Set up payment connections

Pair your terminal, choose which payment methods it accepts, and take a test payment.

A payment connection is the link between your terminal and one way of paying. Card payments are one connection; each additional payment method your customers can use is another. Turning a connection on is what makes that option appear on the terminal screen at the moment of payment.

Before you start

Your bank account should be linked. If you have not done that yet, start with connect your banking. Verification can still be pending — you can set up connections while you wait.
Your terminal should be switched on, online, and showing its normal idle screen. If it is not, see troubleshooting.
Have the terminal's serial number handy. It is on the label on the back of the device, and usually also under the terminal's own settings or info screen.

Pair the terminal and enable payments

Open your payment settings

In the Citizen Pay Dashboard, go to Settings and choose Payments.

This page lists your terminals and the payment methods available to your business.

Check your terminal is listed

Find your terminal in the list and check the serial number matches the label on the device. A terminal that was activated for you by a partner appears here automatically.

If it is not listed, add it using its serial number. If adding it fails, the terminal has most likely not been activated — contact the partner who supplied it rather than retrying.

Turn on the payment methods you want

Each payment method has its own switch. Turn on the ones your customers use and leave the rest off — anything switched off simply never appears on the terminal.

You can change this at any time, so start with card payments and add the rest once you are up and running.

Push the settings to the terminal

Save your changes, then give the terminal a moment to pick them up. Most terminals collect new settings within a minute or two while they are online.

If nothing changes on the device, restart the terminal. It fetches its settings again when it starts up.

Take a test payment

Ring up the smallest amount you can and pay it yourself with your own card.

Check that the payment goes through on the terminal, that the receipt looks right, and that the transaction appears in transactions in the dashboard. Then refund it from the dashboard so you are not out of pocket.

Repeat this once for each payment method you turned on. It takes a couple of minutes and it is far better to find a problem now than during a queue on a Saturday.

Payment methods

Card payments

Card payments run through the Viva payment terminal linked to your Citizen Pay account, which is what physically reads the card. Contactless, chip and PIN, and phone wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay all arrive over this same connection — they are different ways of presenting a card, not separate connections to switch on.

If your terminal was installed by a partner, the Viva side was set up as part of hardware setup. You do not need to configure it yourself.

What you can control from the dashboard:

Whether card payments are accepted at all
Whether tipping is offered on the terminal
Whether a receipt is printed, emailed, or offered as a choice

Other payment methods

Any additional payment methods your business is enabled for appear alongside card payments in the same settings page, and are turned on with the same switch. Some methods need a little extra information from you before they can be enabled — for example an account with the provider, or an agreement to their terms — and the dashboard tells you what is missing when you try to turn one on.

Good to know

Question	Answer
Does turning a method on cost anything?	Each payment method has its own fee, shown in your Citizen Pay agreement. Turning a method on does not add a fixed charge on its own.
Can I turn a method off again?	Yes, at any time. It disappears from the terminal shortly after you save.
Do different terminals need setting up separately?	Yes. Each terminal has its own set of enabled methods, so you can, for example, offer different options at the counter and at the door.
Where do the payments end up?	All methods pay into the same Citizen Pay balance and go out in the same payouts, regardless of how the customer paid.

Your terminal is now live. Get to know the Citizen Pay Dashboard, where you follow transactions and payouts day to day, and add your staff so they can use it too.

If a payment method is not showing up on the terminal, or a test payment failed, see troubleshooting.