The right till system raises money for your cause every day. It claims Gift Aid on donated goods without slowing the queue, it’s easy enough for a new volunteer to use on their first shift, and it shows head office what’s happening in every shop. The wrong one does none of that, and you’ll feel it every weekend.
This guide is for heads of retail, shop managers and finance teams at charity and hospice shops, whether you’re buying your first system or thinking about switching. It covers what to check before you buy and how to switch without losing Gift Aid income.
TL;DR
- Judge each system on what it will change in your shops: more money for the cause, more time for volunteers and a clear view of every shop.
- Give Retail Gift Aid the most time in any demo. Check the system supports your HMRC method and handles donor letters, claims and records as well as sign-up.
- Test the till with someone who’s never used it, and ask what happens when the internet drops.
- Make sure support is there on the days your shops open, including weekends.
- Compare the total cost over the contract, including hardware, card processing and upgrades.
- If you’re switching, protect your Gift Aid: move your donor records, keep your barcodes and plan this tax year’s donor letters.
Start with what you want more of
Most buying processes start with a feature list. The trouble is that every supplier will say yes to it. It’s easier to compare systems if you start with what you want to change in your shops.
For most charity retailers, that means:
- more money for the cause, from sales and from Retail Gift Aid
- more time for volunteers and staff to spend with customers, rather than on the till or on paperwork
- a clear view of every shop for head office, so you can act before month end
Put some detail on each one. It might be Gift Aid on a bigger share of donated goods, a new volunteer serving on their first shift, or last week’s sales for every shop without anyone phoning round. Then ask each supplier to show you how their system gets you there, using your own examples rather than their demo script.
What to look for in the till
A new volunteer should be able to serve a customer on their first shift. The best test is to hand the demo till to someone who has never seen it, and watch.
Things to check:
- Can the screens be set up for each type of shop? A furniture shop, a boutique and a bookshop sell differently, and volunteers are quicker when they only see the buttons they need.
- Does the till keep trading when the internet drops? Ask what happens to sales, card payments and Gift Aid until the connection comes back.
- Can you choose your own card payment provider, or are you tied to the supplier’s?
- How do refunds, voids and cashing up work? These are the jobs that cause queues during the day and discrepancies at the end of it.
What to look for in Retail Gift Aid
Retail Gift Aid lets a charity claim Gift Aid on donated goods it sells on the donor’s behalf. Gift Aid adds 25p to every eligible £1, so it’s one of the simplest ways to raise more from the same stock. Give it the most time in any demo.
HMRC recognises three ways to run it: the Standard Method, Method A and Method B. Charities that run their own shops can use the Standard Method or Method A, and shops run by a trading subsidiary use Method B. All three involve writing to donors to tell them what their goods raised. HMRC’s guidance on selling donated goods has the details.
Check that the system:
- supports the method you use, and handles the donor letters and the claim as well as the sign-up
- lets donors sign themselves up on a tablet, in store or online, so volunteers can keep serving and there are no paper forms to lose
- links each item to its donor with a single scan, so Gift Aid is captured at the till without an extra step
- can claim Gift Aid on rag sales to recycling merchants, on items sold online and on goods collected from donors’ homes
- keeps the records HMRC expects you to hold
Those records include each donor’s dated Gift Aid declaration, the agreement that lets you sell goods on their behalf, proof you’ve told donors what their goods raised, and records of staff and volunteer training. Ask each supplier where every one of those lives in their system.
What to look for beyond the till
Reporting for head office
You should be able to see sales, Gift Aid and stock for every shop as it happens, then click through to find out why a shop is up or down. If someone still has to phone round the shops on a Monday morning, the reporting isn’t doing its job.
Ask whether shop managers and volunteers can see their own figures too. Knowing what a shift raised helps volunteers see the difference they make. As one customer, Sheffield Cats Shelter, puts it: “I love the daily takings emails which remind me how amazingly generous our donors and customers are keeping our rescue going.”
Pricing and stock
Donated goods need flexible pricing. Some charities set prices centrally, some set price points by category and some leave it to each shop, so check the system can work the way you do. For new goods, look for supplier barcodes, low-stock prompts and reports that show which lines sell in which shops.
Collections and deliveries
If you sell furniture or electricals, the system should help you plan van rounds by postcode, give drivers what they need on a phone or tablet, and let them sign donors up for Gift Aid on the doorstep. Reuse charities should also check how reuse is recorded and reported. Emmaus Gloucestershire says its Kudos system paid for itself within six months, through more accurate reuse credit claims.
Selling online
If you sell donated goods online, you’ll want one stock record for the shops and the website, so nothing is sold twice. Check that Gift Aid follows the item when it sells online, just as it does in the shop.
Finance
Ask how takings, banking and Gift Aid claims reach your accounts software. If your finance team has to key figures in again, that’s time taken away from everything else, and it’s where mistakes creep in.
Support, security and the small print
Support when your shops are open
Charity shops trade at weekends and on bank holidays, so a support line that closes on Friday afternoon leaves your busiest days uncovered. Ask each supplier:
- Is support run in-house, and is it based in the UK?
- Which days and hours does it cover?
- How quickly are problems resolved, and can they show you the figures?
- Who trains your staff and volunteers, and is training included?
Security
Gift Aid records hold donors’ names, home addresses and confirmation that they pay UK tax, so security matters. Look for named certifications such as ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials, ask to see the certificates, and check they’re current. Ask where your data is hosted and where it’s backed up.
