Members paying by QR code at the front desk
How a studio or gym can let members pay at the front desk by scanning a QR code for its own payment gateway, and what happens when a payment fails.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Fitness businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
A member finishes a class, wants a protein shake and a drop-in pass for a friend, and has left their wallet in the car. Their phone, of course, is in their hand. At a studio front desk, that moment repeats all day: people in gym kit, carrying a phone and nothing else.
Letting members pay by scanning a QR code with that phone turns an awkward "can I pay next time?" into a sale. It also keeps money off the counter and out of a notebook of IOUs. Here is how it works with Achekam's till, from set-up to refunds.
What you need in place
Two things make QR payments possible.
The till. It comes with the Point of Sale add-on and sits under Commerce & POS. Without the add-on the till does not appear, and the server refuses till requests.
Your own payment gateway account. The QR code opens a pay page on a gateway that the studio has set up itself. A workspace administrator enters the studio's gateway credentials in Settings, under Payment Gateways & Checkout, and can test the connection there with a real call to the gateway. Staff who are not administrators can see those settings but cannot change them.
The money therefore goes to the studio's own merchant account with that gateway, under its own agreement and fees.
Which gateways appear for your currency
The till offers only gateways that suit its currency and that the studio has set up and switched on.
- South Africa (rand tills): PayFast, Ozow, Peach, Stripe, Paystack and Flutterwave can appear.
- Nigeria (naira tills): Paystack and Flutterwave.
- Kenya (shilling tills): M-Pesa, Pesapal, Paystack, Flutterwave and Peach.
You do not need all of them. Pick one or two that your members already know and whose settlement terms suit the business.
How a QR payment goes through
From the desk, the flow is short:
- Ring up the items on the till: the shake, the drop-in pass, a towel.
- Choose QR payment and the gateway to use.
- The till shows a QR code. The member scans it with their phone camera.
- The gateway's pay page opens on the member's phone, and they pay there.
- Once the gateway confirms the payment to Achekam, the sale completes and the receipt is ready.
The member never hands over a card, and the front desk never handles their banking details.
Counted only when the gateway confirms
A QR payment counts only after the server has confirmed it with the gateway. A screen on the member's phone saying "payment successful" is not enough on its own, and the front desk does not have to judge it.
This matters at a busy desk. Staff are not asked to accept screenshots, and a member cannot leave with a sale marked paid on the strength of a page that never actually went through. The confirmation comes from the gateway itself, through the server. Paystack, one of the gateways a till can offer, describes the same principle in its guide to verifying payments, which lists the transaction statuses it returns and how to verify a payment before giving value.
When a member's payment fails
Sometimes the payment does not go through: the member's bank declines it, the phone loses signal, or they close the page by mistake. In that case the gateway does not confirm it, so the till does not count it.
Because the server refuses any till sale that is not paid in full, the sale cannot be completed half-paid either. The front desk has three honest options:
- let the member try again with a new scan;
- take the payment another way, such as cash, or a card on the bank's terminal, which the cashier records from the slip; or
- park the sale on the server, where any of the studio's tills can pick it up once when the member comes back.
What the desk should not do is hand over goods on the promise that the payment "will come through". If it is not confirmed, it has not happened.
The receipt the member gets
Once the sale completes, the server makes the receipt as a PDF from the posted sale. It shows every payment, VAT by rate and the studio's tax number. The desk can print it, download it or e-mail it to the member, which suits members who claim gym costs through an employer wellness scheme or simply like a record.
One limit: the paper-size, logo and footer options on the receipt screen currently change only an on-screen mock-up, not the receipt itself. Do not plan on a custom footer message reaching members yet. Practices and clinics face the same question; see giving patients a proper receipt at reception for a fuller checklist of what a receipt should show.
Refunds of QR payments
If a member is refunded, a supervisor or manager makes the refund with a reason, as its own document linked to the sale. How the money goes back depends on the gateway:
| Gateway | How the refund is made |
|---|---|
| Paystack, Flutterwave, Stripe, Pesapal | Sent back through the provider by Achekam |
| PayFast, Ozow, Peach, M-Pesa | Made in the provider's own portal, then recorded at the till with a reference |
Agree who has access to each portal and make sure every portal refund is recorded at the till the same day.
Starting small
Pick one gateway, set it up, and run a test sale for a small item with a staff member's phone, including a refund. When that works, put a small sign at the desk saying members can pay by phone. QR payments sit comfortably alongside monthly fees collected by invoice, covered in collecting membership fees without debit orders, and alongside paying staff such as instructors per class.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
