Introduction
What is WCPOS?
WCPOS is a point of sale (POS) for WooCommerce. It sells from the same products, stock and prices as your online store, and every sale becomes a WooCommerce order. It runs in a web browser, or as an app for Windows, macOS and Linux, with iOS and Android apps in beta.
Find your way around
This is the POS after a search for "watch", with the In Stock filter on and one watch in the cart. Everything else in these docs starts from here. POS Screen Overview takes each part in turn.
- Menu — POS is where you sell. Products, Orders, Coupons and Customers need WCPOS Pro. Reports has today's sales and closures. Health, Settings and Support sit at the foot.
- Register bar — the store this device is on, and the register's name when the store has more than one. See Stores, Registers and Devices.
- Notifications — announcements, update notices and licence reminders from WCPOS. See Notifications.
- Your avatar — the cashier sheet: the cash drawer, handing the till to someone else, and signing out. See Open the Register.
- Search — type a name or SKU, or scan a barcode. See Search and Filtering.
- Products — tap one to add it to the cart. See The Product Panel.
- Product count — how many products match. The arrow beside it refreshes from your store.
- Customer — who the sale is for. Tap to choose someone else. See The Cart.
- Checkout — names the total. Press it to take payment. See Checkout.
On a phone, the menu is behind the button at the top left, and the cart is the Cart tab at the bottom.
Get Started in 5 Minutes
Cashiers: if your store already uses WCPOS, start at step 2. Step 1 is for the store owner.
Install the plugin (store owner)
Install the free WCPOS plugin on your WordPress site:
- In WP Admin, go to Plugins and add a new plugin.
- Search for "WCPOS".
- Press Install Now, then Activate.
See Installation for what your server and devices need.
Open the POS
In a browser: go to yourdomain.com/pos and sign in with your WordPress username and password.
In the app (download it): type your store's address, press Connect, then Sign in with WordPress, and press Open POS.
See Connect for more stores and more cashiers on one device.
Let the POS start
Each time the POS opens, it shows the WCPOS logo over a bar. Wait for the bar to fill: then the POS opens. In the app, with nobody signed in yet, the Connect screen opens instead. If it doesn't open, see If the POS won't start.
What the bar is doing
The bar fills as the POS opens what it keeps on this device, checks how it reaches your store (in a browser), and opens the store you used last: in the app as the same cashier, in a browser as whoever is signed in to WordPress.
The bar is about starting the POS, not about your products. Those download next, while you sell.
Sell while your products download
You don't need to wait for the whole catalogue. Products keep downloading while you sell, and a search asks your store for anything that isn't on this device yet.
Why the product count starts low
The POS downloads the catalogue in small batches in the background, so it doesn't overload your store's server.
With All products showing, Showing … of … under the products counts what's on this device, so it starts low on a new device and climbs. See Product Synchronisation.
Make your first sale
If the POS says Price check only until the register is open, open the register first. Search, the products and Checkout are labelled in Find your way around, above. Then, for a cash sale:
- Type in Search or scan a product, and tap the product into the cart.
- On a phone, open the Cart tab. Press Checkout. The amount due fills in.
- Choose Cash, then type what the customer hands you, or tap a quick amount. The change appears as you type.
- Press Take. The paid screen shows the change to give and the receipt.
- Print or email the receipt, then press New sale for the next customer.
Here a customer hands over $50.00 for a $45.00 sale:
- ✕ — back to the cart, with the order still on it.
- To pay — the balance still due.
- Change — what to give back.
- Tendered — what you typed or tapped.
- Cash — the method this payment goes on.
- Take — names the amount and the method. Press it to record the payment.
See the paid screen (from another sale): change, Print Receipt, New sale
- Change — what to give back.
- Paid … · tendered … in cash — what the sale came to and what the customer handed you.
- Template — which receipt this sale gets. See Customising Receipts.
- Printer — where it prints. See Print Receipt.
- Preview — the receipt as it will print.
- Print Receipt — prints it.
- Email Receipt — sends it to the customer. See Email Receipt.
- New sale — an empty cart for the next customer, back on your default customer.
See Checkout for the whole sale, and Payment Methods for cards and other ways to pay.
If the POS won't start
The bar stops partway. In a browser, the POS is checking how it reaches your store. On a slow connection this can take a little while, and it carries on by itself.
"Something went wrong". The POS couldn't start on this device. Under the message it shows what failed. Press Try again: it keeps everything on this device. If the same message comes back, note it and contact support.
Don't press Reset app data and restart on that screen unless support asks you to. It deletes everything on this device, including sales not yet sent to your store. Before it does, it asks you to confirm, and warns you about any changes that haven't reached your store.
"The POS is open in another tab". Only one tab runs the POS. Press Take over here, or go back to the other tab.
The app opens on the Connect screen. Nobody is signed in on this device yet, or you signed out. See Connect if signing in won't finish.
Where WCPOS runs
For tablets and phones. In beta testing.
An app for the shop computer. Keeps several stores and cashiers on one device.
Not sure it fits your store? Is WCPOS right for you? covers who it suits, what it needs, what it costs and how it compares.
Key Features
The free plugin rings up sales: cash, cards taken on your own terminal, one register with its cash drawer, receipts, coupons in the cart, barcode scanning, and sales that carry on when the connection drops. See Free vs Pro for the full comparison.
What the free plugin does
Fast Local Search
Products are kept on the device, so search answers at once
Keeps Selling Offline
Search products and customers, and take cash for a sale that reached your store before the connection dropped. See Offline Mode
Barcode Scanning
A USB or Bluetooth scanner, or the device camera
Cash & Card Payments
Cash with change worked out, cards taken on your own terminal, and split payments
Receipt Printing
Print or email receipts from your store's templates
Automatic Tax
Tax worked out from your WooCommerce tax settings
Pro Features
WCPOS Pro adds the screens for running the store from the POS (products, orders, customers, coupons, and reports for earlier days), refunds, connected card readers and other payment gateways, the customer display, and more registers and stores.
What Pro adds
Products Management
Change stock and prices right in the POS
Orders and Refunds
Find an older order, reprint its receipt, edit it or refund it
Customers Management
Add and edit customers
Reports
Earlier days, every register and every store
Card Readers
Connected readers such as Stripe Terminal and SumUp, and other payment gateways
Registers and Stores
Several registers per store, and several stores from one WooCommerce site
For Developers
Interested in how WCPOS works under the hood? See Architecture for the PHP plugin and the JavaScript app.