The point of sale system
A point of sale system is the till at the desk: tickets, drinks, programmes and raffle strips all rung up in one place.
A point of sale system records what is sold in person and how it was paid for. At an event it usually covers tickets bought on the spot alongside anything else sold over a counter, so that the evening ends with one set of takings rather than several separate honesty boxes.
Why one till beats three tins
Most venues start with a cash tin per activity: one for entry, one for the bar, one for the tombola. It works until someone needs change and borrows from the wrong tin, and from that moment no tin can be reconciled.
A till system also tells you what sold, which a tin never does. Ticketing for a market where twenty stalls pay a pitch fee is a good example: the total is easy, but knowing which pitches were paid for is the part that matters next month.
What a venue actually needs
Speed and simplicity, in that order. Volunteers rotate, so a layout that can be learned in a minute is worth more than a rich set of features nobody has been shown. Large buttons and few screens beat clever shortcuts.
It also has to handle the awkward cases without a supervisor: a mistake rung up, a refund at the desk, a group paying half in cash and half by card. These are ordinary at a community event, not exceptions.
The till in Passavo
The till, included from the Start plan, runs in a browser on a tablet or a laptop and sells from the same time slots as the website, so what goes over the counter is deducted from the places available online immediately.
Other items can sit next to the tickets, each with its own price, and cash and card takings are kept apart. Every sale is recorded against the volunteer who made it, which makes an end-of-night check quick rather than forensic.
Also searched for as
- till system
- epos
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- cash register
Common questions
Does the till need to be online?
Yes. The till needs a connection, because it sells from the same time slots as the website and takes the payment there and then. Checking tickets at the door does keep working offline.
Can we sell things that are not tickets?
Yes. Programmes, drinks or a raffle strip can each be an item with its own price, so the evening's takings are counted in one place.