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Support

How can we help?

Email support@strivenindustries.com and we'll get back to you. En español.

The cash register is free. Ring sales, track the drawer, and close with an over/short count without a subscription. Tips, scheduling, guides, supplies, and insights are part of PaidFair Standard.

Getting started

  1. Open the web console at console.paidfair.app (any browser) or the iPhone app, and create your account.
  2. Pick how you'll use it — tips, scheduling, or both.
  3. Add your team, then clock people in when their shift starts.
  4. When the shift ends, count the jar and cash people out — PaidFair does the split.

Subscription & billing

Common questions

How do I set up my shop for the way I run it?

The iPhone app asks a few quick, skippable questions the first time you open it: whether you use tips, scheduling, or the register; how card tips are paid out (cash at shift end, all on payroll, or hybrid) and how you count them (just this shift, or a running terminal total); sales tax and nickel rounding if you ring sales; what time you open (which sets when a new business day starts); and your currency, which follows your region. On the web console you set the same things in Settings. Either way there are sensible defaults, and you can change anything any time — nothing is a one-way door.

How are tips split?

By the minutes each person actually worked, segment by segment. Tips counted at 6pm are only shared among people on the clock during that window — someone who left at 2pm gets nothing from it. Every payout shows its own math. When you count the jar, a “These tips go to” list shows everyone on the clock right now who’ll share that count, so it’s clear where the money lands. Working solo? Count whenever you like to lock in your tips — a teammate who clocks in later shares only the counts taken after they arrive, so no one has to clock out and back in.

What does “set aside” (unallocated) mean?

If you count money for a stretch when nobody who’s on tips was working — a tip dropped in the jar before the first clock-in, or during a gap — PaidFair won’t hand it to someone who wasn’t owed it. It holds that cash as “set aside” instead of dropping it or splitting it wrong, shows it on the day’s total and the pay period, and freezes it at close so the books reconcile: counted = everyone’s shares + set aside. Set the cash aside and handle it however you like.

What happens when someone clocks out at the end of a shift?

Cashing a person out walks through two quick steps so nothing slips by. First you count the jar one last time, so every tip up to that minute is locked into their share before they leave (or tap “jar’s empty” to skip). On that same screen a “Splitting with” list shows who else is on the clock and shares these tips — tap anyone who isn’t on the tip pool (like someone who just clocked in) to drop them. Then PaidFair shows their exact split, lets them jot an end-of-shift note for the manager log, and records the cash they physically take — then they’re clocked out. Staff who clock themselves out from their own phone get a quick confirm with the same “count the jar first” reminder. Nothing is destructive; everything stays editable until you close the pay period.

Does PaidFair process credit cards or move money?

No. It never touches cards and moves no money. The register is a cash-drawer calculator, and settlements just record cash that one person physically handed to another.

Can I get a full end-of-day sales report?

Optionally, yes. Turn on Full day reporting in Register settings (it’s off unless you switch it on). Then, when you close the drawer, you can type the day’s total and card sales straight off your own card terminal or POS. PaidFair turns those two numbers into a day report — cash vs card sales, tips as a percent of sales, and labor hours and cost as a percent of sales — alongside the drawer over/short, and adds them to the CSV export. It’s reporting only: no money moves, nothing is required, and it works the same on the iPhone app and the web console. Don’t use the register? You can enter the same totals straight from Analytics (web) or Insights (app) with Enter day’s sales — so tips % and labor % of sales work whether or not you ring sales. (A future Pro plan will pull those totals automatically instead of you typing them.)

How do supplies and the shopping list work?

Open Supplies and skip the typing: tap Add from a template, pick your kind of shop — coffee shop, bar, restaurant, taco truck, bakery, pizzeria, concession/snack bar, ice cream/froyo, deli/sandwich, or sports bar — and PaidFair drops in a categorized starter list of the things you actually reorder (cups, lids, napkins, beans, flavors, cleaning, propane, and more). Need something specific? Tap Browse all supplies to search the full catalog — hundreds of items across cups, flavors, beverages, liquor, proteins, cleaning, and more — and pick exactly what you want. Trim anything you don’t use, or import more than one. Anyone on the floor flags what’s running low and it becomes the shopping list. Add the store each item comes from and switch to group by supplier to shop — and share — one store’s run at a time (“the Costco run”), and add a quantity like “2 sleeves” plus a brand or note like “Patrón” or “oat not almond” that ride along on the shared list. Same on the iPhone app and the web console.

