Markdown for agents
---
title: "Running a customer tab in a retail shop: credit limits, collections and the old notebook"
description: "A customer tab lets regulars take goods now and pay later. Here is how to decide who gets one, set a limit, handle a sale that goes over it, record part payments and move the paper credit book into your POS."
canonical: "https://sandooq.app/blog/customer-tab-retail-shop"
locale: "en"
updated: "2026-10-08T00:00:00.000Z"
---
# Running a customer tab in a retail shop: credit limits, collections and the old notebook
A customer tab lets regulars take goods now and pay later. Here is how to decide who gets one, set a limit, handle a sale that goes over it, record part payments and move the paper credit book into your POS.
**Tags:** operations, customers, credit, cash, retail
A customer tab is an informal credit account a shop keeps for its regular customers: they take goods now and settle later, while the shop keeps a running record of what each one owes. Running tabs well covers who is given one, how high each tab may go, and how every repayment is recorded.
This guide is from the team behind [Sandooq App, the POS for MENA retail](/). It follows a neighbourhood shop from the paper credit book to a tab kept at the till, including the step most shops skip: carrying the notebook's balances across on day one.
*Updated for 2026. Last reviewed October 2026.*
## Which shops run tabs, and who should get one
Tabs belong to shops with regulars: the grocery where a family buys bread and milk every morning, the pharmacy that knows a monthly prescription, the hardware shop supplying a long renovation, the stationery shop by a school. The customer returns often enough that "pay me at the end of the month" feels normal.
A tab is a loan without paperwork, so grant it the way you would lend money:
- **You know the customer.** A name you recognise, not a first-time visitor.
- **You have seen how they pay.** Several cash visits first, then a small tab.
- **You can reach them.** A working phone number on the account before the first sale goes on it.
- **The first limit is small.** Raising a limit later is easy. Lowering one is a hard conversation.
Give a tab **per customer, not per family**. When a son, a wife or a driver will also charge to it, write down who may. A tab that "the whole house" can use is the one that ends in an argument about who bought what.
Before choosing software for this, check that it handles [accounts receivable and opening balances in the POS](/features) at the till itself, not as an export to a separate accounting tool.
## What a paper credit book gets wrong
Buying everyday goods on credit is common. The World Bank's Global Findex 2025 report, based on 2024 survey data, found that **22% of adults in low- and middle-income economies** have bought groceries on credit. In South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa the share was **40%**.
The same report found that only 40% of borrowers in those economies borrow formally, from a bank, a credit card or a mobile money account. When the lender is a shop, its own book is the only record of the debt. The notebook works until the shop is busy. Then four problems appear:
- **No running balance.** The total a customer owes is added up by hand, so a dispute comes down to whose handwriting wins.
- **No limit.** Nothing on the page stops a tab from growing. The only ceiling is the owner's memory, and the owner is not always at the counter.
- **Payments float free.** "Paid 50" goes on a new line without saying which purchases it settled, so nobody can tell how old the remaining debt is.
- **Credit blurs into the cash count.** Money collected on old tabs sits in the drawer beside today's sales, while goods that left on credit are not in it at all.
| Question | Paper credit book | Tab kept in the POS |
|---|---|---|
| What does this customer owe right now? | Add up the page by hand | Shown on the customer's account |
| Is there a ceiling? | Only in the owner's head | A limit per customer, checked at each sale on account |
| Which purchases did a payment settle? | Usually not written down | The payment is matched to the unpaid sales it covers |
| Who is overdue, and by how long? | Flip back through the pages | Grouped by age in a report |
| Credit at closing time | Mixed into the cash count | Separate lines on the day's report |
## Setting a tab up: limit, payment terms and the over-limit rule
In Sandooq App, a tab starts on the customer's record in the back office. You switch on credit for that customer, enter a credit limit and set payment terms in days. The store also needs the on-account payment method turned on.
At the till, a sale can go on account only once a customer is attached to it. The cashier charges it to the account, and no cash is taken for that part of the sale.
**One limit, in the main currency.** Each customer has one enforced limit, held in your store's main currency. At every sale on account, the till compares it with what the customer already owes and shows the credit still available.
A shop that takes two currencies still judges every tab against that one main-currency figure. That matters when [running two currencies at one Lebanese counter](/pos-system/lebanon), where a customer may pay in either.
**The over-limit rule.** A sale on account that would take a customer past their limit is refused unless a manager approves it with their PIN. A store that has turned manager approvals off allows the charge without one.
Either way, the charge is written to the audit log as a credit-limit override, with the customer and how far over the limit it went. Our guide to [manager approval thresholds for cashiers](/blog/staff-shifts-pos-permissions) covers which other actions should need a manager.
**Choosing the limit.** Start from what the customer already spends between settlements, not from what they ask for, and set terms you will actually chase. Customer accounts come with every paid plan; check [which paid plans include customer accounts](/pricing) before you move the whole notebook.
> Book a guided walkthrough for your store: [walk through your credit book with our team](/contact) and see how your regulars' limits and terms would look on day one.
## Collecting what's owed: part payments, the day report and the aging list
When a customer comes in to pay, the cashier opens the collection screen at the till and finds them. Their unpaid sales on account are listed with due dates, and overdue ones show how many days late they are. The cashier ticks the sales being settled and takes the money.
