Take a Card Payment
Charging a card on the reader, on the phone with Tap to Pay, and by sending a payment link.
The three ways
A card reader. Pair the terminal to the business, then choose the terminal payment type at checkout. The reader wakes, shows the amount, and — if you have enabled it — asks for a tip and displays the line items.
Tap to Pay on the phone. No hardware. Enable it from the left navigation (Enable Tap to Pay), then choose it at checkout and hold the client's card or phone to the back of yours.
A payment link. Send the client a link and let them pay from their own device. Useful for a deposit, a no-show fee, or a client who has left.
At checkout
- Open checkout on the ticket.
- Confirm the items.
- Take the tip, if this ticket type asks for one.
- Choose the card method and charge.
What the client sees on the reader
Three Payment Settings decide this:
- Display Items on Terminal — the line items appear on the reader.
- Display Tips on Terminal — the reader asks for a tip.
- Always Display Tips on Terminal — it asks even when the client already chose a tip earlier in the flow. Off is usually kinder.
Switch to Percentage Tips Above turns tip options from fixed amounts into percentages once the ticket passes an amount you set. A $12 ticket wants "$2 / $3 / $5"; a $200 ticket wants "15% / 18% / 20%".
Who pays the card fee
That is Client Pays In-Person Processing Fees and its surcharge fields on the Payment Settings tab, plus the state-rule controls beside them. This is worth deciding once, deliberately — see Who pays the processing fee.
Cards on file
A client with a saved card can be charged without being present, which is what makes deposits, no-show fees and cancellation fees collectable.
- Always Require Card on File forces a card before booking.
- Charge Default Card on File for No-Shows / Cancellations falls back to the client's default card when the appointment itself had none attached.
If the charge fails
- Declined — try another card or another method. The ticket stays open with its balance intact.
- The reader is not responding — see Card reader will not connect.
- Charged, but the ticket still shows a balance — check whether the amount was partial. Perceny supports several payments on one ticket; see Split a payment across methods.
Fixing a payment afterwards
- Paid as cash by mistake, needs to be a card: Fix a payment taken as cash.
- Charged correctly but needs giving back: Refund a ticket or a single item.