GivebearHow offline payments work
What a kiosk can and cannot do when its internet connection drops, and why.
Internet at events is rarely perfect. A donation kiosk is built to ride out a brief drop without turning donors away. This page explains how that works, what stays safe, and where the real limits are.
The short version
When a kiosk loses its connection, it can keep taking one-time tap-to-pay gifts. It saves each one on the device, then sends them to Stripe automatically once the connection returns. Donors do not see an error, and you do not lose the gift.
Offline mode is a safety net for short outages. It is not a way to run a kiosk that has never been connected, and it is not a substitute for a working setup. For first-time setup, see Set up and pair a kiosk.
What happens during an outage
The card reader and the tap itself happen on the device, so they keep working without internet. Here is the normal flow:
The kiosk notices it is offline and switches to offline mode on its own.
A donor taps a card for a one-time gift. The kiosk accepts it and shows a "saved" confirmation instead of the usual "received" one.
The kiosk holds the saved gift on the device until the connection returns.
Once back online, the kiosk forwards each saved gift to Stripe automatically. No staff action is needed.
After gifts forward and settle, they appear in your dashboard and donors get their receipts. Review them under Donations and finance.
What works offline, and what does not
Only one-time card-present donations can be saved offline. Anything that needs the server to confirm a record requires a live connection.
| Works offline | Needs a connection |
|---|---|
| One-time tap-to-pay donations | Recurring donations |
| Event ticket purchases | |
| Membership sign-ups |
If a donor tries a recurring gift, a ticket, or a membership while the kiosk is offline, the kiosk shows a message that a connection is required. The donor can try again once the kiosk is back online.
The limits that protect you
A kiosk will not store unlimited offline gifts. The app enforces clear guardrails:
- A single offline gift can be up to $10,000. A larger amount is refused on the spot.
- Once a device is holding around $5,000 in saved gifts, or about 50 saved gifts, it stops taking new offline gifts until it reconnects.
These limits keep unconfirmed risk small and push the kiosk back online before too much piles up.
Why a saved gift is not yet a finished gift
A card is not checked against the bank at the moment of an offline tap. The check happens later, when the kiosk forwards the saved gift to Stripe.
A saved offline gift can still be declined when it reaches Stripe. Do not tell a donor the gift is complete, and do not promise a receipt, until it has settled and appears in your dashboard.
In practice most offline taps go through fine. But the safe message to a donor is simple: the kiosk accepted the tap, and you will confirm the gift after the kiosk reconnects.
What you can see in the dashboard
Open the device list under Kiosks and devices. Each kiosk shows whether it is online or offline and the state of its card reader.
The count of saved-but-not-yet-forwarded gifts lives on the kiosk screen itself, not in the dashboard. So if a kiosk has been offline, glance at the device in person, then confirm the gifts landed under Donations and finance after it reconnects.
What matters during an outage
Two things keep saved gifts safe. The kiosk has to stay powered on, because it can only forward saved gifts while it is running. And the connection has to come back, because reconnecting is what forwards the saved gifts and frees the device to keep accepting offline taps. The sooner internet returns, the less unconfirmed risk sits on the device.
The safest thing to tell a donor is only what you know: the tap was accepted, and the gift will be confirmed once the kiosk is back online. Once the connection returns, Donations and finance is where you confirm the saved gifts came through.
Givebear's per-gift fees are the same whether a gift is taken online or saved offline. See pricing for the current rates.