Outage planning
What the store does when payments stop
Connections drop and processors have incidents. The difference between an inconvenience and a lost afternoon is whether somebody decided in advance what the lane does next.
Decided before it happens, not during.
What should a store do when card payments stop working?
Follow a decision somebody already made. The useful questions are settled in advance: does the register keep ringing sales without the card network, can it take cash and reconcile later, who is called and in what order, and what staff say to a queue. A store that has answered those loses minutes. A store that has not loses the afternoon and argues about it afterwards.
Which of those options is even available depends on how payments are configured, which is why it belongs in the specification rather than in a panic.
- Decide before, not duringNobody makes a good call about it with a queue watching.
- Know what the register can still doThat depends on the configuration, not on hope.
- Agree who gets called, in orderTwo vendors blaming each other costs more than the outage.
- Give staff the wordsA queue tolerates a clear answer far better than a shrug.
This page describes planning, not a guarantee. We will not claim a configuration keeps trading through every kind of failure — what is possible depends on the setup, and we say which applies to yours rather than promising resilience in general.
The plan
Four things to settle in advance
None of it takes long. All of it is worth more than it costs.
What the lane can still do
Merchant processingWhether sales can be rung and reconciled afterwards.
Who is called, in order
SupportProcessor, network, us — decided once, written down.
What staff say
One sentence, agreed, so nobody improvises at the till.
How it gets reconciled
Cash managementWhat happens to the sales taken during the outage.
What goes wrong without a plan
-
Nobody knows whether the register still works
The store stops trading when it may not have had to.
What the lane can do without the card network is established upfront.
Merchant processing -
Two vendors blame each other
The outage lasts as long as the argument does.
Integrated processing means one system and one number to call.
Merchant processing -
Sales taken on paper never reconcile
The item file and the till disagree for weeks afterwards.
How outage sales are entered and reconciled is part of the plan.
Cash management -
Staff improvise
Every lane gives the customer a different answer.
One agreed sentence, decided in advance.
Installation and training
Outage questions
Can the register keep working if the internet drops?
That depends on the configuration, and it is one of the questions worth settling when the system is specified rather than after. We will tell you what applies to your setup.
Can we take cash and enter the sales later?
Usually, and how those sales are entered and reconciled is the part worth agreeing in advance.
Who should we call first?
Whoever owns the failing piece — which is exactly why deciding the order in advance is the point. With integrated processing it is one number rather than a guess.
Does integrated processing make outages less likely?
It does not make a network more reliable. What it changes is how quickly somebody can tell you what failed, because it is one system rather than two vendors.
Is BizTracker support available during an outage at night or on a weekend?
Standard support hours are weekdays 9–5. Support is not 24/7, which is one more reason to settle in advance what the lane does if payments stop outside those hours. During those hours, call, or choose Service & Technical Support on the contact form.
Settle it before you need it
Tell us how payments are configured and how many lanes take cash. We will set out what your store can do during an outage.