the exact sale total to the terminal, the customer pays by chip, tap, or swipe, and the approval comes straight back onto the sale. Nobody retypes an amount, so there is no chance of charging the wrong total, and voids and refunds later go back through the same connection to the same card.

Which processor sits behind that terminal is up to you. PHP Point Of Sale is not locked to a single company: you can sign up for its house-branded processing (PHP POS Payments), integrate a processor you already have a merchant account with, or skip integration entirely and record card payments you take on a standalone machine.

Every processor you can integrate

The Credit Card Processor dropdown on the location form (Locations → edit your location → Integrations) offers exactly these choices:

The exact credentials each processor needs, and the shared setup path, are covered step by step in setting up credit card processing. PHP POS Payments Standard and Premium have their own full walkthrough in PHP POS Payments. Dedicated setup guides for the third-party processors live in the Payments section of this Help Center.

If you already process with one of the companies above, you can usually keep that merchant account and connect it — switching to PHP Point Of Sale does not force you onto PHP POS Payments. See the payments overview and contact sales when you want a compatibility check on your current account and hardware.

Setup always lives on the location

Integrated processing is configured per location: open Locations, edit the location, open the Integrations tab, and check Enable Credit Card Processing to reveal the processor dropdown and its credential fields. Terminals are then mapped to registers on the Registers & Terminals tab of the same form.

Because the setting lives on the location, a multi-store business can run a different processor — or a different merchant account with the same processor — at each store, and each register within a store can have its own terminal. See locations and registers.

Three constraints to know while you plan:

• HTTPS is required. Integrated card processing only runs over a secure HTTPS connection; on the cloud edition this is always the case.
• Editing locations needs permission. Only employees with the Locations module and its Add, Update action can change processing settings.
• A backup gateway exists for Premium. PHP POS Payments Premium locations can store a second set of gateway credentials (labelled Backup Gateway on the form) and a cashier can switch to it from the register menu with Use Backup Gateway if the primary has trouble.

Not every processor does everything

The core flow — send the amount to the terminal, get an approval back — works across all the integrated processors, but the extras vary. Confirm the ones you care about before you commit:

• Tips — on-terminal tip prompts and after-the-fact tip adjustment depend on the processor; the tips switch in Store Config even warns "Not all processors support integrated tip processing". See payment types, tips and split payments.
• Integrated gift cards — a location-level Integrated Gift Cards option adds an "Integrated Gift Card" tender processed through the terminal; it belongs to the Datacap listener family. Native gift cards in PHP Point Of Sale work with every processor and need no integration.
• Integrated EBT — a Use Integrated EBT option runs EBT through the terminal, with balance inquiries and offline voucher entry. On PHP POS Payments Premium the integrated EBT tender is EBT only; other processors also expose EBT Cash.
• Debit as a separate button — with integrated processing on, a separate Debit tender only appears for PHP POS Payments Standard, Premium, and Dejavoo, and only when Show Debit payment option when using integrated credit card processing is enabled in Store Config. On other processors the customer simply chooses debit on the pad.
• Cards on file and pre-authorizations — saving a card as a token and capturing a pre-auth later are supported on most, but not all, integrations.
• Customer-facing terminal media — slideshows, branding, on-terminal surveys, and signed terms templates are a PHP POS Payments Premium feature.

Taking card payments describes the full at-the-register feature set where your processor supports it.

Cloud-friendly vs Windows-listener setups

Prefer these when you want the least PC software to babysit — the terminal talks to the cloud directly:

• PHP POS Payments Standard or Premium
• Dejavoo
• CardConnect
• Square and Square Terminal
• Stripe (including Stripe Terminal) and Braintree
• Worldpay IP Tran Cloud or Hosted Checkout

Classic VX 805 + Datacap NETePay setups (many Worldpay, Heartland, EVO, First Data, and TSYS enrollments) still work well, but they need a Windows machine next to the terminal with the NETePay listener always running — port 3333 is the default listener port, and COM 9 the default serial port. If that PC sleeps or the listener stops, cards stop. Plan for that machine if you stay on that hardware, or choose a cloud-connected option to avoid it.

If you'd rather not integrate

You can always take card payments without any integration: ring up the sale, run the charge on your standalone terminal, and record a Credit or Debit payment in PHP Point Of Sale for the same amount. You give up the automation and the protection against mistyped totals, but every report and receipt still shows the card tender correctly, and the register still tracks card totals at closeout. Payment types themselves are covered in payment types, tips and split payments.

This is also a fine way to start: go live with non-integrated entry today, and connect a processor once you have picked one. Nothing about your sales history changes when you flip integration on later.

Rates and hardware

Processing rates are quoted per business rather than published flat, so the best move is to request a PHP POS Payments quote or contact sales. Supported EMV readers are listed on the EMV hardware page and the device pages linked from PHP POS Payments, so you can confirm the terminal you buy matches the processor you choose. For enrollment questions by phone, call 1-800-827-7059.

Common questions

Can different stores use different processors? Yes. Processing is configured on each location, so one store can run PHP POS Payments while another runs CardConnect, and each keeps its own merchant account and terminals.

Do I have to use PHP POS Payments? No. It is the recommended path because enrollment, hardware, and support come from one place, but every processor in the table above is a first-class integration.

I already have a merchant account — can I keep it? Usually yes, if your processor is in the supported list and your terminal model is compatible. Contact sales with your processor name and terminal model for a compatibility check before buying anything.

Which option avoids installing anything on a computer? PHP POS Payments (Standard or Premium), Dejavoo, CardConnect, Square, Stripe, Braintree, and Worldpay's IP Tran Cloud / Hosted Checkout paths all work without a local Windows listener.

Can I take cards with no integration at all? Yes. Run the charge on any standalone terminal and record it as a Credit or Debit payment on the sale. Reports and receipts stay accurate; you just lose the automatic amount hand-off and integrated refunds.

Does card processing work when my internet is down? No — integrated processing needs a connection to the processor. In offline mode you can still record non-integrated payments and process the cards on a standalone terminal.