# Enable gratuity and service charges

Set up gratuity (tips) and service charges for your POS devices.

## Overview

Gratuity and service charges allow you to add additional fees to purchase transactions, providing flexible pricing models for hospitality venues with transparent fee communication. These features are particularly useful for situations where you need to reward service staff or apply percentage-based fees.

### Gratuity

Gratuity allows your customers to add a tip when making purchases, providing a convenient way to reward service staff. Customers can choose from pre-configured tip percentages, enter a custom amount, or proceed without adding a tip. All receipts include the tip amount when gratuity is added.

### Service charges

Service charges allow you to add percentage-based fees to transactions with two different approaches:

* **Mandatory service charges:** A fixed percentage automatically added to the transaction total. When entering the transaction amount, you specify the service charge percentage, and it's automatically calculated and added to the total. The customer sees the breakdown showing the original amount and the service charge. The amount goes to the employer and is reported as service charge amounts in the Unity Portal. For example, a 10% service charge for group bookings of more than 8 people.
* **Voluntary service charges:** A suggested percentage that the customer can accept or decline. When entering the transaction amount, you specify the suggested service charge percentage, and the customer is presented with the option to accept or decline it. If accepted, the amount is added to the total and appears as gratuity on the receipt. If declined, the transaction proceeds with only the original amount. Accepted voluntary service charges must be provided to employees like tips and are reported as gratuity amounts in the Unity Portal (in accordance with regional regulations, such as UK tipping law).


Both features are only available for purchase transactions—they're not supported for refunds, authorisations, or other transaction types.

Before you can use gratuity or service charges, you need to enable them in the Unity Portal and configure your POS devices.

These features are available for S1F2 and S1F4 Pro devices.

## Enable gratuity

### Enable gratuity for your site

Before devices can offer gratuity options, the feature must be enabled and configured at the site level. This ensures all devices at a location use the same tip percentage options.

1. In the Unity Portal, go to **Merchant groups** > **Sites**.
2. Select the site where you want to enable gratuity.
3. In the *Services* tab, find the *Pos service* and click **Edit**.
4. Click **General POS service settings**.
5. In the *Gratuity* section, toggle **Gratuity** to **On**.
6. Configure your three pre-selected tip percentages (see [Tip percentage configuration](#tip-percentage-configuration)).
7. Click **Save** in the top right.


Gratuity is now enabled for all devices associated with this site. You can disable it at the device level if needed. See [Enable or disable gratuity on a device](#enable-or-disable-gratuity-on-a-device).

#### Tip percentage configuration

You can configure three pre-defined tip percentages that will be displayed to customers during checkout. These percentages provide quick-select options for common tipping amounts.

* Each percentage value must be unique.
* Values will automatically be displayed from lowest to highest.
* The options will appear with 1, 2, and 3 stars to indicate the tip levels.


Example: If you configure 10%, 15%, and 20%, customers will see these three options plus a custom amount option at the payment screen.

### Enable or disable gratuity on a device

Once gratuity is configured at the site level, it's enabled for all devices under the site.

To disable or enable it at the device level:

1. In the Unity Portal, go to **Merchant setup > Sites**.
2. Select the site associated with the device.
3. In the *Services* tab, find the *Pos service* and click **Edit**.
4. Click on the device that you want to manage the feature for.
5. Click **Feature settings**.
6. In the *General* section, toggle the **Gratuity** switch.
7. Click **Save** in the top right.


The device will automatically download the updated configuration during its next sync.

Disabling gratuity at the site level will turn off the feature for all devices. If the feature is enabled at the site level, you can control it individually for each device.

## Enable service charges

### Enable service charges for your site

Before devices can apply service charges, the feature must be enabled at the site level. This ensures all devices at a location can use service charge functionality.

1. In the Unity Portal, go to **Merchant groups** > **Sites**.
2. Select the site where you want to enable service charges.
3. In the *Services* tab, find the *Pos service* and click **Edit**.
4. Click **General POS service settings**.
5. In the *Service charge* section, toggle the **Service charge** to **On**.
6. Click **Save** in the top right.


Service charges are now enabled for all devices associated with this site. You can disable them at the device level if needed. See [Enable or disable service charges on a device](#enable-or-disable-service-charges-on-a-device).

### Enable or disable service charges on a device

Once service charges are configured at the site level, they're enabled for all devices under the site.

To disable or enable them at the device level:

1. In the Unity Portal, go to **Merchant setup > Sites**.
2. Select the site associated with the device.
3. In the *Services* tab, find the *Pos service* and click **Edit**.
4. Click on the device that you want to manage the feature for.
5. Click **Feature settings**.
6. In the *General* section, toggle the **Service charge** switch.
7. Click **Save** in the top right.


The device will automatically download the updated configuration during its next sync.

## Verify your configuration

After enabling gratuity or service charges, test your configuration.

### Testing gratuity

1. Process a test purchase transaction.
2. Verify the gratuity prompt appears with your configured percentage options.
3. Select a tip amount and complete the transaction.
4. Check the receipt includes the tip amount separately from the purchase amount.


### Testing service charges

1. Process a test purchase transaction with a mandatory service charge.
2. Verify the service charge is calculated correctly and added to the total.
3. Check the receipt displays the service charge amount separately from the purchase amount.
4. Process a test transaction with a voluntary service charge and confirm the customer can accept or decline it.
5. Verify that accepted voluntary service charges appear as gratuity on the receipt.


## Reporting and insights

Gratuity and service charge data is captured across multiple reporting tools:

* **Transaction reports:** The Unity Portal includes tip and service charge amounts for each transaction in your standard reports. See our [Reporting](/guides/reporting) section for more information.
* **Gratuity insights:** POS devices provide quick-view insights showing tip totals, making it easy to calculate amounts owed to staff. [Learn more](/guides/pos/view-insights).
* **End of day reports:** EOD summaries include all tips captured during the day.


## Troubleshooting

| Issue  | Next steps |
|  --- | --- |
| Gratuity option isn't appearing to customers. | If the tip selection screen isn't showing:1. Check your site configuration: Verify that gratuity is enabled at the site level and all three tip percentages are configured.
2. Check your device configuration: Ensure that gratuity is enabled on the specific device.
3. Verify the transaction type: Confirm that you're processing a purchase transaction (gratuity isn't available for other transaction types).
4. Check your device sync: Ensure that the device has synced recently to receive the latest configuration.

 |
| Tip percentages aren't displaying correctly. | Verify your site configuration includes three unique percentage values. If you recently changed the percentages, ensure the device has synced to receive the updated configuration. |
| Service charge option isn't available when processing transactions. | If you can't apply service charges:1. Check your site configuration: Verify that service charges are enabled at the site level.
2. Check your device configuration: Ensure that service charges are enabled on the specific device.
3. Verify the transaction type: Confirm that you're processing a purchase transaction (service charges aren't available for other transaction types).
4. Check your device sync: Ensure that the device has synced recently to receive the latest configuration.

 |
| Service charge amounts aren't calculating correctly. | Verify that you're entering the percentage value correctly. Check the receipt to confirm the calculation is based on the original purchase amount before the service charge is applied. |
| Voluntary service charges aren't appearing as gratuity on receipts. | Ensure that you've selected the optional service charge option when processing the transaction. Verify the customer accepted the voluntary service charge during checkout. |