Upgrades and contracts
- Are software upgrades included in the licence, or charged separately?
- How long is the contract, and what’s the notice period?
- If you leave, can you take your data with you?
- Can you reuse your current hardware, buy new, or rent it through Hardware as a Service (HaaS)?
The full cost
Ask for the total cost over the length of the contract. Include tills and other hardware, card processing, installation, training, support, upgrades and any extra modules or apps. A low licence fee can look very different once everything else is added.
Switching without losing Gift Aid income
If you already have a system, switching is when Gift Aid income is most at risk. Your donor records, Gift Aid barcodes and this year’s claims all sit in the old system, and each one needs a plan.
Ask any new supplier:
- Can they transfer your donor records, so donors don’t have to sign up again?
- Can you keep using your existing Gift Aid barcodes and donor cards?
- How will this tax year’s donor letters and claims cover sales from both systems? Under Method A and Method B, end-of-year letters report what a donor’s goods raised across the tax year, so a switch part-way through needs both sets of figures.
- Can you reuse any of your current hardware?
- Who manages the project, and how will training reach every shop before it goes live?
Plan the go-live away from your busiest weeks, and start with a few shops if you can. When it’s done well, shop teams notice the difference quickly. Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care said: “We recently moved to Kudos, and were delighted by the response of our shop team, both staff and volunteers finding the switch simple, and Kudos dashboard very easy to use.”
For more on planning the move, read our guide on how to switch charity retail system.
Questions to ask every supplier
Take these into every demo, and ask each supplier the same questions so you can compare the answers.
| Area | Question to ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Till | Can someone who’s never seen the till serve a customer during the demo? | It shows how long training will really take |
| Till | What happens to sales, card payments and Gift Aid when the internet drops? | Busy Saturdays don’t stop for broadband faults |
| Retail Gift Aid | Which HMRC methods do you support, and can you show me the donor letters and the claim? | Signing donors up is only the start of the process |
| Retail Gift Aid | Can donors sign themselves up while the till keeps serving? | It keeps the queue moving and the sign-ups growing |
| Retail Gift Aid | Can we claim on rag sales, online sales and collections? | It’s Gift Aid you might be missing now |
| Reporting | Can I see every shop’s sales, Gift Aid and stock as it happens? | You spot problems before month end |
| Support | Who answers the phone on a Saturday, and where are they based? | Your busiest day needs the same help as a Monday |
| Security | Which certifications do you hold, and where is our data hosted? | Donor data needs protection you can check |
| Costs | What’s the total cost over the contract, and are upgrades included? | A low licence fee can hide other costs |
| Switching | Can we keep our donor records and Gift Aid barcodes? | It protects your income during the move |
| References | Can we speak to a charity like ours that switched to you? | You’ll hear how it went from someone with nothing to sell |
How Kudos helps charity shops raise more
Kudos helps charity and hospice shops raise more money, with a till any volunteer can use and a UK team that’s there seven days a week. The Kudos Charity Retail System is built only for charity retail, and more than 150 UK charity and hospice retailers use it.
The Charity EPoS shows each shop only the buttons it needs. Retail Gift Aid works with the Standard Method and Methods A and B, and a single scan records the sale, the donor and the Gift Aid together. Business Intelligence shows head office every shop’s figures as they happen, and Furniture & Electricals handles collections and deliveries.
Cornwall Hospice runs 31 shops on Kudos, and its Retail Gift Aid income has grown year on year since the move. At Friends of Fairford, there have been no cash or card discrepancies since going live. If you’re switching, Kudos can transfer your donor data and reuse your existing Gift Aid barcodes.
Support is in-house and UK-based, and it’s there every day of the week. Kudos is ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials certified, and has never charged for a software upgrade.
The best way to judge any system is to see it handle your own shops’ situations. Book a demo and bring the questions above.
Frequently asked questions
What is charity retail software?
Charity retail software runs the tills, stock, Retail Gift Aid and reporting for charity and hospice shops. It’s built around donated goods, so it links items to their donors, claims Gift Aid when they sell and can manage collections of donated furniture.
Can a charity shop claim Gift Aid on everything it sells?
No. Money from selling donated goods doesn’t qualify for Gift Aid on its own. Under Retail Gift Aid, the shop sells goods as the donor’s agent, and the donor, who must be a UK taxpayer, agrees to give the proceeds to the charity. The charity then claims Gift Aid on those proceeds after commission. Bought-in new goods don’t qualify.
Which Retail Gift Aid method should we use?
It depends on how your shops are run. Charities that run their shops directly can use the Standard Method or Method A, and shops run by a trading subsidiary use Method B. Read HMRC’s guidance or speak to your adviser before you choose.
How much does charity retail software cost?
It depends on how many shops and tills you have, the hardware and which features you need. Compare suppliers on the total cost over the contract, including hardware, card processing, training, support and upgrades, rather than on the licence fee alone.
How long does it take to switch charity retail system?
It depends on how many shops you have and how much data needs to move. Ask each supplier for a project plan with dates for data transfer, training and go-live in every shop.
How much training do volunteers need?
Very little, with the right till. A good charity till shows each shop only the buttons it needs, so a new volunteer can serve customers on their first shift. Ask suppliers what training is included, and how new volunteers are trained once the system is live.
