IMPORTANT: Lightspeed Payments works best with it's own native tipping feature, follow the steps found on this link if you are using Lightspeed Payments as opposed to using our POS based feature. This feature works for third party methods however.

We work hard to deliver exceptional customer service - so why not accept the tips (or service charge/gratuities) that come with it.

With the Lightspeed Tipping add-on, you can easily track who is your best-tipped staff member and accept tips made during checkout, after a sale is closed, or prompted on your integrated payment device.

This guide covers setting up the Tipping Add-on and configuring it for your specific workflow.

Note - Looking to set up Tipping on Lightspeed Payments terminals? Head to Set up Tipping!

What's in this guide?  

Enable the Tipping add-on

REMINDER: Lightspeed Payments works best with it's own native tipping feature, follow the steps here if you are using Lightspeed Payments

1. From the Add-ons Page in Back Office, find the Tipping add-on

2. Enable this Add-on by clicking on the orange Enable Tipping button

Configure Tipping

1. On the same Tipping Add-on page, scroll down to Tipping Configuration. You can toggle Allow Staff to Withdraw Tips as Cash to yes if you want this setting

Note - For your staff to reconcile takings on Lightspeed, they need to be granted the Finalised Takings permission.

2. Then, Select Take me to Registers for further settings

3. You will be prompted to select one of your registers

4. Under the Register Information page, scroll down to Signature, Tipping and Merchant Copy. For card payments, this setting determines where the customer can sign to authorise tips. Select one of these options:

Tip & Sign on Lightspeed Screen - tip and corresponding signature will be on the  POS screen
Tip & Sign on Payment Device - tip and corresponding signature will be on the integrated payment device - either displayed or printed out by the device, depending on the device
Tip & Sign on Lightspeed Receipt - tip and corresponding signature will be printed on the Lightspeed receipt
Don’t do anything - you can still add tips to the order, but not capture the customer’s signature

5. Scroll down to Show Tip and Total Line - toggle this to yes if you want the subtotal printout to show a tip line where a customer can add a gratuity prior to processing payment.

6. Scroll down to Show Signature Line - toggle this to yes to provide a line for the customer signature on the subtotal

7. Select Save

Add a tip to the transaction

Add tip prior to payment

1. Process an order as per normal
2. Before Checking out, select the cog icon beside Check Out
3. Select Tip/Service

Note - the elegant & power-saving dark mode is now available on  POS. Check out this guide on how you can activate it.

4. Select how much the tip will be. You can enter an amount by selecting Custom
5. The tip will show on the order summary. Check out the order as per normal.

Add tip after payment is processed

Note - The only payment method allowed at this stage is via card or through loyalty points.

1. From the POS, select History
2. Select the transaction to which you want to add the tip
3. Select the cog icon beside Refund Sale
4. Select Add tip

5. Select how much the tip will be. You can enter an amount by selecting Custom

Withdraw Tips as Cash

If you enabled this setting, this will allow your staff to withdraw their tips from the till at day’s end after takings are finalised.

Note - For your staff to reconcile takings on Lightspeed, they need to be granted the Finalised Takings permission

1. When finalising takings, this prompt will appear right after entering counted payments; select Yes

2. Another dialogue box will appear showing the total amount of tips. Select Continue

Note - The total amount of tips that appears here could be by site, register, or staff depending on the takings setting

3. The cash drawer will open - now is the time to get the tips

View Tips Report

You may have noticed in the Withdraw tips as cash section, that it only showed the total amount of tips.

If you need a more detailed breakdown, you can have a look at the Tips report which contains the following information: the staff who earned the tip, the sale amount, the tip amount, how much was taken as cash, and how much are the tips owing.

Note - Because the Tips report is part of the Reconciliation report, the data on tips will only show or update once takings have been finalised.

Here is how to access the Tips report.

1. From Insights page in the Lightspeed Back Office, select Reconciliation

2. Select the sites you want to check, and then go into the drilldown for the reconciliation you want to check and then open Individual Reconciliation Breakdown

If you're on a paid Insights subscription there is also a Tips by Staff report under Premium Reports -> Payments:

Frequently asked questions

Can I enter tips as a percentage?

There is actually some pretty smart logic powering these suggested tip amounts.

When we built this add-on we found that for the customers we spoke to, and from our own time in the industry, for customers paying less than $10 they would typically tip in single dollar amounts, whereas amounts over this more often got a tip based on %.

So we've built tipping to tap into this trend. If you need to enter a different tip amount - simply select Custom and enter a tip by $ or %.

Where can I review how much tips my staff should get?

View the detailed tip breakdown by staff member from the Back Office under the Tips report.
This report is based on your finalised takings.

Can I withdraw tips by register?

There are three ways you can reconcile takings - by register, by site, or by staff. Since tips are withdrawn when finalising takings, the tip total would naturally be affected by this setting.

I.e. if your takings is done by register, your tip total would also be by register.

What's my next step?

Minimise cash variances and ensure accountability - Lightspeed makes reconciling takings a whole lot easier.

Integrating EFTPOS payments allows you to easily take card payments and tips. You have plenty of payment integrations to choose from that work well with Lightspeed.