A shop tab lets a customer or staff member buy from the till now and pay later: the items go on their tab, and they settle the balance whenever they like (often at month-end). It's ideal for divemaster trainees and staff who buy gear and drinks through the week.
When you'd use this
- A trainee grabs a mask or a drink and will square up at the end of the month.
- A regular wants to run a tab for the week rather than paying each time.
- Any time you hand something over now and take the money later.
Putting a sale on a tab
- Ring the sale up on the till (Finance → Point of Sale) as normal.
- Choose the customer the tab belongs to (use the customer box; you can add a new person there if they're not on file yet).
- Under how they're paying, tap On account (pay later).
- The total relabels to Going on tab and the button becomes Add to tab · {amount}. Press it. No money is taken now; the items go on that person's tab.
You must choose a customer for an on-account sale: the tab has to belong to someone. If no customer is selected the button stays disabled with a reminder.
The receipt simply says the items were added to their tab, with nothing to pay today.
Pay by link (the customer pays on their own phone)
If your centre takes card payments through Stripe and payment links are switched on, the till also offers Pay by link. Handy when you have no card machine, or the customer wants to pay later from their phone.
- Ring the sale up and choose the customer (a link has to belong to someone, like a tab).
- Under how they're paying, tap Pay by link (Stripe). The total relabels to To pay by link.
- Want the customer to get the link by email? Turn on Email the payment link (it replaces the receipt; they get the receipt once they've paid).
- Press Send pay by link · {amount}. The sale goes on their tab and the link window opens.
- The amount starts at this sale. If they owe older items too, tap Include everything. You can type a smaller amount, never more than the tab owes.
- Press Create link, then show the QR code for them to scan, copy the link into a chat, or email it.
When the customer pays, the money goes into your own Stripe account, the tab clears by itself, and the payment shows in Finance → Payments as a Stripe payment. There's no card fee on a tab link.
Already sent a link? Only one link can be open per customer. If you send another, the window offers Replace link (the old one stops working and the new one covers both) or Keep the old link (shows it again to resend).
You can also send a link for a tab that's already owed: press Take payment on the Shop tabs list or the customer's Shop tab card, choose Send pay by link (Stripe), then Create link. The link is for the whole tab. An open link shows as a small Pay by link chip with Copy, QR and Cancel. Links last 7 days.
If a link is ever marked Paid by link, not recorded on the tab (in red), the customer's card was charged but the payment couldn't be put on the tab. Take the payment by hand with Take payment and let DiveOps support know.
Seeing who owes you
Open Finance → Shop tabs. It lists everyone with an open tab:
- Total owed and how many people, at the top.
- Each person, what they owe, and how long the tab's been open.
- Sort by Most owed, Tab open longest, or Name, and search by name.
- Anyone you've ended up owing (for example after a refund once they'd already paid) appears in a separate We owe list: that credit comes off their next purchase.
You can also see a customer's tab on their own profile: a Shop tab card shows what they owe and the items on it. (The card only appears for customers who actually have tab activity.)
What they owe on their tab is part of the Owes figure at the top of their profile and in its Balance box, which shows the split (for example Bookings ฿24,000 · Shop tab ฿690). If you've ended up owing them, a green Shop tab credit badge shows instead.
Taking a payment off a tab
If they also owe on a booking, you can take both together with Take payment on their profile (customers).
From either the Shop tabs list or the customer's Shop tab card, press Take payment. It's the same payment window used everywhere in DiveOps:
- Check what's on the tab: press What's on the tab under the Shop tab line to see the items, so there's no dispute.
- The amount box starts at the full balance. They don't have to clear it all: type a smaller amount and you'll see what it leaves to pay.
- Pick how they paid and check the date (defaults to today).
- Paying cash? Type what they hand over in Received and you'll see the change to give. Only the amount in the box comes off the tab.
- Press Take.
The tab drops by what you took. When it reaches zero they're paid up.
