The online storefront lets customers buy your POS merchandise from a public web page and pick it up at your location. It shares its catalog and stock with the in-store register, so anything you sell online draws down the same inventory. Orders land in a staff pickup queue where you mark them handed out or issue a refund.
The storefront is pickup-only. There is no shipping. Every sale is recorded as a POS transaction and posted to the ledger exactly like an in-store sale, so revenue, tax, and accounting all stay in sync.
Putting products in the online store
Products do not appear online automatically. Each item has to be flagged for online sale from your POS inventory.
- Open a product in the POS inventory editor and turn on Sell on online store / booking page.
- Set an optional Online sort order (lower numbers show first) to control the order products appear on the shop page.
- To flag many products at once, use bulk edit and toggle the online availability field for the selected items.
| Rule | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Shared stock | Online stock is the same location stock the register uses. An online sale decrements it immediately |
| Priced items only | An item needs a price (or at least one priced variant) to show. Zero-price items are hidden |
| Active items only | Inactive items and folders never appear in the online store |
| Variants | Products with variants (size, color, and so on) let the customer pick an option before adding |
| Out of stock | Items at or below zero stock show as sold out, unless the item allows negative quantity |
The customer shopping experience
Customers reach the shop at a public link ending in /shop/ followed by your location ID. The page needs no login.
Browsing and the cart
- The shop header shows your business name and location, with a cart icon that badges the number of items added.
- Products display as a tile grid with name, price, and image. Tapping a product adds it to the cart. Products with variants prompt for an option first.
- The cart opens as a side drawer. Customers can change quantities, remove lines, and see a running subtotal. A note reminds them that taxes are calculated at checkout and the order is for pickup.
Checkout
Tapping Checkout opens a checkout dialog that prices the cart on the server and collects the customer's details and card.
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| First name | Required |
| Last name | Optional |
| Required and validated. The pickup receipt is emailed here | |
| Phone | Optional |
| Pickup notes | Optional free text passed through to your staff |
| Card details | Entered securely through Stripe |
The dialog shows an itemized order summary with subtotal, an itemized tax breakdown, and the total. A notice states that this is a pickup order to be collected at the location.
When the customer pays:
- The cart is validated and re-priced against your live catalog. Client-sent prices are ignored, so a customer cannot alter what they are charged.
- Stock is reserved before the card is charged, so an order can never be placed for an item that just sold out.
- The card is charged and routed to your connected Stripe account. If the card fails or needs extra authentication (3D Secure), the reserved stock is released and the customer is told to try again.
- On success, a confirmation screen shows the amount charged, the pickup location, and an order number.
The buyer is matched to an existing customer record by email and phone, or a new customer record is created for them, so repeat shoppers are not duplicated.
Taxes and receipts
Tax is calculated on the server using the same tax rules as your in-store register, so online and in-store sales agree.
- Each item uses either its own assigned tax rates or, if none are set, your location's inventory tax rates.
- The checkout summary breaks out each tax line by name and rate, and the tax is posted to the correct liability accounts in the ledger.
- After the order is placed, the customer is emailed a pickup confirmation listing the items, subtotal, tax, total, and order number. Replies to that email go to your business email, not to RentalTide.
Where online orders arrive
Online orders appear in the Online Orders page, your staff pickup queue. Select the location whose orders you want to see (the queue does not span all locations at once).
The page has two tabs:
| Tab | Shows |
|---|---|
| Awaiting pickup | New orders that have not yet been handed to the customer |
| Handed out | Orders staff have already fulfilled |
Each order card shows:
- The buyer's name, email, and phone.
- A status chip (awaiting pickup or handed out), and an On a booking chip when the order is merchandise attached to a rental.
- The short order number.
- Each line item with quantity, product name, and variant.
- The order total.
Orders are listed newest first.
Fulfilling and refunding orders
From an order card, staff can:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Mark handed out | Moves the order to the Handed out tab and records who fulfilled it and when |
| Undo | Sends a handed-out order back to awaiting pickup |
| View booking | Opens the linked booking (only shown for orders attached to a rental) |
| Refund | Refunds the full amount to the customer's card, restores the items to stock, and reverses the ledger |
Refunds ask for confirmation first, showing the amount to be returned. A refund cannot be undone, and an order that is already refunded cannot be refunded again. The card processing fee (interchange) is retained by the merchant on a refund, matching how POS refunds behave elsewhere.
Merchandise added to a booking
Customers can also add merchandise to an existing rental instead of checking out as a guest. This happens on the booking's Next Steps page, where the item is charged to the card already on file for the booking and collected at pickup. These orders show up in the same Online Orders queue with an On a booking chip and a link back to the booking.
Merchandise added this way is recorded as its own retail sale. It is intentionally kept separate from the booking's rental balance, deposits, and payment plans, so adding a t-shirt never disturbs the rental's financials.
Share your shop link on your website, social media, or in booking confirmation emails. Because online stock is shared with the register, you never have to reconcile two separate inventories. Selling an item at the counter reduces what is available online, and vice versa.
A product is not showing online -- Confirm the item has Sell on online store / booking page turned on, is active, and has a price. Items with no price, inactive items, and folders never appear.
"Sold out" on an item that has stock -- Online sales use location-level stock, not per-till stock. Check the location quantity for the item. Items set to allow negative quantity will still sell when stock hits zero.
No orders appear in the queue -- Make sure a single location is selected, not all locations. The Online Orders page shows one location's orders at a time.
Customer says their card was declined or asked for verification -- The order was not placed and no stock was consumed. Ask them to retry checkout, which reserves stock again before charging.