Salon POS system: what to look for when choosing a checkout for your salon

For a salon or barbershop this setup works best: Lookster as the hub for your calendar, online bookings, clients and revenue insights per staff member, plus a card reader of your choice to take payment. That way you pick the lowest card rate yourself, and your bookkeeper gets an Excel or CSV export. Lookster Pro adds the point of sale soon. Below you will find what card payments cost, which Dutch VAT rates apply and what you must keep.

What do you need to take payment in your salon?

Checking out in a salon differs from a shop till: you usually charge one treatment per client, sometimes with a product on top, and the appointment is already in your calendar. This is what you need:

• A calendar where the appointment and price are already in place. In Lookster every appointment carries the treatment, price and duration per staff member, including add-ons the client picked.
• A payment method: a card reader at the front desk, Tap to Pay on your phone, iDEAL QR (the Dutch bank payment standard) or cash.
• Two VAT rates kept apart: a haircut at 9%, a shampoo at 21%.
• A daily sheet with cash, card and other payments listed separately.
• An invoice for business clients; a receipt for private clients is a service, not an obligation.
• Revenue insights and an export for your bookkeeper. Lookster shows revenue per period and per staff member and exports to Excel or CSV.
• Tips and gift cards recorded separately, if you use them.

How does Lookster work with your card reader?

Lookster is the hub of your salon. Today you already have:

• an online calendar with real-time updates and day, team, week and month views;
• 24/7 online booking through your own booking link, your salon page on Lookster and the Lookster client app, at 0% commission;
• client cards with appointment history, notes and photos per appointment;
• revenue, appointments, occupancy, no-shows and returning clients per period and per staff member, with year-on-year comparison;
• an export to Excel or CSV for your bookkeeper;
• free confirmations and reminders by email and push notification, without SMS costs.

In the meantime you simply take payment with your own card reader; Lookster handles your calendar, bookings and clients. Because the card reader is separate, you choose the provider with the lowest rate for your turnover yourself, and switch whenever you like.

Lookster Pro adds the point of sale: Tap to Pay, iDEAL QR and payment links, online prepayment (deposit or full amount), invoices, daily close and refunds, stock management and gift cards, for €34.95 per month excluding VAT. Pro already runs at a select number of salons and will be available to everyone soon. See /en/salon-pos-system for everything Pro offers.

Card, Tap to Pay, iDEAL QR or payment link: which payment methods do you need?

Card payment ("pinnen" in Dutch) remains the standard at the counter. Three other methods are useful in a salon.

Tap to Pay turns your iPhone or Android phone into a card reader: the client holds their card or phone against your device. No separate terminal needed. SumUp offers this in the Netherlands through the SumUp app at its normal transaction rate, with no payment limit; for amounts above roughly €100 the client enters their PIN on your phone.

iDEAL QR lets you show a QR code the client scans with their banking app. Handy for mobile hairdressers, on-location work and clients who left their card at home.

A payment link goes out by email or WhatsApp. The client pays before or after the appointment through iDEAL or card. This is the basis for online prepayment and deposits, which cut no-shows.

For a one-chair salon, Tap to Pay is often enough. With a team across several chairs, a fixed terminal at the front desk is calmer.

Which card reader goes well with Lookster, and what does it cost per transaction?

Every card reader in this table is a fine companion to Lookster. Standalone card readers for small businesses come in two models: no monthly fee with a higher percentage per transaction, or a monthly subscription with a lower percentage or a fixed amount per transaction. The rates come from the providers' Dutch pages (checked on 27 October 2026, excluding VAT where stated).

This is how to work out what is cheapest for you. Say you take €8,000 in card payments per month across 200 transactions (an average of €40 per receipt):

• SumUp pay as you go: 1.49% of €8,000 = €119.20 per month.
• SumUp Payments Plus: €19 + 0.99% of €8,000 = €98.20 per month.
• myPOS Pro: €39 + 200 × €0.06 = €51 per month.
• Worldline: 200 × €0.063 = €12.60 per month, plus the rental or purchase price of the terminal, which Worldline does not publish.

At low card turnover, a reader without a monthly fee is cheapest. From roughly €4,000 to €5,000 in card payments per month, a subscription with a lower rate starts to pay off. With many small transactions, as in a barbershop, a fixed amount per transaction beats a percentage sooner.

What does the checkout of other salon software cost?

Other salon software ties its checkout to its own payment solution, with its own transaction fees. Factor those in before you sign anything.

Salonized charges 1.0% per card payment with Salonized Pay, on a terminal from €199 one-off, and a 2% transaction fee on prepaid online bookings. Salonized does not supply a receipt printer, barcode scanner or cash drawer itself (checked on 27 October 2026 on Salonized's Dutch pricing page). On €8,000 in monthly card turnover that is €80 in transaction fees, compared with €51 at myPOS Pro and €12.60 plus rental at Worldline.