Is this payroll or tax software?

No. PaidFair is your record of tips and hours. Export the data (CSV or PDF) into whatever payroll or accounting system you already use.

How do I export for QuickBooks, Gusto, or ADP?

Close the pay period, then open the Export menu. You get files shaped for the tool you use:

The two tip columns are the key: Reported Cash Tips is cash the person already took in hand — report it so it's taxed, but don't add it to their check again; Paycheck Tips is what you still owe them on this check (card tips plus any cash they earned but didn't take). Reported + Paycheck = Total, so nothing is double-paid or missed. Entering by hand instead? In QuickBooks and Gusto, put these into the “Cash Tips” and “Paycheck Tips” pay types; in ADP (RUN), Paycheck Tips under your tips earning code and Reported Cash Tips as reported/allocated tips. Regular Hours goes in the hours field; hourly rates already live in your payroll system.

Where is my data?

In your own secure cloud account — encrypted in transit and isolated to your shop, so no other account can read it. It syncs across your devices and the web console, and it's never sold or used for ads. Signed out, the iPhone app also works fully offline on your device.

Can my staff see each other's pay?

No. The employee view shows a person only their own hours and tips.

Can a customer see the tip total on the counter screen?

Only if you leave it showing. On the shared counter, turn on Hide numbers — the ••• menu on the iPhone counter, or the Hide numbers button on the web counter. It hides the tip total, the counts list, staff hours, and team chat so someone glancing at the shared screen can’t read them; your team can still count and clock in. It’s set per device, so it only changes that screen.

How do I back up or move to a new phone?

The simplest backup is an account: with one, your shop lives in the cloud and syncs to any device you sign in on — a lost or replaced phone is never lost data. You can also use Data & backup in the app to export a file you keep anywhere and restore later. Note: when you’re signed in, a restored file comes back as a separate copy on that phone only — it doesn’t sync to your account — so restore is for recovering data from before you signed in.

Do I need an account, or can I just use the app on one phone?

You can run a shop entirely on one phone with no account, which is great for trying it out. But once you have a team, create a free account. Without one, the shop lives only on that phone — nothing is backed up, teammates can’t sign in on their own phones, and the web console can’t see it. With an account, the cloud is the source of truth and everything stays in sync across devices and the console.

I deleted a shop on the console but it’s still on my phone.

When a shop is deleted from your account, a signed-in phone notices on its next sync and shows a “Removed from your account” banner rather than quietly keeping stale data. You choose whether to remove the local copy or keep and re-add it to your account — the phone never wipes a shop on its own.

How do I get my whole team using PaidFair?

In the console (sidebar › Team poster) or the iPhone app (More › Team join poster), customize a poster — headline, instructions, your logo — and print it or save a PDF. Hang it where your team clocks in. When staff scan the QR with their phone camera: on a phone with the app it opens their sign-in; in a browser it lands right on your shop’s counter, where they tap their name and enter their passcode to clock in — no login. (Clocking in on the counter requires a passcode, so set one for each person on the Team screen; anyone without one signs in on their own phone instead.) It’s the fastest way to get everyone on board.

How do notifications work?

Notifications reach you on the iPhone app and, where your browser supports it, on the web console too (Android and desktop browsers, via the installed web app). Allow them when first asked, then choose which kinds you get under More › Notifications (app) or Settings (console): team-board posts, direct messages, a new schedule, changes to your shifts, shift pickups, and — for managers — new tasks and low-supply alerts. Each person controls their own. Not getting them? Check that notifications are allowed for PaidFair in your phone’s Settings, the category is on, and you’re signed in on that phone.

The tips look wrong, or don’t add up to what I counted.

Tap See the math on the person’s row — it breaks the day into segments and shows who shared each count. A wrong figure almost always traces to a missing clock-in/out or someone marked off tips; fix the shift and it recomputes. If the total is short, look for a “Set aside” line: cash counted while no one on tips was working is held rather than split, and the books still reconcile (counted = everyone’s shares + set aside). Counts and shifts stay editable until you close the pay period.

A staff member can’t sign in.

They need to open the invite link you sent from Team access, using the exact email you invited, set a password, then sign in. If it says their login isn’t linked to the team yet, re-invite that email and make sure you picked their name on the roster — that binds the login to them.

Still stuck? Email support@strivenindustries.com — Striven Industries LLC.