Voiding a tab payment entered by mistake
Took a tab payment by mistake (the wrong customer, the wrong amount, or the same payment twice) and no money actually changed hands? On the customer's Shop tab card, press Void next to that payment (it's also on Finance → Payments). Pick or type a reason and press Void payment.
The payment disappears from the tab and the tab owes that amount again. Your books are put back exactly as if it had never been taken, and it no longer counts as money in. It can't be undone: if you void the wrong one, just take the payment again.
Void is only for a mistake where no money moved, so it isn't offered (or the screen says why) when:
- They paid by link (online): real money moved, so use Refund to card instead (below).
- It came off their pay (staff and DMT tabs): reopen the pay period instead.
If your accounting software is connected and the payment had already been sent to it, the screen tells you: delete that payment there by hand too, so the two match. The same note appears in Error Logs.
Refunding a tab payment to their card
A tab payment that was paid by link (or on a card reader, if your centre has one) can go back to the card it was paid with. On the customer's Shop tab card, press Refund to card next to that payment (it's also on Finance → Payments as Refund).
- The amount starts at what is left to refund on that payment. Enter less for a part refund.
- Pick or type a reason.
- Type the amount again to confirm, and press Refund.
The money goes back to the card, and the refunded amount is owed on their tab again. If the goods came back too, refund the item at the Shop as well, which takes it off the tab. The refund has its own Refund receipt. You can't refund more than the payment, and the same refund is never sent twice.
If your accounting software is connected, a refund to the card is listed there for your accountant to record by hand (it can't re-open an invoice automatically).
Giving them a receipt or invoice
Once a tab payment has been taken, you can hand the customer proof that they've paid, showing the real way they paid (for example "Card"), not "on account":
- Receipt · on the sale (open it from the till history, or use the Receipt button on the customer's Shop Purchase History, which has the Tax invoice button beside it too), press Receipt. It lists the items and a PAID line with the tender and date. If they've only part-paid, it shows what's still outstanding.
- Tax invoice · available once the sale is fully paid. If you try to issue one while the tab is still outstanding, you'll be asked to take the payment first (a tax invoice must not say "paid" before it is).
- Email · the emailed receipt shows the settled tender too.
- Receipt for the payment itself · each tab payment has a Receipt button, on Finance → Payments and on the customer's Shop tab card: a plain receipt for the money paid towards the tab (no VAT on it, because the VAT was on the purchases).
In Germany, putting a sale on a tab and paying a tab off at the desk are both signed by your till security device (TSE) and appear in the tax export (the sale as a debt created, the payment as that debt paid off). A tab paid by link or out of wages isn't a till payment, so it isn't signed.
Staff and DMT tabs (settle from pay)
Your own team and divemaster trainees can run a shop tab too, and they have an extra way to clear it: out of their wages.
- Put it on their tab: at the till, in the customer box type the staff member's name and pick them under Staff & DMTs (they're kept out of the normal customer list). Choose On account (pay later) and Add to tab as usual.
- They can pay it off any time before payday with Take payment (cash/card), exactly like a customer.
- Or take it off their pay: on their Team profile, in Deductions, press "Take their shop tab off this pay". At payday the amount owed comes off their wages and the tab clears by exactly that much. If their tab is bigger than their pay, only what their pay covers comes off and the rest stays on the tab for next time: their wage is never negative. It shows as a plain "Shop tab" line on their payslip.
Staff tabs appear in Finance → Shop tabs with a Staff tag, alongside customers.
How it affects your books
- The sale counts as income the moment it's rung up (just like any other till sale): your profit figures don't wait for the tab to be paid.
- The amount owed shows as money owed to you until it's settled; it does not count as cash in hand until the payment is taken.
- Taking a tab payment records the cash/card in the usual way on the day you take it.
Good to know
- Refunds of an on-account item reduce the tab rather than handing back cash. If they'd already paid, the refund leaves a small credit that comes off their next purchase.
- You can't delete a customer who still owes on a tab: take the payment (or refund the items) first.
- A single fun dive or one-off sale doesn't need a tab: just take payment at the till as normal.