A generic till is built to sell a product at a price and then forget about it. A tanning salon mostly sells future sessions: a package of ten, credit topped up in advance, a gift card bought for someone else. Each of those has to be tracked for months after the sale, per client, across visits and sometimes across salons, and that is exactly what a generic till was not designed to do.
This guide goes through what a tanning salon actually sells, what goes wrong when the till only sees money, how VAT on cards works, and what to check before you choose a till.
What does a tanning salon actually sell at the counter?
On a normal day the counter handles several kinds of sale that look alike on a receipt but behave very differently afterwards:
- A single session, paid and used the same day.
- A session package, for example ten sessions of twenty minutes, paid once and used over many visits.
- A top-up of prepaid credit, spent later and sometimes shared by a family.
- A gift card, bought by one person and used by another, often weeks later.
- Products such as creams and lotions, sold on their own.
Only the first and the last fit the model of a generic till. The other three are balances, and a balance has to be known, checked and reduced correctly at every visit.
Why can a generic till not keep track of session packages?
Ringing up a package of ten sessions is easy. What comes after is not: knowing how many sessions are left, for which client, after every visit. A generic till records the sale and has nothing more to say. The count ends up in a notebook, on a paper card stamped at the counter, or in somebody's memory.
That is where the mistakes start: a session used but not ticked off, a client sure they had two left when the notebook says one. In Solaryx a package is sold as a product and redeemed across future visits, so the remaining sessions are on the client file the moment they check in.
How should prepaid credit and a family wallet work?
Prepaid credit with a bonus on the top-up is a common offer in Belgian tanning salons. It brings money in early and brings the client back. It also creates a balance that must stay visible, correct and spent according to its rules.
In Solaryx, clients top up their prepaid wallet at the till or online and spend it whenever they like, with the balance always visible in their portal. Every top-up extends the validity of the balance already there, and the register reminds the cashier of an unused wallet before payment, so credit is not forgotten while the client pays in cash. Family members can link their wallets to share one balance, which suits a household where several people tan.
Why restrict credit to what it was sold for?
A client who tops up for tanning should not leave with a bottle of cream paid from that credit, especially when the top-up came with a bonus meant for sessions. A generic till only sees money on an account. It cannot tell what that money was bought for.
Solaryx lets you restrict a top-up or a gift card to what it was sold for: solarium sessions only, one service family, or a short list of products. The register applies the restriction on its own, so nobody at the counter has to remember the conditions of each card.
What should a tanning salon expect from its gift cards?
A gift card is sold to one person and used by another, often weeks later. The salon needs a validity date set at the sale, a balance known at every use, and, with more than one salon, a card that works in all of them. In Solaryx:
- Gift cards are issued, sold and redeemed at the till, with a validity period set automatically on sale.
- The balance is tracked across your salons, and a card sold in one salon is redeemed in another.
- The card is handed over printed in your own colours, on A4, A5 or A6, or emailed to the buyer.
- For plastic cards ordered from a printer, the numbers are drawn in one batch and exported, and no number is ever drawn twice.
When is VAT due on a gift card or a top-up?
This is the question a generic till handles worst. A card can be taxed when it is sold, or only when it is spent. If the till taxes the sale and then taxes again what the card buys, you pay VAT twice. If it taxes neither, you pay it on nothing.
In Solaryx, the tax set on a gift card or top-up decides when VAT is paid. Either it is due on the sale of the card, on what the client paid (bonus excluded), and then not again on what the card buys; or it is due only on what the card buys. The choice is locked once a card is sold, refunds go back to the card that paid, and the accounting export lists what expired unused on untaxed cards.
An illustration with round numbers: a client pays € 100 and receives € 115 of credit. When VAT is due on the sale of the card, it is calculated on the € 100 the client paid, not on the € 115 of credit, and nothing more is due when the credit is spent on sessions. Which treatment applies to your cards is a question for your accountant; the software then applies it the same way to every card.
What should you check before choosing a till for a tanning salon?
- Does it show a client's remaining sessions and wallet balance the moment they check in?
- Can a top-up or a gift card be limited to what it was sold for?
- Can family members share one balance?
- Does it decide VAT on cards once, without charging it twice?
- If you change software, can the gift card balances and remaining packages you already sold come with you?
On that last point: when a salon moves to Solaryx, gift card balances and remaining session packages are carried over, so clients lose nothing on the day of the switch.
See how packages, wallets and gift cards work in Solaryx
See how VAT on cards reaches your accountant
Frequently asked questions
Can I sell a monthly unlimited membership with automatic payment?
Not with Solaryx: it does not debit salon clients every month. It sells session packages, prepaid wallets (personal and family), gift cards and loyalty points, all paid in advance at the till or online.
Do gift cards and balances work across all my salons?
Yes. Balances follow the client across your salons: a gift card sold in one salon is redeemed in another, and loyalty points follow the client, not the till.
Are the packages and gift cards sold in my old software lost when I switch?
No. Gift card balances and remaining session packages are carried over, so your clients lose nothing on the day you switch.
Can loyalty points be used at the till?
Yes. Loyalty programmes with points per euro spent, on physical or virtual cards, are redeemed at the till, and payments by cash, card, gift card or loyalty points are tracked per register session for the end-of-day count.