title: “The register — a guide for the front desk”

This guide covers the Point of Sale module. If your gallery has not switched it on (the Owner does that in Settings → Extensions), this page will not match what you see — skip it for now.

The register — a guide for the front desk

Category: Gallery. Comes with your gallery plan; the Owner switches it on in Settings → Extensions. (Internal slug: pos_kiosk.)

This is for the person on the desk. You do not need to know anything about the rest of CartonCrew to use it, and you should not need anybody’s help to get through a sale.

The one thing to hold onto: the card reader takes the money, and CartonCrew records who sold what. If the two ever seem to disagree, Square is right about the money and you should tell a manager rather than trying to fix it here.

1. Before your shift starts

The desk computer should already be signed in and sitting on the register screen. If it is not, a manager signs it in — the desk account and the desk itself are both set up once by an admin, not by you.

You will need your own six-digit PIN. You set it yourself in your member profile, under Set my PIN. It is not a password and it does not sign you in anywhere: it says you are the person standing at the till, so the sale is recorded against your name.

Your Square passcode. If the gallery sells on its own Square Register, you also need a 4-digit Square passcode to sign in there before a sale. CartonCrew makes it for you: the moment you set your register PIN, a random passcode is shown once on the same card, with a note to write it down. Later, the Square passcode row on that card has a Reveal button if you need to see it again (each reveal is recorded). Square does not let CartonCrew set the passcode in Square itself, so the gallery owner types it into Square Dashboard for you and ticks Entered in Square on their side; until then the Register will not accept it. If you set your PIN before this existed, the card offers Generate my Square passcode instead of Reveal.

If you have forgotten it, an admin can reset it. Nobody can look it up and read it back to you — not even them.

If your gallery sets PINs for you. A gallery can turn off Members can set up their own register PIN (below). Then your profile shows Your register PIN with one line, Your gallery sets register PINs for its members. Ask an Owner or Admin to set or change yours., and no form. A PIN you already had keeps working at the register.

Members can set up their own register PIN (Owner and Admin)

Sidebar → Settings → Point of Sale tab → the Members can set up their own register PIN box, just above Your register PIN. It is ticked (on) for every gallery until you change it, and it saves the moment you click it.

On (the default): each volunteer sets and changes their own PIN on their profile, as described above.
Off: members no longer see Your register PIN on My Profile or in Settings → Point of Sale, and CartonCrew refuses a member who tries to set, change or remove it some other way. Members also cannot generate a Square passcode for themselves (Generate my Square passcode). Owners, Admins and the Treasurer can still set their own. PINs already set keep working at the register and the Hub.

The switch does not change the Hub sign-in code card. Members keep setting their own Hub code on My Profile, and the Hub code is the same code as the register PIN, so a member who changes their Hub code also changes the PIN they type at the register.

With it off, you set PINs yourself, on the same tab, in Who can be identified at the register:

A first PIN: under Set a PIN for someone, choose the person in Person (only people with no PIN are listed), type six digits on the keypad, and press Set this PIN. Tell them what it is.
A new PIN for someone who has one: press Reset PIN on their row, type six digits, and press Set this PIN.

Either way, the person gets an email from your gallery’s name via CartonCrew saying who set their register PIN and when, and to contact the gallery if they did not expect it. The email never contains the PIN, so tell them yourself. Setting your own PIN sends nothing. A PIN cannot be set for a ChAImp support account or for someone whose sign-in has been turned off.

Only an Owner or Admin sees the box; nobody else can change it.

2. Selling something

Say who you are. Pick your name from the list and tap in your PIN. Your name appears at the top of the screen and stays there until you tap not you?.
Find the piece. Type its Label ID — the number on the tag — or part of the title. The Label ID is faster and cannot match the wrong piece.
Check the price. The list price is filled in. If the sale is at a different price, see Discounts below.
Pick the classification. In-house, commission work, jewelry, cards, and so on. This is not paperwork: it decides what the artist is paid. If you are not sure, ask — it is easier to ask now than to correct it afterwards.
Ask for a phone number. Optional, always. If they give one, tick the box to say they agreed to be contacted. If they would rather not, carry on — a sale is never held up over this.

