Payments
Counter sale
Charge a customer outside the booking flow. Use Counter sale for walk-in services, retail products, gift cards, and custom amounts in one multi-add cart.
Last updated 5 July 2026
Counter sale is the standalone POS surface for charging a customer outside the booking flow. Use it for walk-in services, retail products, gift cards, and custom amounts. Existing appointments should still be charged from booking checkout.
Where to find it: use the wallet icon in the Schedule header. If a cart has staged items, Counter sale also appears in the sidebar or mobile drawer footer as a recovery row. Shortcuts:
Cmd+./Ctrl+.on web,Cmd+Pon iPad hardware keyboards.
TL;DR
- Use Counter sale when there is no existing booking to charge against.
- Add services, products, gift cards, and custom amounts into one cart.
- The cart persists for 12 hours per venue until payment succeeds or you discard it.
- Service-mode sales create completed walk-in bookings so utilisation reports stay accurate.
When to use it
| You need to... | Use... |
|---|---|
| Charge for an appointment already on the calendar | Booking checkout from booking detail |
| Charge for a walk-in service with no booking | Counter sale -> Service mode |
| Sell a retail product over the counter | Counter sale -> Product mode |
| Sell a new gift card | Counter sale -> Gift card mode |
| Take an arbitrary amount | Counter sale -> Custom mode |
| Combine services, products, gift cards, and custom charges | Counter sale cart |
Counter sale uses the same checkout tenders as booking checkout, including cash, External card, Terminal, and supported mobile Tap to Pay flows.
Opening Counter sale
| Surface | How |
|---|---|
| Web Schedule | Wallet icon in the Schedule toolbar |
| Web shortcut | Cmd+. on Mac or Ctrl+. on Windows from authenticated app routes |
| Web sidebar | Recovery row only when a cart has staged items |
| Native Schedule | Wallet icon in the Schedule header |
| Native sidebar/drawer | Recovery row only when a cart has staged items |
| iPad shortcut | Cmd+P on a hardware keyboard |
| Command palette | Search Counter sale |
Modes
All four modes share the same cart and checkout path.
| Mode | Use |
|---|---|
| Service | Walk-in services with duration, price, and optional staff attribution |
| Product | Retail product sales with inventory decrement on successful charge |
| Gift card | New gift card sales |
| Custom | Tips, off-menu charges, ad-hoc deposits, or other one-off amounts |
Cart behaviour
- Cart state is per-venue and local to the device/browser.
- Cart state persists for 12 hours.
- Adding the same service or product again increments quantity.
- Gift card and custom lines remain separate items.
- Closing checkout without payment preserves the cart.
- Successful payment clears the cart.
Service-mode reporting
When a service-mode counter sale is paid, OpenChair inserts completed walk-in booking rows so staff utilisation and service reporting stay accurate. Multiple service lines for the same staff member are sequenced to avoid overlapping completed bookings.
FAQ
When do I use Counter sale instead of booking checkout?
Use Counter sale when there is no existing booking to charge against. Use booking checkout for appointments already on the calendar.
Why does Counter sale appear in my sidebar sometimes?
It appears only as recovery. If a cart has staged items and you navigate away, the sidebar or drawer shows Counter sale with an item-count badge so you can return to the unfinished sale.
Why is there no permanent mobile wallet pill?
Counter sale now starts from Schedule. The mobile bottom nav stays focused on primary destinations; unfinished carts recover from the drawer.