Staff PINs, refunds and voids: setting up till controls on the Servatto Register
11 November 2026
Most cafés never think about till permissions until something goes wrong: a refund nobody remembers giving, or a bill that vanished after the kitchen made it. What helps is each person on their own PIN, a clear line on what needs a manager, and a record of who did what.
Here's how that works on the Servatto Register, and how to set it up in about ten minutes.
Everyone gets their own PIN
Staff are added in the Back Office, under Team → People, not on the till. Each person gets a 4 to 8 digit PIN, a role (staff or manager), and the shops they work at. Two active people at the same business can't share a PIN. If you'd rather not invent one, Generate PIN picks a random four-digit PIN that nobody else uses and that isn't an obvious one like 1234 or 1111.
On the till there's no OK button. You type your PIN and it signs you in as soon as the digits match someone. Half a PIN never counts as a wrong try. Five wrong PINs in a row lock the keypad for 30 seconds, and the wait doubles with each further miss, up to five minutes.
Owners and managers can look up a PIN in the Back Office when someone forgets. It shows for 30 seconds, and each look is recorded. Owners can also get a security notice by email and on the Manager app when a PIN is created, changed or looked at (choose which notices you get under Settings → Security).
Decide who can do what
A manager can do everything on the till. Staff can ring up sales, and only get the extras you tick for them:
- Give discounts
- Refund sales
- Void items and orders
- Open the cash drawer / pay in and out (on by default)
- Close out the drawer
- See sales on the Register
- Fix their own clock-ins
If several people should have the same set, make a permission group and put them in it. Change the group and everyone in it changes too.
When someone tries something they're not allowed to do, the till doesn't just say no. It opens a manager PIN box with the reason ("Refund A012 — ask a manager"), and a manager types their PIN there and then.
Refunds: a limit that needs a manager
Under Settings → Register locking & refunds there's a box: Refunds over this need a manager's PIN. It's off until you fill it in.
Once you set it, say at $30, any refund over $30 needs a manager, even from someone who has the Refund permission. Earlier refunds on the same sale count towards it, so a $60 refund can't be done as two $30 halves. The till shows the limit under the amount, and the button changes to "Refund $X · manager PIN". The manager's PIN pad opens inside the refund, keeping the items, amount and reason already chosen.
The limit is checked by Servatto's server as well as the till, so an old till that skips the check still gets stopped.
Refund alerts
On the same page are two alerts, both off until you set them:
- Alert me on any single refund over an amount
- Alert me when refunds today pass an amount, once per shop per trading day
Alerts arrive by email and on the Manager app. You'll also hear if a refund over the manager limit went through without a manager, which can happen when a card terminal refunds before the till has checked in.
Voids need a reason
Once the kitchen has a bill, or it's a saved tab or phone order, clearing it is a void, not a quiet delete. The till asks for a reason (Customer left, Wrong order, Duplicate or Staff error), records it with the staff member's name, and needs the void permission or a manager. Taking a single item off something already sent tells the kitchen too. A bill with part of it already paid can't be voided by mistake.
Manager approval needs internet
This is the trade-off to know about. Staff can still sign in, sell for cash and clock in when the internet drops. But the till can't approve manager actions by itself. Refunds, voids, closing the drawer, pay in/out and most of Settings wait until it's back online, and the till says "Manager approval needs internet". A manager can still reach Settings → Hardware offline to sort out a printer.
A ten-minute setup
- Add everyone under Team → People, each with their own PIN. Use Generate PIN if you like.
- Make at least one person a Manager.
- Tick refunds and voids only for people you trust with them, or use a permission group.
- Set a refund limit and a single-refund alert that suit your café.
- On the same page, have the till lock when idle (five minutes by default) so nobody sells under someone else's name.
- Tell the team that manager approvals need the internet.
Staff, PINs and refund settings are in the Back Office at app.servatto.com. The Register has no monthly fee. Questions: [email protected].
Servatto publishes this post and sells the software described in it.