Type the ten digits. You do not need the +1, and if the box turns red it is telling you the number cannot be a US number — fix it or leave it out, because a number saved wrong is a patron nobody can find again. An email address on its own is enough if that is what they would rather give.
Tell them the return date. Once the sale is started, a Returns box says until when the gallery will take it back, in the gallery’s own returns policy. If a piece in the basket cannot be returned at all (for example, earrings), it says so in red. Tell the customer before they pay.

A special occasion? If the piece is for a wedding, a birthday or another occasion on the gallery’s list, choose it under Special occasion, enter its date and tap Add occasion. The return window then counts from the occasion instead, and the box shows the new date. It can only be added now, before payment. It cannot be added or changed after the sale.
Charge. The reader wakes up and asks for the card. Hand it over and wait.
Done. The screen says Sold, with the return date again. The reader prints or emails the receipt. Under each piece the receipt gives the same return date, counted from the occasion or the holiday season when one applies, or says that the piece cannot be returned.

The piece is marked sold, the artist’s share is worked out at the classification’s rate, and the artist gets an email. You do not have to write anything down.

If the screen goes blank or the tab closes mid-payment

Do not re-ring the sale. The payment is between the reader and Square, and Square tells CartonCrew what happened whether this screen is watching or not. Finish the payment on the reader, then reload the page. If the piece still shows as available after a few minutes, tell a manager.

Leaving the register

Tap ← Back at the top left of the Register screen to go back to the rest of CartonCrew. It takes you to the page you opened the register from, or to the Dashboard if the register was opened on its own (from a bookmark, or Open the register in a new window on the desk’s row in Settings → Point of Sale). You do not need the browser’s own back button, so this works on a tablet or a desk computer that shows no browser bar.

Pieces in the basket, sale not started: Back asks first. Tap Stay to keep the basket, or Leave to empty it. Nothing has been charged.
Sale started, or the card reader is waiting: Back is grayed out and says Finish or cancel this sale first. Finish the payment, or tap Cancel on the screen, then tap Back.
After Sold or Payment stopped: Back works straight away. The sale is already recorded.

Back does not let anyone into a page they could not open before. The page you land on checks your role exactly as it would from the sidebar.

3. Cash and checks

Choose the tender before you charge.

Cash — type the amount handed over; the screen tells you the change.
Check — type the check number.

Everything else is the same. The sale, the split and the artist’s email all work exactly as they do for a card.

4. Discounts

An ordinary discount comes out of the artist’s money, not the gallery’s. So the artist is the person who agrees to it — not you, and not a manager.

If the artist has agreed to a lower price, tick the attestation box, then enter the discount: type the new price, or type the amount off in Take off and choose $ off or % off (10% off and $10 off a $100 piece come to the same $90). The artist’s commission is always worked out on the price the customer pays, so the gallery keeps its cut of every sale, however big the discount. You are putting your name to the statement that the discount was agreed. The artist is emailed about it automatically, with the piece, both prices, the amount their commission is worked out on, what they will be paid, and your name.

There is no manager override for a discount, because there is no limit for one to override. If the artist has not agreed, the price is the price.

5. Giving the money back

On the Sold screen, tap Refund this sale.

First, inspect each piece. The gallery looks at a returned piece for damage before it accepts it back, and the refund cannot go ahead until every piece has been inspected. For each piece, tap No damage, or tap Damaged, type what is wrong with it, and tap Record the damage. You are recorded as the person who inspected it, from the PIN you signed in with, with the time and the register. A piece that failed inspection stops the refund and the screen shows why.

Made a mistake? Tap Correct this under the piece and record it again. The first entry is not changed or removed: the correction is added beside it, and both stay on the sale.

If your gallery asks for a second person (an administrator sets this in Settings → Returns), a manager other than you then enters their own PIN, and both of you end up on the record. Otherwise no manager is needed. Say why in a line if it helps — “frame damaged”, “wrong size” — and that line goes on the record and into Square.

