Salon POS System
for Beauty Businesses.

Here is how that works on a TimeWorks salon POS system. A booked appointment opens at the till with its services and the assigned stylist or therapist already on the bill, so checkout is a confirmation rather than a re-entry, and the client can add a product or settle a package balance in the same transaction. You set commission rates per service category for each staff member, and the system works out what each one earned on every completed treatment; month-end reports show each person's service revenue, retail sales and commission. Commission-only, salary-plus-commission and hourly-plus-retail-commission arrangements are all supported. Retail products come off stock as they sell, with a reorder alert when a line runs low, and colour used at the basin can be recorded as back-bar stock, separate from retail sales.

A POS is not the only software a salon runs. Salon booking and management software covers the online diary, client reminders and marketing, while a POS covers the money and the stock at the front desk. Many salons run both. A smaller salon, nail bar or spa can run its appointment book, billing, commission and retail from the POS alone. If you are not sure which fits, book a demo and bring your service menu and your commission rules.

Deposits and cancellation fees in South Africa follow the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008. Under section 17, a client has the right to cancel any advance booking. A business that accepts a booking for a later date may ask for a reasonable deposit in advance and may charge a reasonable fee for a cancellation. Whether a fee is reasonable depends on the service booked, how much notice the client gave, whether you could reasonably fill the slot, and the general practice of the industry. You may not charge any cancellation fee if the client cannot keep the booking because of the death or hospitalisation of the person it was for. On TimeWorks, a deposit taken at booking is recorded against the appointment and applied to the final bill, and if your policy keeps the deposit after a late cancellation, the revenue is recorded correctly in your reports.

Gift vouchers have their own rule. Under section 63 of the same Act, a prepaid voucher, card or credit does not expire until its full value has been used or three years after the date it was issued, whichever comes first, unless you agree to a longer period. So if you set an expiry date on vouchers in the POS, set it at least three years after issue. Each voucher carries a reference number, and a partly used voucher keeps its remaining balance for the next visit.

Client records are personal information, so the Protection of Personal Information Act, section 19, says you must take appropriate, reasonable technical and organisational measures to prevent their loss, damage or unauthorised access. Allergy and skin-sensitivity notes go further: they are information about a client's health, which section 26 says you may not process except as section 27 allows, and the client's consent is one of the grounds it lists. Ask before you record it. On TimeWorks, client profiles sit on your own local SQL database, and access is set by staff role, so reception sees bookings and payments while management sees the full history. If you send rebooking reminders or promotions by SMS or email, section 69 allows electronic direct marketing only to people who have consented or who are already your customers.

The front desk needs the right hardware. A commercial touch screen terminal is built for continuous high-traffic use; the Toshiba TCx terminals we install cost R12,995 to R24,995 excluding VAT to buy. Card payments go through an Ingenico or Verifone card machine linked to the till, so the amount moves across without retyping; it takes chip, contactless and QR payments and works with Nedbank, FNB, ABSA and Standard Bank. New hardware carries the full manufacturer warranty.

VAT and power are the South African part of the job. SARS levies VAT at the standard rate of 15%, and from 1 April 2026 the compulsory VAT registration threshold rose from R1 million to R2.3 million, which matters to a small salon deciding when to register. Eskom ended winter 2025 with 26 hours of load shedding across four evenings, supplying electricity 97% of the time. TimeWorks runs on a local SQL database, so billing, voucher redemptions and cash sales carry on when the internet drops. Offline mode does not supply power, so a UPS battery backup sized to your hardware keeps the front desk running through an outage.

Finally, cost. POS software on its own is R350 per month excluding VAT for the Cloud-Based Entry POS, for up to two users with basic sales tracking, or R500 per month excluding VAT for the Full Business Solution, which adds advanced stock control, debtors and creditors management and unlimited users. Both are on our POS software plans page. Rent the complete front desk setup from R995 per month excluding VAT, month to month, with the hardware, software and support included; daily rental is contact for pricing. Running a gym or fitness studio as well? Our gym and fitness POS handles memberships and class packs on the same kind of setup.