Is cashless safe? Balance on a pass at your event

At the brass band's committee meeting, the proposal is on the table: this year's summer party without tokens, with a balance on the pass. The treasurer nods but has questions. Where does that money sit? What if someone loses their phone? What if the wifi drops at the busiest moment? And can someone pay twice, or not pay at all?

Those are the right questions. Whether cashless is safe doesn't come down to one lock on one door, but to what happens at those four moments. Here is how it works with cashless payments on Passavo, including where the system asks you to make a choice.

Where does your visitors' money sit?

With you, from the first moment. Someone who puts fifty euros on their pass pays through your payment provider, into your account. The money never passes through Passavo and never stays with us.

So what you see in the back office isn't an account with money in it, but the books of what a visitor has to spend with you at that one event. A balance also only reaches the pass once the payment is confirmed, and a test payment adds no balance.

What if someone loses their pass?

The balance belongs to the ticket's code, not to a person. Whoever has that code, on paper or on a found phone, can pay with it. Tokens work the same way, with one big difference: you can block a pass.

1. In the back office, go to Point of sale → Block a pass.
2. Search by name, email address, order reference or ticket code.
3. Tap Block and enter a short reason.

From then on, the cashier is told straight away at the scan that the pass is blocked. Topping up, paying and refunding all stop, and the balance stays untouched. If you recognise the owner, an owner or admin refunds what is left with Refund what is left. If the ticket turns up again, there is Unblock.

And the Top up balance link on the pass? Whoever has that link can add money to the pass and see the balance. That page shows no name or email address, and it can't be used to pay at the bar: that takes the QR code on the ticket.

Can someone be charged twice?

A till at a bar often hangs on wifi that barely works. It sends a booking, gets no answer and sends it again. So every booking carries its own identifier: if the same booking arrives again, it is recognised and not counted again. A double tap on the screen produces one booking for the same reason.

If four bars scan the same pass at once, they are processed one after the other, so the same ten euros can't be spent twice. If the balance is too low, the whole sale stops: no receipt and no deduction down to zero, just a clear message for your bar volunteer.

What happens when the network drops?

The till in your browser always needs a network and never books below zero. Without a network, nothing comes off a pass. For devices that do take payments offline, you choose a limit per event in the Paying without a network block: how much one device may deduct from one pass without a network.

A worked example. You set the limit to 5 euros and work with three devices.

5 euros × 3 devices = at most 15 euros per pass without a network

That is the worst case, and you know it in advance. Only an owner or admin can change the limit, not a volunteer looking at a long queue. If you want no risk at all, enter 0. When the network returns, each deduction lands in your ledger exactly once, and anything that went too far appears as Offline shortfall in your settlement. See also how to scan tickets without a network.

Can anyone tamper with the numbers?

A booking never disappears. A mistake is corrected with a counter-entry: the wrong line stays, with its time and reason, and the correction is added. If a visitor at your bar says they paid twice, you can show what happened line by line.

At the end of the evening you read everything under Point of sale → Bar balance, and those figures always add up:

topped up − spent − refunded = remaining

Roles protect you too. Anyone who may view orders can block a pass, because blocking only protects. Refunding and unblocking release money, so only the owner and the admin can do those.

Do visitors get their money back?

Yes, and that is part of safety too: people who know they will get their balance back top up with more confidence. They tap Claim back remaining balance on their pass or in their email, within the window you choose per event. What was paid online goes back the same way; cash top-ups become a bank transfer, and the account number is checked before it is saved. A blocked pass can't use that button, so someone who finds a ticket can't have the money sent to their own account.

Where do you start?

1. Read in the manual how the bar balance works, and add blocking to the running order for your info desk.
2. Turn on cashless for your event and choose your limit without a network.
3. Still comparing with tokens or wristbands? Read how to choose a cashless payment system.

You can buy cashless per event from €49.00, with no percentage on the balance, and it is included in the Pro plan. It's all on the pricing page.