Payment outage checklist: record sales and recover once

During a payment outage, use only fallback methods your business has already set up and record each sale's actual payment status. Keep paid, pending and unpaid orders separate. When service returns, check the original transaction before retrying so that recovery doesn't produce a second charge or an extra sale in the books.

Keep a printed copy of the procedure near the till. Staff need to reach it even when the cloud POS is unavailable.

Identify what has stopped working

Check power, local internet, the POS connection and the provider's status page. Note the time and the message shown. A working web browser doesn't prove the payment service is available; a failed POS connection doesn't prove the terminal itself is down.

business.gov.au includes reliability and communications dependence in its payment-method guidance. Test your alternatives against those dependencies before the outage, rather than assuming a second terminal means a separate route.

1. Check status and preserve the saleRecord the order and any existing payment reference before retrying.
2. Use an already tested alternativeChoose cash, an independent connection or another approved method that is actually available.
3. Apply the owner's pending-payment policyOffline capture needs specific permission, supported equipment and a recovery owner.
4. Tell the customer what is happeningExplain the available methods or agree to hold the order.
5. Reconcile after service returnsResolve the original reference and record one final outcome for each sale.

Original ASBG process diagram. Read in order; no animation or colour interpretation is needed.

Give staff wording they can use

For a confirmed outage: "Our card service is unavailable at the moment. We can accept [available method], or we can hold the order while you decide."

For an unclear result: "The terminal hasn't confirmed the result. I'll check that transaction before asking you to pay again."

Replace the brackets before printing. Don't announce cash acceptance or another method that staff cannot actually support. If you offer offline capture, explain it under the owner's approved policy and follow the offline payment conditions.

Keep a short sale log

Use ordinary order IDs and payment references. Don't record full card numbers, security codes or internet-banking credentials. Give the log enough detail to match records later without turning it into a store of sensitive payment data.

Order	During outage	After reconnection	Action
O-101, $85	Pending offline	Original payment completed	Mark paid; do not retry
O-102, $30	Cash received	No card attempt	Record cash against the order once
O-103, $140	Order held, unpaid	No successful payment	Arrange payment before agreed release
O-104, $60	Unclear terminal result	Status needs provider check	Hold retry until original is resolved

Fictional example in AUD. Replace these inputs with your own records.

Reconcile before returning to normal

Review pending records on the original device first. Square warns that some reset and sign-out actions can lose offline payments; follow your provider's recovery instructions rather than a generic app-reinstall fix.

Match each final payment to its existing order. Keep cash takings in the cash-drawer close, and check transfers against your own banking records. Any unresolved order needs an owner and follow-up date, not an assumed success.

Afterwards, record how long the disruption lasted, which fallback worked and which instruction confused staff. Update the procedure using those observations before the next busy shift.

Key takeaways

• Prepare alternatives before you need them.
• Record the actual status and original reference for every affected sale.
• Check original outcomes before retrying or posting another sale.

Where to get help

• business.gov.au: choosing payment methods
• Square: offline payment conditions