Free Lightspeed Retail accounts come with many benefits including a powerful register system, detailed reporting, and unlimited inventory items. Start setting up today to begin running sales and, if you need more functionality, upgrade your account.
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What is a Free Lightspeed Retail Account?
A free Lightspeed Retail account allows you to use the Lightspeed Retail POS in a single location, with a single register, and a single staff member. It includes unlimited inventory, detailed reporting for up to $5,000 in sales each month, and limited access to Lightspeed Pocket. If you are interested in adding additional registers, locations, or staff members, are running more than $5,000 per month in sales, or need access to live support or additional features, upgrade your account from BackOffice or the Retail POS (S-Series) app.
Account Setup
Get started setting up a free Lightspeed Retail account by adding inventory items and customizing receipts in the Retail POS (S-Series) app.
Add Items
Begin by entering the inventory items that will be sold at the register. As you add items, you can customize the details of each one, including the price, cost, tax, and quantity on hand.
At the register, tap ‘Manage Items’ from the Main Menu.
After adding items, create shortcuts to easily access items at the register.
Receipt Setup
Paper, text message (SMS), and email receipts can be customized with your business location and contact information. Follow the steps below to set them up.
At the register, tap ‘Receipt and Tip Settings’ from the Main Menu.
The type of business you run determines the hardware you need. Visit the Lightspeed store to find hardware solutions that fit your business needs.
Retail POS (S-Series) App
Set up the Retail POS (S-Series) app on your iPad or Android device to get started running sales! Learn the basics below.
Download and Activate
Visit our Introduction to the iPad article or our Introduction to Android article to learn how to download and install the Retail POS (S-Series) app. Activate the Retail POS (S-Series) app to link your account with the register.
Open the Retail POS (S-Series) app and tap 'Activate Your Register'.
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Enter your store name and manager code, then tap 'Activate'.
Store Name | Account name with no spaces or punctuation. Manager Code | Can be found in the Staff List or in your welcome email.
(Optional) If prompted, enable push notifications.
Notifications alert you with updates on matters affecting your Lightspeed Retail account, such as when there is a service disruption. Notifications can be disabled at any time from the Settings app on the iPad.
This feature is only available on the Retail POS (S-Series) app for iOS. If not prompted during activation, you may be asked later to enable notifications from the sign in screen after a register shift is closed. Stay tuned as we roll out this feature to everyone.
When your business closes each day, close the register shift in the Retail POS (S-Series) app to end your day. After closing, you can view totals for the shift on the Z report.
Enter the total cash in the drawer and tap 'Close Shift'.
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Run Sales and Process Returns
With the Retail POS (S-Series) app downloaded and set up, you are ready to run sales. Follow the quick guide below to learn how to run sales and process returns.
Run a Sale
Without any frills, here’s how to run a basic sale at the register.
Enter the amount from the customer, and tap 'Calculate Change'.
Tender buttons below ‘Calculate Change’ update based on the sale total if it is over $20. For example, a sale for 28.23 would have the buttons 29.00, 30.00, and 40.00.
The original sale tender is highlighted in red. Sales can only be returned to Credit if originally paid by credit. Credit card returns automatically refund to the card used in the original sale.
If you have problems using the register, visit one of our troubleshooting guides for help. For general questions about using the register, check out our iPad Register FAQ.
Reporting
In addition to the Dashboard that you see when logging into BackOffice, here’s a look at the other reports available to you.
If you have questions about reporting, check out the Reporting FAQ.
Transactions Report
The Transactions Report shows every sale and return from a specified date range and every sale currently saved on the Saved Sales screen of registers with Saved Sales Sync enabled. Filter and sort the table, download customer receipts, and export closed transactions to a spreadsheet for further analysis.
Sales Summary
The Sales Summary email recaps the previous day of sales activity and is automatically sent to the Business Owner each morning.
Inventory Value Report
The Inventory Value Report shows the total overall inventory value and the value, quantity on hand, and cost of specific items for any date. Read the report in BackOffice or print it for a physical copy.
Marketing Dashboard
The Marketing Dashboard displays top customers by number of visits and total purchases, Customer List growth metrics, and the number of times customers click social media links in email receipts. All this to help you identify and target high-value customers.
Stock Item Export
The Stock Items Export allows you to download current inventory as a spreadsheet complete with the names, prices, and other attributes of items.
Customer List Export
Much like the Stock Item Export, the Customer List Export enables you to download the Customer List in spreadsheet format with each customer’s name and contact information.
If you reach a feature that requires a paid subscription, follow the steps below to upgrade from within BackOffice. With a paid subscription, you can view all BackOffice reporting, process credit card transactions, add more registers, employees, and locations to your account, and access additional features.
Upgrading can also be done at the register by purchasing an in-app subscription. Visit our In-App Subscriptions article to learn more.
Click 'Upgrade' on the pop-up that appears for paid features or in the upper-right corner of BackOffice.
