A point of sale for small shops in Lebanon

2026-10-05 · 7 min read

Note: the Mahallat point of sale is coming soon and is not available yet. The advice below works with any till. Today, Mahallat lets you record the sales you make in your shop so your stock and numbers stay right; the last two sections say what is coming and what you can do now.

A point of sale for a small shop in Lebanon has four jobs: find the item fast, take dollars, lira or Whish, give the right change, and tell you at closing time whether the drawer is right. You do not need expensive hardware for any of it. A phone or a tablet, an ordinary barcode scanner and a small receipt printer are enough for most counters.

This guide walks through each part, with the habits that keep a two-currency till honest, whatever system you use.

What a small shop needs from a till

Before comparing systems, write down what happens at your counter on a normal day. For most Lebanese shops, the list looks like this:

Ring up items quickly, by scanning or by searching a name.
Take payment in several ways: dollars, lira, Whish, sometimes a card machine, often a mix of two.
Give change in dollars, in lira or both, at a rate everyone agrees on.
Know who sold what, when more than one person works the counter.
Close the day with a count that matches what the system expects, per currency.
Keep one stock, so the last piece sold in the shop is not also sold on Instagram.

If a system cannot do the third and fifth points with two currencies, it was not built for a Lebanese counter.

Do you need special hardware?

Usually not. A modern point of sale runs in a web browser, so the device you already own is the register.

A phone or tablet for a small counter, or a laptop if you already have one there.
The phone's camera can read most barcodes. It is fine for a few sales an hour.
A USB or Bluetooth barcode scanner is faster for a busy counter. Most scanners act like a keyboard: they "type" the code and press Enter, so they work without drivers.
A receipt printer (58 or 80 mm paper) is optional. Many customers prefer a receipt on WhatsApp or by email.
A cash drawer is just a box with compartments. Keep dollars and lira in separate trays.

Buy the scanner and printer after a week of selling, once you know whether the camera and digital receipts are enough.

Barcodes: scan what has one, label what does not

Most packaged products already carry a barcode (EAN or UPC). Record it on each product, or on each variant if sizes and colours have their own codes, and scanning just works.

For products without a barcode (handmade items, clothes from a local workshop, items you pack yourself), give them your own in-store codes and print labels. Keep a short reference code (SKU) as well: it is easier to type than a long barcode when a label falls off.

Dollars and lira at the same till

Price everything in US dollars and set one exchange rate for the shop. Write it where customers can see it, and update it on a schedule you can keep. Our guide to pricing in dollars and lira covers how to choose and display that rate.

At the counter, three situations come up every day:

The customer pays in dollars and gets change in dollars. Simple.
The customer pays in dollars and gets change in lira, because you have no small notes. The lira leaves your LBP tray, even though the sale was in dollars.
The customer pays part in dollars and part in lira, or part in cash and part by Whish. The till should accept the mix and make sure the parts add up exactly to the total.

Round lira change to a step you can actually hand over, such as the nearest 5,000 LBP, and tell your cashiers which step you use. Arguing over a few thousand lira at the counter costs more than it saves.

Why each currency needs its own drawer

A single "cash" total hides mistakes. If the day ends with an extra $10 and 900,000 LBP missing, a combined total at your rate might look almost right. Counted separately, the problem is obvious.

So treat dollars and lira as two drawers, even if they share one box:

Open the shift with a float in each currency, for example $50 and 2,000,000 LBP in small notes.
Record every cash movement that is not a sale: money taken out to pay a supplier, change brought from the bank, a cash refund. Each one in its currency, with a reason.
Count each currency at closing, and compare with what the system expects.

Opening and closing a shift

A shift is the period one register is open, from the morning float to the evening count. A simple routine:

Open: count the float in each currency and enter it.
During the day: sell, record cash in and out with a reason, and check an X report (the shift so far) whenever you want a look.
Close: count dollars and lira, enter both, and print or save the Z report.
Look at the difference for each currency. A small difference happens. The same difference every day is a pattern worth a conversation.
Take the cash out and start the next shift with the agreed float.

The Z report is your record of the day: the number of sales, totals by payment method, discounts, refunds, cash in and out, and the expected and counted cash in each currency. Keep every one.

Cashiers and PINs

When more than one person sells, each needs their own way in. A short personal PIN is enough, and every sale records who made it. It is not about suspicion: when a customer comes back with a question, you know who to ask. Decide in advance who may give a discount, how large, and who may accept a return.

When the internet drops

Connections cut out and generators switch over, often at the busiest moment of the day. A good web till keeps the products on the device and keeps selling during a cut: sales are saved on the phone or tablet and sent when the connection comes back, each one recorded once. One honest limit applies: the register page must already be open when the connection drops. You cannot load it for the first time without internet. Open the till in the morning and leave it open.

Returns and refunds at the counter

Find the original sale by its receipt number, pick the items coming back, and choose how you refund: cash in dollars, cash in lira, Whish, or store credit. Decide whether the items go back into stock or aside as damaged. A cash refund leaves the drawer in its currency, so your Z report still balances.

The Mahallat point of sale: coming soon

The Mahallat point of sale is not available yet. We are building it, in the same system as your online store, and it will run in the browser on a phone, tablet or laptop. Here is what it is being built to do:

Scanning: with the phone's camera, or any USB or Bluetooth scanner that types the code, and barcode labels for products that have none.
Payments: USD cash, LBP cash and Whish, or a split between them, with change worked out at your store rate in dollars, lira or both.
Shifts: open with a float in USD and LBP, record cash in and out with a reason, and close with a Z report that balances each currency on its own.
Cashiers: each person switches in with a PIN, and each sale records who made it.
Receipts: printed on a receipt printer, or sent on WhatsApp from your phone with the receipt link ready to go.
Offline: an open till keeps selling during a cut and syncs each sale once when the connection is back.

What you can do today

Until the point of sale is ready, record the sales you make in your shop with Create order. Sold something at the counter? Record it in seconds: pick the products, the quantity and how the customer paid (USD cash, LBP cash or Whish), done. Stock updates everywhere, so the last piece sold in the shop is no longer for sale online, and your analytics show online and in-store sales side by side. Every product can carry its barcode and SKU, so your codes are ready when scanning arrives.

Every new store starts with a 14-day free trial, no card needed. See the point of sale, coming soon, inventory and pricing.

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