Tipping

Tipping lets your guests add a tip when they pay you with Tab. Tips go into a separate tip balance and are paid out to you with your payouts.

Tipping is turned on by default for eligible accounts. You can turn it off at any time in your settings. More payment types are coming soon.

Guests can add a tip when they pay a Bill or a QR code payment.

On the payment page, guests see Add a tip? with these options:

There is no default selection. If the guest doesn't pick an option, no tip is added. The tip and the total update as soon as the guest makes a choice, so they always see exactly what they'll pay.

Tab sets the suggested percentages, and they may vary between payments.

Amounts are automatically chosen to optimise your tip amount and cannot be changed.

If a guest adds a tip, the tip amount will be shown on your normal payment receipt.

After paying, guests who added a tip can leave a short message for your team. If they do, we'll send another email with their message. You'll also see each message next to the tip in your dashboard. This can come through after they’ve paid.

When Tip requests is off, guests won't see the tip options on the payment page. Tips you've already received stay in your tip balance and are paid out as normal.

The Shared tips setting lets you tell guests that all tips are shared between your team. When it's on, guests see the line "All tips are shared between the team." under the tip options on the payment page.

To change it, go to Settings > Tipping, switch Shared tips on or off and click Save tip settings.

This setting only changes what guests see. Tab doesn't split or send tips to individual staff members. Tips are paid to your business bank account with your payout.

If you switch this on, we expect you to share the tips with your team. Misusing this option may lead to tips being turned off on your account.

Tab's usual fees apply to tips, just like any other payment. Your standard Tab fee is deducted from each tip before it's added to your tip balance, and guests pay their usual Tab fee on the tip too.

You can see this on each payment's detail page, under Fees & Refunds:

Home and Balances: Your Tip balance is shown in its own box, separate from your available balance. On the Home page you can also see the tips you've received in the last 30 days.

Tipping page: Click Tipping in the menu to see every payment that included a tip, with the payment amount, the tip, the tip percentage and the guest's message. You can filter by date and download the list as a CSV.

Account Statement: Go to Reports > Account Statement. The summary includes a Tip Balance column, and there's a Tips section listing each tip with its fee and message. The Payouts section shows how much of each payout was tips.

Receipts: When a guest adds a tip, it's included on the guest's receipt and on your payment receipt email.

Tips are added to your tip balance as soon as the payment is complete. They aren't held.

Your tip balance is paid out together with your regular payouts:

Manual payouts: If you request a manual payout, we pay it from your available balance first. If you ask for more than your available balance, the rest comes from your tip balance, up to the total of both. To find out how to request one, see How can I request a manual payout?

For more on payout timing, see How do payouts work?

If you refund a payment that included a tip, the tip is refunded in proportion to the refund. For example, if you refund half of the payment, half of the tip is refunded too.

If refunds make your tip balance negative, we won't take it out of your available balance. Your payment balance is paid out as normal, and the negative tip balance is covered by future tips.

If you have any questions about Tipping, get in touch!