POS payments overview

Airwallex POS payments let you accept in-person transactions at physical locations—retail stores, salons, fitness centers, and other face-to-face settings. Shoppers pay by tapping, inserting, or swiping a card, or by using supported digital wallets on your terminal or device. If you also sell online, you can reconcile in-person and online sales in one place with unified reporting and dashboards.

Not sure which path fits your business? See Compare integration options for side-by-side hardware, compliance, and integration effort across all paths.

How a typical POS payment works

Although details vary by integration, card-present flows generally follow these steps:

1. You create an order in your point-of-sale system, and then convert the order to a payment request manually or with PaymentIntent.
2. Airwallex creates a PaymentIntent and routes it to the selected terminal or SoftPOS session, ready for the shopper to pay.
3. The shopper completes payment on the device, by either tapping the card (or smart phone), inserting the card, swiping the card, or scanning the QR code with a specific wallet app.
4. Airwallex confirms the outcome and updates your order or back-office systems.
5. Settlement follows your account’s standard payments settlement schedule into your Airwallex Wallet.

When to use POS payments

Use Airwallex POS payments when shoppers check out in person at a physical location rather than on your website or app. Typical scenarios include:

• A retail or hospitality business where staff create orders on a point-of-sale or ordering system and collect payment on a terminal.
• An omnichannel business that wants the same Airwallex account for online checkout and in-store card-present payments.
• A merchant that needs card and wallet acceptance on dedicated hardware, or on Android devices via a custom app (SoftPOS).

If you only need remote payment requests without a storefront terminal, consider Payment links instead.

Industry use cases

Airwallex POS payments fit omnichannel businesses that want consistent processing and unified reporting across online and in-store channels (see Key capabilities below). Common patterns include:

Travel and hospitality

• Accept global bookings online with cards and local payment methods.
• Collect in-person payments at check-in with popular local payment methods familiar to international guests.
• Consolidate funds in one Airwallex Wallet for payouts to suppliers.

Health and wellness

• Take mail-order telephone order (MOTO) payments when sales teams call members.
• Complete payments on your current tablets in-clinic for the "visit-and-pay" flow, empowered by our SoftPOS solution.
• Save payment details and automate recurring membership charges on one platform.

Dining

• Let shoppers scan a table QR code to order and pay on their phone.
• Run self-serve kiosks with embedded SoftPOS for tap-to-pay with on-screen guidance.
• Reconcile same-day transactions across QR, kiosk, terminal, and online channels in one report.

Retail and field sales

• Use phones on the shop floor for scan-tap-exit checkout and shorter queues.
• Use tablets for membership sign-up, service display, and payment on one device.
• Operate unmanned kiosks with ordering and payment embedded in the kiosk app.

Key capabilities

• Secured card-present processing with EMV-compliant payment terminals. Leave the liability of fraudulent transactions always with card issuers.
• Unified reporting for omnichannel merchants—view and reconcile online and in-person activity through Airwallex reporting and dashboards where enabled.
• Real-time transaction visibility on terminals and in the web app for operations and support teams.
• Refunds initiated by your in-store admin on the terminal or the Airwallex web app, with status updated in real time.
• Payment operations on terminals: Payment, refund, query transaction, receipt printing, pre-authorization, cancel, and capture where enabled for your integration path.

Frequently asked questions

What currency can I process on POS?

Following common practice, you should process POS payments in the local currency of the market where your business is registered. We are working to support Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) and plan to make it available soon.

How does settlement work?

Settlement follows the same flow as online payments—typically T+2 to T+3 business days for most merchant category codes, subject to KYB approval. Reserve terms apply at the entity level and are generally the same for online and POS volume on the same account. If you process both channels, ask your Account Manager about blended reserve treatment.

Can I add tips to a payment?

Today you can include tips in the payment amount before the shopper pays. The tipping flow after payment will be made available soon.

Do I need a separate integration for my order management system?

Third-party or custom order management systems require an upfront integration with Airwallex (for example cloud mode with the Payments Terminals API API or SoftPOS). Standalone terminal-only merchants do not need that integration. You can find more guidance in Integrated Airwallex terminals. If you do not have a point-of-sale system, you can use our Standalone Airwallex terminals.

Get started

1. Confirm your use case with Payments use cases and solutions.
2. Contact your Airwallex Account Manager to enable POS payments, register terminals, and obtain SDK or API access as needed.
3. Follow the path that matches your setup, see Compare integration options.

For online checkout options to combine with POS, see Integration options.