When it goes through:

a card sale refunds to the card it was paid with, and that one is finished when you walk away from the screen. A cash or check sale is refunded by written check (unless your gallery has chosen cash back for cash sales), and the treasurer writes it, so do not pay a return out of the till. The screen tells you which. For a check, it asks for the name to write the refund check to (a check sale already has the name from the customer’s check), and afterwards it reads Refund recorded: check owed, not “Refunded”. The treasurer finishes it under Financial → Refund checks;
the screen shows a line starting Tell the customer: that says which way their money is coming back and roughly when, for example “Your refund is coming back by check, written by the gallery within 14 days.” These are the same words your website’s returns policy uses;
the piece goes back on the wall, available again;
the artist’s share for that sale is reversed, so it will not be in the next payout run;
the sale stays in your records, marked as refunded. Nothing is deleted.

It refunds the whole sale. There is no part-refund at the register.

A customer who comes back on another day

With an empty basket, tap Refund a sale from an earlier day. Find the sale by what the customer has or you can see: the date, the work or artist, the amount, the last four digits of their card, or the receipt number. Tap Search.

Each result shows the day, the works and artists, the amount and how it was paid, and, for a piece that has been inspected, who inspected it and what they found. Check it is the sale in front of you, then tap This is the sale. The refund is the same as above: inspect each piece, a manager’s own PIN if your gallery asks for a second person, and a reason if it helps.

A sale that cannot be refunded is still listed, with the reason:

Already refunded, or partly refunded in Square. It cannot be refunded twice.
A piece the gallery does not take back, such as earrings. Nobody can override this at the register, not a manager and not an admin.
The return window has closed, with the date and time it closed. Only a manager or admin can accept it now. Tap Refund after the window, type why it is being accepted, and the manager enters their PIN. The reason is recorded on the refund.

How the return date is worked out

The window counts days the gallery is open, from its opening hours and closures. The day of purchase is not counted, and closed days are skipped. The last day ends at the gallery’s closing time. So at a gallery closed Monday and Tuesday with a three-day window, a piece bought on Sunday can come back until closing time on Friday.

A sale made in the holiday season can come back until the same number of open days after 1 January. A sale marked for a special occasion counts from the occasion. The customer always gets whichever date is later.

6. When the register will not do something

These are the four things a volunteer runs into alone, and what to do about each.

What you see	What it means	What to do
”The artist was already paid for this piece.” (after a refund)	The refund has gone through and the piece is back on the wall as usual. The artist had already been paid their share, and that is left alone.	Nothing at the desk. A manager decides later, under Financial → Refunds (the card is titled Refunds to review), whether the gallery absorbs it or takes it from the artist’s next payout.
Your PIN stops being accepted	Five wrong tries locks it for fifteen minutes. It unlocks by itself.	Wait, or ask a manager to use theirs for the moment. There is nothing to fix.
”This register is no longer armed”, or “This computer is not set up as a register”	The desk has been revoked, or you are on a machine that was never armed.	You cannot sell from an unregistered machine, by design. An admin re-arms the desk in Settings → Point of Sale.
”This computer is not set up as a register” above the volunteer list	Your PIN is fine and your name is on the list — this computer is not an armed desk, so it cannot show you the list.	Use the register machine, or ask an administrator to arm this one in Settings → Point of Sale.
The volunteer list is empty, with nothing said above it	Nobody at the gallery has set a PIN yet.	Set yours in your member profile, then reload.
A Square receipt says “Untracked team member”	Your sale was recorded here under your name. Square did not know who you were, because you are not in the gallery’s Square staff directory.	Nothing at the desk — the sale and your name are safe. Tell an administrator: Settings → Point of Sale now says who is on Square, with an Add to Square button beside anybody who is not.
Your Square profile says “incomplete”	Not a fault. Square asks every team member for an email, a phone number and a pay rate; none of it is sent, on purpose, so Square cannot contact you.	Nothing. Your sales are attributed correctly. The only thing filled in is a Team member ID of your initials and a number the gallery gives you once, such as JW-0001. It never changes, and nothing from your phone number is in it.
”The list of volunteers could not be loaded”	A fault, not a refusal.	Try again in a moment. If it keeps happening, tell an administrator — this one is not something you can fix at the desk.
”… cannot be returned: … are not returnable”	The piece is in a category the gallery does not take back.	Nothing can be done at the register. Tell the customer the gallery’s policy, and a manager if they are unhappy.
”The return window closed at close of business …”	The sale is past the gallery’s return date.	Ask a manager. They can accept it with Refund after the window and a reason.
”The special occasion is agreed at the sale”	You tried to add an occasion after payment.	It cannot be added now. A manager can accept a late return if the customer comes back after the window.

