The short answer
Most processor portals and POS systems keep reports that go well beyond deposits. Once a month, read five: sales by hour and day, average sale amount over time, how customers paid (tap, chip, keyed or online), refunds and voids by employee or terminal, and declined transactions. Together they help with staffing, spot unusual refund patterns early, and explain why your effective rate moves, because keyed and online payments usually cost more than tapped or dipped ones. Fifteen minutes a month is enough to find questions worth asking.
Why reports are worth fifteen minutes
A processing statement tells you what you paid. The reports behind it tell you how your business is running. Many processor portals and POS systems can show sales by time, by payment type, by employee and by terminal, and most owners never open them beyond checking deposits. Set a monthly reminder, open the same few reports each time, and compare with the month before. Report names differ by provider, so if you cannot find one of the reports below, ask your provider where it lives.
Sales by hour and day of the week
This shows when customers actually buy. Use it to schedule staff for real peaks rather than guesses, to plan breaks, and to choose quiet hours for training or maintenance. If you are open long hours, it can also show which hours bring in very little. Look for changes month to month: a lunch rush that moves later or a weekend that shrinks is easier to act on when you see it early.
Average sale amount over time
Average sale, sometimes called average ticket, is total card sales divided by the number of card transactions. Watch the trend. A falling average with steady visits can point to smaller baskets; a rising one can follow a price change or a new product. Average sale also matters to your fees, because fixed per-transaction charges weigh more on small sales than on large ones.
How sale size affects what you pay: Effective rate: how to calculate what you really pay
How customers pay: tap, chip, keyed or online
An entry method report splits sales by how the card was read. Tapped and dipped payments are card-present. Keyed payments and online orders are card-not-present and usually carry higher interchange, so a rising share of keyed sales can raise your effective rate even when your pricing has not changed. If keyed sales grow, find out why: a broken reader, staff habits, or phone orders that could move to a payment link or the terminal.
Bring keyed payments down: Keyed-in card payments: what to check
Refunds and voids by employee or terminal
This is the report most worth reading for loss prevention. Look for refunds with no matching sale, many small refunds from one login, refunds to a card different from the one used to pay, or one terminal with far more voids than the others. None of these proves anything on its own, but each is worth a question the same week. Pair the report with a manager approval rule for refunds on your terminals.
Set the controls too: Card terminal security settings to check
Declines, batches and deposits
A decline report shows how many payments failed and the reason codes. A cluster of declines at one terminal or one hour can point to a connection problem rather than customers' cards. Then tie batches to deposits: each day's batch total, less fees if your provider deducts them daily, should match what reaches your bank. A gap that repeats deserves a call to your provider.
Step by step: Reconciling card deposits without losing an afternoon
What changes for small, mid-size and enterprise businesses
A small business can read these reports in one sitting each month from a single portal, starting with sales by hour and refunds by employee. A mid-size business with several registers or staff logins should add the employee and terminal views every week and keep a short note of anything it questioned. Multi-location and enterprise operations need the same reports for every site in one place, so locations can be compared on average sale, payment method mix, refunds and declines. Ask your provider whether reports can be grouped across merchant IDs and exported, so finance can track the numbers without logging into each account.
For groups with several sites: Effective rate by location and card type
Get help reading yours
CELER Merchants is an independent agent, not a processor. If you cannot find or understand the reports you have, send us a recent statement and tell us which system you use. We will point out the reports worth opening and give you a plain-English read of your fees. The review is free and there is no obligation.
Key takeaways
- Sales by hour and day help you staff the busy times
- Average sale amount shows changes before total sales do
- Payment method mix explains part of your effective rate
- Refunds and voids by employee are a fraud early warning
- Declines and deposits should be checked against the statement
Related guides
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