Your point of sale is the final step in the shopper journey. Especially during peak season, speed and reliability are key to a great shopper experience. To prepare for a successful peak season, this page addresses:
- Reviewing the payment methods, hardware components, and software versions you need.
- Handling network outages through offline payments and cellular failover.
- Using the correct regional endpoints if you have a Terminal API integration with cloud communications.
Payment methods
We recommend offering shoppers a mix of local and global payment methods for a good and fast shopper experience. However, we do not recommend adding new payment methods right before peak season, because you need time for testing.
We do recommend to review your payment methods and look for the following:
- Check if there are deactivated payment methods that are worth reactivating.
- Check which of your payment methods, including prepaid and gift cards, support referenced refunds, unreferenced refunds, or chargebacks. Consider deactivating payment methods that do not fit your refund or chargeback strategy.
- Check if you have made your payment methods available in the regions where you need them.
- Check if the accepted currencies of your payment methods are correct.
- Test your payment methods. You can use the Adyen simulator to test QR code wallets.
The Mobile solutions do not support all the payment methods that are supported on Adyen payment terminals. For payment methods supported in Mobile solutions, see Tap to Pay and card reader.
Configure manual key entry
Our terminals can read inserted, tapped, or swiped payment cards. Make sure that you have manual key entry (MKE) configured, in case all other card entry methods fail.
Hardware
For smooth terminal operations during peak season, you need to make sure that all the hardware components of your integration are working. We recommend that you:
- Order payment terminals in advance.
- Prepare and test your terminal fleets and backup terminals.
- Make sure that you have the recommended terminal software version or mobile SDK version installed.
Order
If you intend to order new terminals, do so as soon as possible. Delivery times can be longer than normal during peak season, and you need time to assign, board, and test the payment terminals.
If you do not have any backup payment terminals yet, consider adding some to your terminal fleet. If you order new mobile devices, make sure that they meet the hardware and software requirements for your Android or iOS Mobile solution.
Prepare and test terminals
Test your terminals and hardware ahead of peak season. Especially if you plan to use terminals that have been switched off for some time, or to add terminals from your inventory to your stores, do the following:
- If needed, assign and board the terminals.
- Make sure that the terminals are updated to the correct software version.
- Fully recharge the batteries of terminals that have been stored or disconnected for an extended period.
- Check if the internet connection, battery, and basic functionality work as expected.
Consider making digital or physical copies of the terminal user manuals available to your staff in your stores.
Software
We recommend that you check the software on your payment devices. Below you find recommendations for updating the:
Terminal software
The details mentioned here are for the 2026 Christmas and end-of-year peak season.
During the following periods, Adyen does not roll out new software to merchants on an automatic update strategy:
- November 23, 2026 - December 6, 2026
- December 21, 2026 - January 3, 2027
Additionally, Adyen offers the option to pause the automatic software rollout from November 2, 2026, to January 10, 2027. Contact your Adyen account manager if you want to pause automatic software rollouts during this time.
See our terminal software recommendations for the different update strategies:
- For the automatic update strategy, check that your payment terminals are on the following software versions:
- v1.120.17 with ADK 4.10 for Verifone Engage terminals, excluding UX300 and UX410.
- v1.135.2 for Android terminals, excluding S1E and S1EL.
- v1.107 for S1E and S1EL terminals.
- v1.100 for UX300 and UX410 terminals.
- For the manual update strategy, make sure that your payment terminals are on the following Long Term Support versions:
- v1.126, v1.130, or v1.133 for Android terminals.
- v1.120 for Verifone Engage terminals.
Mobile SDK
We recommend that you update to the latest available version of the Mobile SDK.
Note that each version of the Mobile SDK expires six months after the version was released.
Additionally, make sure that your mobile devices, card readers, and docks in your Android or iOS Mobile solutions are up to date.
Offline payments
To process a transaction, the payment terminal or Mobile SDK must have internet access. In case of a temporary loss of internet connectivity, you should have offline payments enabled to continue making point-of-sale payments.
Payment terminals
Payment terminals support two types of offline payments:
- Offline EMV: The payment terminal verifies that the PIN entered by the shopper matches the PIN on the EMV chip embedded in the card. The terminal then asks the card to approve the payment. Whether the transaction is approved depends on how the issuer configured the card.
- Store and forward: The payment terminal approves payments without any verification. Because of this, the risk of payments being declined by the issuer is higher than for offline EMV transactions. In practice though, the authorization rates are still very high.
Mobile solution
In a Mobile solution, you can continue making transactions offline with Store and forward.
- Store and forward: To handle store-and-forward payments in a Mobile solution, the Adyen payments platform must have attested the security of the mobile device before the internet connectivity was lost. In a mobile solution, offline transactions with PIN cannot be completed. Familiarize yourself with the restrictions for mobile store-and-forward payments and how to resolve common errors.
Cellular failover
To process a transaction, the terminal must have internet access. Cellular failover occurs when the payment terminal cannot access the internet over the primary network connection (usually Wi-Fi or Ethernet), and switches to a cellular connection (3G or 4G).
Familiarize yourself with:
- The different scenarios when cellular failover is useful, and when it is not.
- How to manage cellular connectivity on the terminal.
- Optionally, how to enable a third-party SIM card.
Regional endpoints for cloud communications
Your live Terminal API integration with cloud communications uses regional endpoints. For the best performance, use an endpoint that is geographically closest to the location of your store. This ensures that the communication between your payment terminal and our back-end is optimal.
If you have built integrations in different regions, make sure that each integration uses the correct region-specific endpoints.