Setting up tips on a Clover terminal: what to check before the next shift

Two complaints about terminal tipping come up over and over. First: the suggestions on screen don't suit the business, too high for a coffee, too low for a two-hour colour service. The second one is worse. Tips written on paper receipts never make it into payroll.

Both are fixed in the same screens, in about fifteen minutes. Here is what you need to know.

First: two completely different ways to ask for a tip

Clover supports two modes, and choosing between them determines everything else about your setup.

Tip on screen is the mode everyone knows: the terminal shows the customer a set of suggestions, they pick one, and the full amount is authorized in a single step. Fast, simple, and nothing is left hanging.

Tip on paper works differently. The terminal authorizes the bill amount first, prints a receipt with a tip line, the customer writes an amount by hand, and someone then enters that amount into the system before the transaction is finalized. This is the classic full-service restaurant flow, where the customer signs at the table.

The practical difference fits in one sentence: paper mode leaves transactions open, screen mode does not.

Where the settings live

Two paths lead to the same place. On the device itself, whether that is a Clover Flex, a Clover Mini, a Clover Station Duo or a Clover Station Solo, open the Setup app, then the Tips section. From a computer, sign in to the web dashboard and go to your business operations settings, Tips section.

One thing many managers discover too late: settings can differ from one device to another. If you have a Clover Mini at the counter and a Clover Flex on the floor, check both. Configuring one device does not automatically push that configuration everywhere.

Percentages or fixed amounts: it depends on your average ticket

Clover ships with a set of default percentage suggestions, but they are editable, and you can also present fixed amounts instead of percentages.

The rule of thumb is simple. On small tickets such as a coffee, a pastry or a quick service call, a percentage produces a trivial number on screen and the customer hesitates. Fixed amounts work better. On larger tickets, a full meal or a salon appointment, percentages remain the more natural presentation.

You can also rename the choices with your own labels. A salon might name the options after the service rendered rather than displaying three bare numbers.

Set suggestions against your real average ticket, not the one you wish you had. A suggestion that is too high for what people actually spend with you pushes the tipping rate down, not up.

The trap: open tips at batch closeout

This is by far the most common cause of lost tips, and it only affects businesses running paper mode.

Every day your terminal closes its batch: it groups the day's transactions and submits them for processing. A transaction whose tip has not yet been entered is an open tip. If the batch closes before someone enters it, the amount that goes to processing is the originally authorized amount, without the tip.

Clover shows a warning on the closeout screen when open tips, open tabs or unfinalized authorizations remain. But somebody has to read it. If your closeout runs automatically in the middle of the night, nobody will.

The fix is a habit: the closing manager enters every paper tip and checks the closeout screen before leaving. If your automatic closeout is scheduled at an hour when service is still running on busy nights, move it.

Restaurant and salon: two different setups

In a full-service restaurant, paper mode is often still the right call. Guests want the bill at the table and floor staff don't always have a terminal in hand. You accept the constraint of entering tips daily in exchange.

In a hair or beauty salon, payment happens at the counter, face to face, and screen mode is almost always better. Nothing is left open, and the person who did the work sees the tip assigned right away. If several professionals work under the same account, make sure each employee signs in on the terminal. That is what lets reports attribute tips correctly.

What to check before your next shift

• Is the active tipping mode the right one for your kind of service?
• Do the suggestions on screen match your real average ticket?
• Do all your devices share the same configuration?
• What time does your batch close, and does that time fall after service ends every night?
• Do your staff sign in under their own names on the terminal?

Those five points take about fifteen minutes to work through. Do it once, write the configuration down somewhere, and repeat the check every time you add a device.