Take card payments on a Viva card terminal

What is a Viva card terminal?

Viva.com card terminals are an alternative to Stripe card readers. Once your store is set up, every till sends card payments straight to the Viva terminal over the internet. This works on Android tills, Windows tills and the web POS.

Viva runs alongside Stripe. Your Stripe setup is kept, so you can switch back at any time. Online orders on your website and app are not affected.

Set up Viva in the Back Office

You only need to do this once per store.

1. In the Back Office, go to Integrations > Viva.
2. Press Connect Viva and complete Viva's sign-up. If you already started, press Continue Viva sign-up.
3. Activate the Viva Terminal app on your card terminal. The terminal shows an activation code; enter it in your Viva account to link the terminal.
4. Back on the Viva page, press Find terminals. Your terminal appears under Terminals. Press the pencil to give it a name staff will recognise, for example Counter.
5. Turn on Use Viva card terminals. Card payments on your tills and kiosks now go to your Viva terminals.

Note: To go back to Stripe, turn Use Viva card terminals off. Your tills use your Stripe card readers again straight away.

Choose the terminal on each till

1. On the POS, open Settings > Peripherals.
2. Scroll to the Card Reader section and pick your Viva terminal.
3. The panel at the top confirms it, for example "Active: Counter. Card payments are presented on that Viva terminal."

The choice is remembered on that till. Set it on each till that takes card payments.

Take a payment

1. Build the order as usual and press Pay.
2. Choose Card reader (your Viva terminal's name shows underneath) and press Confirm.
3. The POS shows "Waiting for customer to present card on the Viva terminal..." and the amount appears on the terminal.
4. The customer taps or inserts their card on the terminal.
5. As soon as Viva confirms the payment, the POS shows the payment success screen and sends the order to the kitchen.

To stop a payment before the customer pays, press Cancel on the POS. The amount is cleared from the terminal.

Note: If the POS says "The Viva terminal is busy with another payment", another till is using that terminal. Wait for it to finish, or clear the terminal and try again.

Refund a Viva payment

Refunds go back to the card the customer paid with.

1. Open the order in the Order Hub and press Refund.
2. Enter a manager PIN.
3. Choose the items or amount to refund. The payment shows as Viva — back to the card.
4. Press Refund and confirm.
5. The POS shows "Refunding £x to the card" while the terminal that took the payment processes it. Follow any instructions on the terminal and keep the screen open.
6. When Viva confirms the refund, the POS shows "Refunded £x to the customer's card" and prints the refund slip.

Note: If the POS shows "Refund not completed", nothing was refunded and you can try again. If it shows "Refund status unknown", open the order and check its payments before trying again, so the customer is not refunded twice.

You can also cancel a refund that is still waiting by pressing Cancel refund.

Related articles

• Refunding a Card Payment on the POS
• Take card payments with a countertop reader (WisePOS E)