Offline POS
Offline POS system: keep selling when the internet drops mid-shift
PointLit is a cloud POS with an offline mode for the moment the internet drops during a shift. The till keeps ringing cash and card sales, holds each one in a queue on that till, and sends them in order when the line returns, as long as the till stays open. The register can also open with no internet, on a till that has opened your business online since PointLit's last update.
What happens when the internet drops during a shift
The register stops saying it is online and shows Offline, then counts the sales waiting to be sent: Offline · 1 queued, Offline · 2 queued. The cashier carries on as normal. Scan, take cash or card, hand over the bag, next customer. After each sale the register says plainly that it was queued, rather than pretending it reached the server.
Each queued sale carries its own key, created once when it was rung. If the line flickers and a reply is lost, sending the same sale again cannot record it twice. When the connection comes back the status shows Syncing… and the till sends the queue oldest first. A sale rung while the shift was open is recorded against that shift even if it arrives after the shift was closed, so the drawer and the Z report still agree.
How it works in PointLit
- Open the shift as usual while the shop is online.
- If the line drops, the status on the register changes to Offline. There is nothing to switch on.
- Keep ringing sales and take Cash or Card. The status counts the queue as it grows.
- Keep the till open if you can. If it has to restart, it opens the register again with no internet only if it has opened your business online since PointLit's last update.
- When the connection returns, the status shows Syncing… and clears once every queued sale has been sent.
- Do not ring a queued sale again because another till cannot see it yet: it is waiting in the queue.
What keeps working offline
- Scanning and searching products, using the catalogue and prices already on the till
- Cash and card payments, including a bill split between them
- Discounts, with a reason picked from your shop's list, for staff whose role allows them
- Parking a basket and picking it up again on the same till
What waits for the connection
Anything that reads from the whole business, or writes straight to it, waits for the line to return. We would rather you know this before the router fails than during it.
- Choosing a customer, and with it loyalty points and on-account sales: customers are not stored on the till
- Refunds and voids
- Opening and closing a shift
- Stock at other branches: the availability sheet shows Needs a connection
- Reports and the management screens
- Starting the PointLit Windows app or a browser on a device that has not opened your business online since PointLit's last update, for example a new computer
Limits worth knowing
Up to 200 sales can wait in the queue on one till. If it fills, the register asks you to reconnect before ringing another sale rather than dropping one, because a queued sale is money already taken. If the server refuses a queued sale when it is finally sent, for example because a product on it was deleted in the meantime, the register shows a notice, An offline sale could not be recorded, with the time, the total and the items. It stays on screen until someone dismisses it.
Stock figures on one till can fall behind sales rung at another till until both are back online. Every queued sale reaches the stock ledger when it arrives, so the figures settle once the queue is empty.
Questions and answers
- Does PointLit work with no internet at all?
- No, and we would rather say so plainly. It keeps the till selling through an internet drop during a shift: cash and card sales are queued on the till and sent in order when the line returns. Choosing a customer, refunds, opening or closing a shift, reports and management screens need the connection, and a till opens with no internet only if it has opened your business online since PointLit's last update.
- What if the computer restarts while the internet is down?
- If that computer has opened your business online since PointLit's last update, the PointLit Windows app or the browser opens the register again from what it saved, and the till keeps ringing cash and card sales into its queue. If it has not, a new computer for example, it cannot open until the line is back. Customers are not saved on the till, and the other screens wait for the connection. A small UPS for the router and the counter computer keeps a power cut from turning into a closed till.
- Can an offline sale be counted twice?
- Not by the queue. Each sale gets a unique key when it is rung, and that key travels with it on every attempt, so a sale whose reply was lost on a weak connection is recognised when it is sent again. The one way to double a sale is to ring it again by hand, so do not re-ring a sale you cannot yet see on another till.
- Can I take card payments while offline?
- Yes. PointLit records card payments rather than processing them, so taking card on the till works offline and the sale is queued like any other. Your card terminal is a separate device with its own connection, so whether it can authorise a card during the outage depends on the terminal and its provider, not on PointLit.
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