Woocommerce - Openpos - TeraWallet

Holding your customers' money is not the same as selling them something

This add-on connects OpenPOS with TeraWallet, the customer wallet for WooCommerce. With both together, each customer has a balance usable both at the counter and in the online shop.

It is a useful feature solving very concrete cases, but it is worth understanding what it implies before switching it on, because it changes your accounting relationship with the customer. When somebody pays you fifty and leaves it in their wallet, that is not a sale: it is their money in your keeping. It appears in your accounts as an outstanding obligation rather than as income, and only becomes a sale when they spend it.

What it is genuinely for

• Prepaid balance: the customer loads money and draws it down, convenient in frequent-purchase businesses.
• Refunds as balance rather than cash, keeping the money inside the business.
• One balance for both shops: what they load at the premises they can spend on the website and the reverse.
• Fast payment at the counter: paying with balance is quicker than by card, and in a queue that shows.
• A base for loyalty, if you convert points into balance.

Refunds as balance is the most profitable feature, and the one to get right

It is where this add-on pays for itself. A customer refunded to their card leaves with the money and may not come back. A customer credited to their wallet almost always comes back, and almost always spends above what they had.

The part to get right is twofold. First, that it is an option and not an imposition: where the law recognises a right to a refund of the amount, the customer can insist on their money, and offering balance with a small bonus works far better than refusing cash. And second, saying it clearly on the receipt and in the terms.

What to check with your accountant before switching it on

This is not alarmism: this subject has its own rules and they vary a great deal by country.

Balance expiry. In a fair number of places unexpired balance is a debt that stands, and putting a short expiry date on money the customer paid can be considered an unfair term. With loyalty points there is more flexibility than with actual money.

Tax treatment. The moment tax becomes due is not always the top-up; often it is the spending, and that affects how it gets declared.

Volume. Issuing prepaid balance at scale can enter electronic money territory, which is regulated. For a shop balance usable only in that shop this usually does not apply, but it is exactly the kind of detail worth asking about once rather than assuming.

Requirements

It needs WordPress, WooCommerce, OpenPOS and TeraWallet. It is a connecting piece: without both sides, it does nothing.

Alternatives in the catalogue

If what you want is loyalty rather than holding money, there are simpler routes with fewer implications. WPLoyalty builds points, rewards and a referral programme, and points are far more flexible than balance. For the counter with OpenPOS, Points and Rewards for OpenPOS takes that same idea to the till.

If what you are after is a third party gifting an amount, that is not a wallet but a gift card: PW Gift Cards, with its own and considerably simpler rules.

And if you want the wallet only in the online shop, with no counter, Wallet System for WooCommerce does that part without depending on the point of sale.

On the point of sale side, if you are still choosing: OpenPOS is this add-on's base, and Vitepos Pro and MultiPOS are the catalogue's other options.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly does it do?
It connects OpenPOS with TeraWallet so the customer has a balance usable at the counter and on the website.

Does it work on its own?
No. It needs OpenPOS and TeraWallet installed; it is the piece joining them.

Is the balance income?
Not until it is spent. Until then it is the customer's money in your keeping.

Can I put an expiry date on the balance?
That depends on the country and is usually delicate with real money. With points there is more room.

Is it useful for refunds?
Yes, and it is its most profitable use, provided it is an option and not an imposition.

Is it the same as a points programme?
No. Points are your reward; balance is the customer's money, and that carries different rules.