Tips or gratuities let customers show appreciation for great service. With the Lightspeed Tipping add-on, you can accept tips through integrated payments and track staff performance, whether added during checkout, after a sale, or prompted on the payment terminal. 

This tipping feature works for third-party payment integration. If you're using Lightspeed Payments, we recommend using its built-in tipping feature.

What's in this guide?  

Configuring tipping 
Processing a sale with a tip
Withdrawing tips as cash
Accessing tip reports
Frequently asked questions

Configuring tipping

Before accepting tips at your venue, you'll need to configure the tipping feature in Back Office. This includes enabling the feature and configuring tipping settings per register. 

Enabling tipping in Back Office

The first step is to enable the tipping feature in Back Office. Once enabled, you can configure how and when tips are collected to suit your workflow.

To enable tipping in Back Office:

1. Log in to Back Office with your Lightspeed credentials. 
2. In the navigation menu, select Features. 
3. Select Tipping.
   
4. Click Enable.
   

Configuring tipping settings 

After enabling tipping, you can configure the feature according to your workflow. You can decide where tips and signatures are captured, display tip lines on receipts, and allow staff to withdraw tips in cash. 

To configure tipping:

1. (Optional) On the same tipping add-on page, enable the toggle for ALLOW STAFF TO WITHDRAW TIPS AS CASH.
2. Select Take me to Registers to configure other settings. 

   

3. Select the register you want to configure. 
4. Under Register Options, scroll down to Signature, Tipping, and Merchant Copy. For card payments, this setting determines where the customer can sign to authorize tips. Choose one of the following options:
   • Tip & sign on screen: The tip and signature will be entered directly on the  POS screen.
   • Tip & sign on Payment Device: The tip and signature will be captured on the integrated payment device, either displayed on screen or printed, depending on the device.
   • Tip & sign on receipt -The tip and signature will be printed on the Lightspeed receipt.
   • Don’t do anything: Tips can still be added to the order, but the customer's signature will not be captured. 
     
5. Scroll up to Show Tip and Total Line and toggle it to Yes if you want the subtotal printout to include a tip line where customers can add a gratuity prior to processing payment.
6. Toggle Show signature line to Yes to add a signature line on the subtotal receipt. 
7. Click Save settings.

Processing a sale with a tip

Once tipping is enabled and configured, tips can be added to a sale either before or after the payment is processed. 

Add tip before payment is processed

You can prompt for a tip as part of the checkout process. This ensures the tip is included before completing the payment. 

To process a sale with a tip before checkout:

1. Process an order as usual on the POS. 
2. Select the cog icon beside Check Out. 
3. Select Tip/Service.
   

   

4. Select the tip amount. To enter a specific value, tap Custom. 
   
5. The tip will show on the order summary. 
   
6. Click Check Out. 

Add tip after payment is processed

If a customer decides to tip after the transaction is completed, you can still add a tip to the sale. 

To process a sale with a tip after checkout: 

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

   

5. Select the tip amount. To enter a specific value, tap Custom. 
   
6. The tip will show on the order summary. 
   
7. Click Check Out. 

Withdrawing 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.

1. When finalising takings, a prompt will appear after entering counted payments. Select Yes. 
   

   

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

   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. This is the time to get the tips. 
   

Accessing tips report

The Tips report provides a detailed breakdown of tips by staff, sale amount, tip amount, cash withdrawn, and tips owing. As part of the Reconciliation report, it only updates once takings are finalised.

To access your tips report:

1. From Insights, select Reports> Reconciliation.

   

2. Select the sites you want to view, then open the drilldown for the reconciliation you'd like to review.
3. Select Individual Reconciliation Drilldown. 
   
   

   

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

   

Frequently asked questions

What's next?