Lightspeed Payments relies on a stable internet connection to process payments. In the event your internet connection becomes unstable or temporarily unavailable, you can continue to process payments in offline standalone mode (when enabled) until the connection is restored.

With offline standalone mode, you can choose to process payments on your terminal without creating a sale in Retail POS. Payments received in standalone mode are not synced to the sales history and do not affect your inventory records. They are reported exclusively in Financial Services > Payments tab in Retail POS.

Offline standalone mode availability

This feature is currently in beta and may not be available in your account or area. Offline standalone mode is only available with the Smart Terminal (WisePOS E).

*In Canada, Interac is not supported.

**In Australia, only co-branded EFTPOS cards (Visa or Mastercard logo) are accepted.

How offline standalone mode works

Setting up offline standalone mode using the Smart Terminal (WisePOS E) requires a stable internet connection. Once enabled, offline standalone mode allows you to continue processing payments even when the internet connection is temporarily unavailable at the terminal.

When the terminal detects that the internet connection has been lost, you will be prompted to enable offline standalone mode to process payments. You can manually enter the sale amounts and have the customer pay using a card payment like normal.

The payment will be stored on the terminal until the internet connection has been restored. All stored payments will then be transferred to Lightspeed for processing and merchant portal payments will be updated accordingly.

Email receipts will be sent once the internet connection has been restored and the payment processed by Lightspeed.

Sales and refunds considerations

• Payments taken in offline standalone mode are not linked to a sales record. They will appear in your payments reporting under the Financial services section of Retail POS.
• Amounts entered in offline standalone mode are the final amounts charged to the cardholder. The terminal will not add any taxes or fees to the charge.
• Refunds for transactions made offline can only be performed in the Financial services section of Retail POS.

Enabling offline standalone mode

To process payments in offline standalone mode, you have to enable it before internet connection issues arise. Offline mode settings are found in the Financial services section of Retail POS.

By enabling offline standalone mode, you accept responsibility for any expired or declined transactions taken while offline or any resulting chargebacks, in accordance with your platform payment agreement.

1. In Retail POS, navigate to Finance > Terminals.
2. Identify the terminal you wish to enable offline standalone mode for and click Settings.

   

3. Click the Allow offline payments toggle.

   

4. Review the Allow offline payments prompt and click Allow offline payments to accept.

   

5. Review the Per transaction limit and Total transaction limit, adjusting as required, then click Save.

   

   The Per transaction limit and Total transactions limit are pre-filled with the maximum permitted limits. You can choose to lower these limits to suit your business needs, however, these cannot be raised higher than the pre-file maximum limits.

6. On your Smart Terminal (WisePOS E), tap the menu on the left side of the screen and select Manual payments > OK.
7. Follow the instructions on the Next step prompt to restart your terminal(s), then click Done.

   

Any settings changes must be applied to the relevant terminals before taking effect. Settings are updated automatically overnight or upon restarting the terminal.

Processing payments in offline standalone mode

When a terminal loses internet connection, you will be notified by an on-screen prompt that you are unable to connect to network. You can check your internet connection and attempt to reconnect or enter offline standalone mode to continue to processing transactions offline.

1. Tap Switch to offline mode on the Unable to connect to network prompt.

   

2. Enter the payment amount using the on-screen pin pad and tap Pay. When entering a payment amount, the terminal will display the maximum allowed amount for the payment, considering both pre-defined limits.

   

3. Allow the customer to process their card payment as normal.

   /

4. If the terminal approves the presented payment method, the cardholder will be able to enter an email where a payment receipt will be sent when connectivity is regained. Tap Email receipt, or if the customer does not require a receipt, tap Don’t email receipt.

   

   If a customer opts in to receive a receipt via email, the receipt will be sent once the internet connection has been restored and the payment processed by Lightspeed.

Refunds and cancellations

While in offline standalone mode, recorded payments can't be canceled or refunded. After the terminal regains connectivity, you can refund payments from the Financial services section of Retail POS.

Taxes

Amounts entered in offline standalone mode are the final amounts charged to the cardholder. The terminal will not add any taxes or fees to the charge.

Reporting sales in offline standalone mode

Offline payments are considered standalone payments, as the POS isn't involved in the transaction. These payments will not appear as sales in Retail POS.

When the terminal regains connectivity and transmits the offline payments for processing, the payments view in the Financial services section of Retail POS will be updated:

• Successful offline payments will have the channel value Offline.
• Offline payments that failed authorization will have the status Offline declined.

  Payments with Offline declined status represent a loss. Lightspeed can't contact customers on your behalf or provide you with contact information should an offline payment be declined or expire. Collecting a customer's email address to send a receipt may offer you a way to contact them if the payment is later declined.

Finding offline standalone transactions in your Lightspeed Payments report

Payments received in offline standalone mode do not generate a receipt ID and are reported exclusively in the Financial services section of Retail POS. To locate a transaction, you can filter your search results in the Payments tab report.

1. Navigate to Financial Services > Payments.
2. Click Filters.
3. Select Channel > Standalone.
4. (Optional) You can use the search bar to enter relevant keywords, and/or filter the results using the Filters dropdown to filter by Date, Status, or Payout status.

Generating standalone sales for your sales reports

If you would like to have these sales appear in your daily totals, you can create a custom payment type that can be used to record standalone payments. With this process, you will:

1. Manually process the sale on your payment terminal when it's time to charge your customer's card.
2. Use the custom payment type to complete the sale in the POS.
3. Complete the sale. The payment type and amount are recorded in your reporting.

If you void or refund the sale from your reporting, the funds are not returned to your customer's card. To refund a card, the refund must be processed through the terminal itself.

Processing refunds for offline standalone transactions

Sales can be fully or partially refunded in the Financial services section of Retail POS if the original card is present.

1. Navigate to Financial services > Lightspeed Payments > Payments.
2. Find the payment you wish to refund.
3. Click on the payment to open the details.
4. Click Refund.
5. Enter the amount to be refunded and a note if applicable.
6. Click Refund.
7. Process the refund on the terminal and issue a receipt.

Turning off standalone mode

To turn off standalone mode functionality and return to integrated mode in the Financial services section of Retail POS:

1. Navigate to Financial services > Lightspeed Payments > Settings.

   

2. Click the toggle to turn off standalone mode.
3. Click Save.

   

4. On the Smart Terminal (WisePOS E), tap the menu on the left side of the screen and select Integrated mode. You may need to restart the terminal.

   All transactions must now be processed through Retail POS. Transactions will be recorded in the sales history and inventory will be affected.

What's next?