Fresha charges 0.89% + €0.10 per transaction for in-person payments, plus €0.10 per Tap to Pay authorisation; a terminal costs from €119. On the same €8,000 across 200 transactions that is €91.20 per month. On top of that, Fresha charges a one-time fee on every new client who finds you through the Fresha marketplace (checked on 27 October 2026).

With Lookster and a standalone card reader you choose your own rate, and you pay 0% commission on every booking, including new clients from the Lookster marketplace.

Which Dutch VAT rate applies in your salon?

In the Netherlands two VAT rates ("btw") apply side by side in the same salon, and your records must keep them apart.

9% for hairdressing work. The Belastingdienst lists cutting, washing, blow-drying, colouring, perming and shaving or trimming beards. The products you use up during the treatment (shampoo, colour, gel) and applying hair extensions also fall under 9%. The material itself, meaning the extensions, wigs and hairpieces, is taxed at 21%.

21% for everything that is not characteristic of the hairdressing trade. That covers retail sales of hair care products and accessories, beauty treatments, applying make-up, colour and make-up advice, sunbed rental and manicures and pedicures. A nail salon and a beauty salon therefore charge 21%. According to a 2025 position of the Belastingdienst knowledge group, a head spa treatment is also taxed at 21%, even when a hairdresser performs it, because the treatment is mostly aimed at the scalp rather than the hair.

If you sell a shampoo alongside a haircut, two rates fall under one payment. Note on your daily sheet which part falls under 9% and which under 21%, and your VAT return adds up.

Small businesses scheme (KOR). If your turnover stays below €20,000 per calendar year, you can join the KOR (kleineondernemersregeling): you charge no VAT to your clients and file no VAT returns, but you also cannot reclaim VAT on purchases and investments. That suits a mobile hairdresser with few costs, and works against you when you are fitting out a new salon. If you exceed €20,000 in a year, you must deregister immediately. After leaving, you can only rejoin after the rest of that year and the following calendar year. Businesses established in the Netherlands that stay under the limit can sign up through Mijn Belastingdienst Zakelijk.

Cash accounting scheme (kasstelsel). Hairdressers and beauty care businesses are required to use the cash accounting scheme: you calculate VAT on what you actually received in the period, not on invoices sent. You may opt out, but that must be clearly visible in your records.

Receipts, invoices and record keeping: what must you record?

You do not have to issue an invoice to private customers; a receipt is a service, not an obligation. If you sell to a business, for example a company booking a team day, you are required to send an invoice with all legally required details, such as your VAT number, invoice number and the VAT amount per rate.

What you must always do is record every sale. The Belastingdienst requires you to keep your records for 7 years; records relating to immovable property for 10 years. For a salon that means:

1. A daily sheet per day: cash, card, iDEAL and other payments separately, with the VAT split.
2. Receipts and invoices, including credited ones.
3. Card payment statements from your payment provider and your bank statements.
4. A cash book if you accept cash, with opening balance, receipts, expenses and closing balance.
5. VAT returns and the underlying calculation.

Digital storage is allowed as long as you can make the data readable within a reasonable time. Keep your payment provider's card statement and your Lookster export together per month, and fill in the daily sheet every day, not at the end of the month.

Tips and gift cards: how do you process them?

Tips. Tips received by your staff are not subject to VAT: you do not have to pay VAT on them. If you as the owner receive extra amounts on top of what you charged, whether VAT applies depends on the trade; discuss that with your bookkeeper. Record tips separately on your daily sheet, so they do not end up in your VAT turnover and you can account for how they are shared across the team.

Gift cards. The VAT rules for vouchers depend on what they can buy. A gift card valid only for hairdressing services at 9% is a single-purpose voucher: VAT is due when you sell the card. A card that can also be redeemed for products at 21% is a multi-purpose voucher: no VAT on the sale, VAT only when it is redeemed, on what the client actually takes. Keep track of which cards you have issued, which have been redeemed and what is still outstanding, because the outstanding amount is a debt to your clients.

What does your bookkeeper need from your salon?

Your bookkeeper wants turnover per VAT rate, payment methods and the cash difference per period. With Lookster you export revenue, appointments and client data per period and per staff member to Excel or CSV. Together with your payment provider's card statement, your cash book and your daily sheets, your bookkeeper has what they need for your VAT return and annual accounts. Agree how often you send the export, for example monthly or quarterly.

Checklist: how to set up payments and records in your salon

• Put your calendar, bookings and clients in Lookster: €19.95 per month, the first 3 months free.
• How much do you take in card payments per month, and in how many transactions? Use the table above to pick the reader with the lowest rate.
• Do you sell products alongside treatments? Then keep 9% and 21% apart on your daily sheet.
• Fill in a daily sheet every day with cash, card and other payments.
• Send your bookkeeper the Lookster export and the card statement every month or quarter.
• Do you use gift cards or tips? Record them separately.
• Is your turnover below €20,000? Then check whether the KOR works in your favour.

Not sure whether you need salon software at all? Start with what is salon software. For what the subscriptions of the different systems cost, see what salon software costs.