7. What the gallery sees afterwards

Under Organization Insights, three things you may be asked about:

Register sales — by cashier, by desk, by day, by classification, by artist.
Register discounts — every time somebody took less than list, with the name of whoever attested it.
Register refunds — with the manager who approved each one.

This is the point of the PIN. The gallery once paid a commission to the wrong artist and could not find out who had sold the piece. Now it can.

8. What the register cannot do yet

Part-refunds. Whole sales only.
Layaway payments. A manager starts the layaway in the Artwork Catalog; each payment is then taken on the Square Register with the _Layaway Payment item and the customer attached (see the Layaway guide).
Multi-quantity stock — cards and prints sold as a pile of identical items. Sell those the way you do today. Register sales now reach QuickBooks on their own — a receipt for the sale and a bill for each artist’s commission, raised as the sale happens. Nothing about that is the front desk’s job; see the treasurer’s guide, QuickBooks.

9. The returns policy (for administrators)

The returns policy is the gallery’s own. Set it in Settings → Returns:

the number of open days a customer has to bring a piece back;
the holiday season, as month and day (MM-DD), and the date returns count from after it;
the special occasions the register offers;
the categories that are not returnable, each with the reason the customer is given;
whether cash sales are refunded by check or in cash (card sales always go back to the card, and checks by check);
roughly how long a refund takes: the days a card refund usually takes to reach the card, and the days within which the gallery writes a refund check. The register tells the customer these numbers, and your website states them;
under Inspecting a return, whether a second person (a manager, with their own PIN) must also approve each return after the piece has been inspected. It is off unless you turn it on, and it applies to every return from the moment you save it. The inspection itself is always required;
whether to publish it on your website, and your own wording to go with it.

Tap Save returns policy. A change applies to sales from now on. Every earlier sale keeps the policy it was sold under, so its return date never moves. Restore the standard policy goes back to the standard terms.

If the gallery has never saved a policy, the standard one applies: 3 open days; a holiday season from 11-01 to 12-31, returnable after 01-01; the occasions Wedding, Anniversary, Birthday, Graduation and Retirement; nothing excluded; card to the card (usually within 10 days), and cash and check by a check the gallery writes within 14 days; every piece inspected before a refund, with no second person.

Putting a piece in a non-returnable category. Open the artwork and choose the category under Returns. To do many pieces at once, tick them in the Artwork Catalog and click Not refundable (see Artwork SKUs). The register refuses a return by this setting, never by the title, so a piece called “Earring stand” is returnable unless you set it otherwise. A piece with no category set is returnable. The register records the category when the piece is sold, so changing it later never changes a sale already made.

The time zone. The last day ends at closing time in the gallery’s time zone, set under Organization. Until one is set, the latest time zone on earth is used, so a return is never refused early but can stay open a few hours past closing time.

On your website. Under On your website, tick Publish this policy on your website. Your site then has a Refunds page, linked under Explore in the footer of every page. The page is written from the policy itself: the number of open days, the holiday season, the occasions, what cannot be returned and how each kind of payment is refunded. Change the number of days here and the page changes with it, so the website always says what the register does. Your own wording, if you add any, appears above the policy. Leave the numbers and dates out of it, because the page already states them. With the box unticked there is no Refunds page and no link.

Only an admin can change the policy. Every change is recorded in the activity log, with who made it and when.

Questions a volunteer actually asks

Can I use somebody else’s PIN if they are on a break? No. The PIN is the answer to “who sold this”, and it is the only answer there is. Use your own; if you do not have one, set one.

A customer wants to pay half now and half later. That is a layaway. Ask a manager to start one in the Artwork Catalog, then take each payment on the Square Register with the _Layaway Payment item and the customer attached.

I picked the wrong classification and the sale has gone through. Tell a manager. It can be corrected, but not from this screen, because changing what an artist is paid after the fact is not a front-desk decision.

The card was declined. That is between the customer and their bank; CartonCrew never sees it. Try again, or take another card, or cash.