Payments methods and payment types work together to create an organized system for you to manage your cash flow. Payment methods are your customer-facing payment options for paying for their orders in the POS, while payment types are the behind-the-scenes processor or integration.
When creating a payment method, you must assign a payment type. Once a payment type is selected, the appropriate fields will appear, allowing you to input any necessary information to manage integrations, settings, or reporting.
For example, if you use an integrated third-party credit card processor, you might create a payment method named Credit card. You can then select your specific credit card processor as the payment method’s type. This way, whenever you settle an order with the Credit card payment option, Lightspeed Restaurant knows to communicate with your chosen processor.
If you’re using a third-party processor or integration for payments, make sure to have the account set up first and any hardware connected before setting up the payment method.
Integrated payment types
Integrated payment types include integrations and payment processors that communicate sales and payment data directly to Lightspeed Restaurant. These include supported credit card processors, property management systems, and digital restaurant passes.
Lightspeed Payments
Once you have been approved for Lightspeed Payments, we will make the Lightspeed Payments payment method available for you to use. The information here will be automatically populated for you to ensure a seamless connection between your Lightspeed Restaurant account and your Lightspeed Payments account.
Some optional features with Lightspeed Payments, such as manual entry and Tap to Pay on iPhone will require you to enable the designated payment type through the Back Office. For more information, read our article Configuring Lightspeed Payments.
Property management systems (PMS)
Property management systems (PMS) are programs that facilitate your hotel’s reservations, administrative tasks and operations. Lightspeed has partnered with a variety of third-party PMS providers, allowing you to manage your customer’s dining experience alongside their accommodations. See our section on how to set up your property management system integration for more information.
Third-party payment processors
A third-party integrated payment processor is one that communicates with your POS system to process payments and complete transactions. Your transactions are recorded automatically in your POS system, removing the need for manual entry. These integrations most commonly include third-party credit card processors.
Other payment method
This payment type covers all payment methods you might encounter that do not fall into an easily described category. This payment type can be used to cover a wide variety of payment methods, such as personal checks or business-specific vouchers. By default, these payment methods can be either integrated or non-integrated. To integrate an application, you will need to enter the API key provided by one of our supported partners.
Non-integrated payment types
Non-integrated payment types cover those that do not communicate with your POS or that need to be input manually. For these payment types, transaction data must be manually input and confirmed by the cashier.
Credit card
Use this option for a non-integrated payment terminal. This allows the user to indicate that a check was paid by credit card using an external device that doesn’t communicate directly with Lightspeed Restaurant.
When using this option, servers will manually enter the payment amount on the terminal, run the customer’s card, and record that the check was paid using this payment method on your POS.
Other payment method
This payment type covers all payment methods you might encounter that do not fall into an easily described category. This payment type can be used to cover a wide variety of payment methods, such as personal checks or business specific vouchers.