Partial payment for a bill

[paulleo]

I'm working in a bar and we often have large groups coming in. Sometimes, we have guests asking to pay a part of the bill (set amount). For example, a bill is at $500 and a guest leaving before the rest of the group would like to pay $100 off the tab. 

At the moment, the only option is to split the bill and select items in the hope to reach that amount which can be a very time consuming process.

What I would really like is to be able to record a payment of $100 for this bill but then keep using the bill to add more items. We used to have Kounta and we were able to do that. 

For bars & restaurants, it is common practice so it would be nice to see this feature added to Square!

[lawnbrook]

Agree with this, this happens commonly in our venue too.

I think the key is to separate the payment workflow from the 'billing component'. You should be able to take payments repeatedly from an open bill, until the balance is 0.

It was very easy to do in the last two pos systems I have used (kounta, posboss). I sometimes wonder how much practical Hospo experience the development team has.

posBoss was a great example of an interface and feature set developed by folks with a background in the industry

[Seamus]

Thanks for the feedback @paulleo and @lawnbrook,

I'll pass this on to our Restaurants team and we'll continue tracking this request here. 

So I understand correctly, splitting a bill is not an ideal solution because it requires you to move items from the main bill and put them onto a seperate one? Where in your example you have customers who aren't so concerned about paying for their exact individual items, but just want to contribute a fixed amount without specifically tallying everything they individually ordered?

[lawnbrook]

@Seamus ,

Yes -as an example (and quite common).

Outstanding  table bill = $370

1st patron wants to pay $100 cash,

2nd patron want to  pay $90 card,

3rd and 4th  want to split the remaining, one pays card, one pays cash

So the ability to pay arbitrary amounts of an open bill and pay using any method.

A method to calculate a 2 way, 3 way.... N way split amount would also be handy... 

I think a good way would be to do this would allow the interface to give an equal split option, but also remember any previous split that happened for the bill

ie:

315 bill between 3 customer,

Ask to split 3 ways POS would offer split - 3 ways

First customer pays 105

When the next customer pays, the pos would offer once again a split option, but also offer a pre-calculated $105 as a result fo the previous split, This would be the most flexible..

All this has to happen with minimal menus/keypresses as it tends to happen at the counter, and if not efficient, can really hold up everyone.

[Seamus]

Thanks for the additional examples @lawnbrook - I've passed this thread on to our Restaurants team!

[Fi66]

This is important for our venue too. Also take into account tips please as extra not part of final payment

[GTS308]

Hello all,

I have a workaround for the pre payment of groups,

you will need a physical gift card,

load the gift card with the amount the customer wishes to put down on the bill and use it when it's time to close the bill, you can have multi cards and use and reuse, with the slives that they come with you can put table number or any info you need.

hope it help 

@paulleo 

[nokegroup]

I also agree with this addition to the app!