Set up payment processing
How card payments get activated on your account — what the Tillable team sets up during onboarding, and what has to be true before a terminal can take a card.
Pairing a device connects it to your account, but that on its own doesn't let it take a card. For a terminal to charge a card, card payment processing has to be active on your account as well.
What payment processing is
When a customer pays by card on a terminal, the card is processed by a payment provider behind the scenes — the provider authorises the payment, moves the money, and settles it to your bank. Your account has to be connected to that provider and activated before any terminal can accept a card. Until then, a paired terminal can still take cash, but the card option won't work.
So there are two separate things:
- Pairing a device — connects the physical till or terminal to your account so it can pull menus and settings. You do this yourself in the portal. See Pair a device.
- Activating card payments — connects your account to the payment provider so cards can be charged. This is set up during onboarding (below).
A device can be fully paired and still not take cards if the second part isn't done yet.
How card payments get activated
Look at the top of your Home dashboard:
- You see a Set up payments card. You set up card payments yourself there: confirm your business and bank details and we activate them. See Getting paid: set up payments.
- You don't see one. Card processing was set up for you by the Tillable team during onboarding, and there is nothing for you to switch on.
Note
Either way, it is not a toggle in your settings: it needs business and bank verification, which is why it runs through onboarding.
Activating card payments involves your merchant account being created and verified with the payment provider, and your terminals being provisioned to it. That's handled by the Tillable team as part of getting you live — it needs business and bank verification that can't be done from a settings page.
What the team does: sets up your merchant account with the payment provider, verifies your business, and provisions your terminals so they're tied to your account and can authorise cards.
What you do: provide the details the team asks for during onboarding (your business and bank details), pair your device(s) in the portal once they're ready, and assign each one a location and mode. See Your first steps and Pair a device.
If you're set up and live, this has already been done for you. If you're still onboarding and a terminal only offers cash, card processing may not be active on your account yet — contact your account manager or support.
Before a terminal can take a card
For a paired terminal to accept a card, all of these need to be true:
- Card payments are active on your account — set up during onboarding (above).
- The device is paired to your account. See Pair a device.
- The device is assigned to a location and a mode. See Set a device's mode, location and printer.
- The device's mode allows the payment. See Modes.