- **Part payments are normal.** A customer can pay any amount up to what they owe. The payment is spread across the ticked sales, oldest first.
- **The day report keeps credit apart.** It shows **credit given** (new debt) and **credit collected** (debt paid) as separate lines, so a customer paying off last month never looks like a sale today.
- **A mistaken collection is voided, not erased.** Voiding keeps the original record for audit and adds a reversing entry.
That separation keeps the end of the day honest: the drawer is checked against the cash that should be there, and the tabs against their own lines. Our guide to the [end-of-shift drawer count and blind close](/blog/cash-management-retail-store) covers the count itself.
**Reading the aging list.** The back office has an aging report that groups each customer's open balance by lateness: not yet due, 1–30 days, 31–60 days, 61–90 days and over 90 days. It exports to CSV.
In accounting, an aging schedule classes debts of a given age by risk. Spend your phone calls on the over-90 column first.
**Writing off a dead balance.** When a balance will not be paid, write off that sale on account from the back office instead of leaving it open. It is recorded as bad debt, and your open balances go back to showing money you can collect.
> Contact our team to discuss your store's needs: [talk the setup over with us](/contact), from limits and terms to how the day report reads.
## Moving the notebook's balances in on day one
Moving a credit book is where balances get lost or entered twice. Do it in this order:
1. **Set up the customers first.** Create each regular with a phone number, credit switch, limit and terms. A customer CSV import can bring in the credit switch, limit and payment terms. It does **not** bring in balances.
2. **Carry each balance in once,** through the dedicated old-balance entry at the till in Sandooq App. A cashier needs a manager PIN unless manager approvals are turned off. The amount is recorded as money owed, **not as revenue and not as a sale**. Nothing is collected at that step, and every entry goes to the audit log.
3. **Collect it like any other tab.** The old balance then appears in the customer's list of open items, and payments against it use the same collection screen and day-report line.
4. **Close the notebook.** Draw a line under the last entry, date it and keep the book. Ask each customer to confirm their balance on their next visit, before the first new sale goes on account.
Enter balances in your main currency, the one the limit is held in. If your notebook kept dollar and local-currency columns, convert each balance at one written-down rate before entering it.
## Frequently asked questions
### What is the difference between a customer tab and store credit?
They run in opposite directions. On a tab, the customer owes the shop: they took goods and will pay later. With store credit, the shop owes the customer, usually after a return or a prepaid card.
Keep the two in separate records so a refund never quietly cancels a debt. Our guide to [money the shop owes the customer: gift cards and store credit](/blog/gift-cards-store-credit-retail) covers the other side.
### How do I decide how much credit to give a regular customer?
Start from what the customer already buys between settlements, not from what they ask for. A household that settles monthly builds up about a month of its spending before each payment, so a lower limit blocks it mid-month.
Begin lower than you think, raise it only after a few on-time settlements, and review every limit when a customer starts paying late. Write the limit down so every cashier applies the same figure.
### Can a cashier let a customer go over their credit limit?
Not alone, if the till is set up that way. In Sandooq App, a sale on account that would take a customer past their limit is refused unless a manager approves it with their PIN.
A store that has turned manager approvals off allows the charge without one. In both cases the charge is written to the audit log as a credit-limit override, with the customer and how far over the limit it went.
### How do I bring balances from my paper notebook into a POS?
Enter each customer's balance once, as an opening amount they owe, never as a sale. In Sandooq App this is a dedicated old-balance entry at the till.
A cashier needs a manager PIN unless approvals are turned off, the amount becomes a receivable rather than revenue, and nothing is collected at that step. Customer CSV imports carry credit settings but not balances, so balances are entered one by one.
### What should I do with a tab that will never be paid?
First make sure it is really lost: call the customer, offer smaller regular payments and give it time. If it is still unpaid, write it off rather than leaving it open, so your balances show only money you can collect.
In Sandooq App a balance is written off from the back office, where it is recorded as bad debt. Ask your accountant how write-offs should be treated for your business.
## Related reading at Sandooq App
Sandooq App is an all-in-one POS with inventory, CRM and analytics, with no add-ons required. For how it fits a single shop or a small chain, see our [POS setup for independent retail shops](/use-cases/retail).
- [Cash management routines for opening, mid-shift and closing](/blog/cash-management-retail-store)
- [Staff shifts, permissions and accountability](/blog/staff-shifts-pos-permissions)
- [Gift cards and store credit: balances the shop owes](/blog/gift-cards-store-credit-retail)
- [POS system guide for Lebanon](/pos-system/lebanon)
- [Features overview](/features)
- [Plans and pricing](/pricing)
> Get started with Sandooq today: [see the plans](/pricing) and move your credit book onto the till.
## Authoritative sources
- Share of adults who bought groceries on credit (22% in low- and middle-income economies; 40% in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa) and share of borrowers who borrow formally (40%), 2024 survey data: World Bank, [The Global Findex Database 2025](https://hdl.handle.net/10986/43438), chapter 4.1 (p. 216) and chapter 3.2
- Aging schedules classify debts of a certain age by risk; a write-off moves the balance to bad debt: [Accounts receivable (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounts_receivable)