Why do I sometimes see duplicate receipt numbers?

Why do I sometimes see duplicate receipt numbers?

With speed and reliability in mind, when you open a register on your computer, Hike will pre-fetch the receipt number from our servers and put it aside for your next sale. The receipt number is saved locally on your device.

However, if a sale is not completed but you open the same cash register on a different device, Hike will pre-fetch that same receipt number as it has not been used yet. This results in 2 different devices with the same invoice number reserved for the next sale. A duplicate receipt occurs when you complete a sale on both these devices.

To put simply, this happens to save your receipt number locally on your device, in case your internet connection goes offline and the server is unable to tell Hike what the latest receipt number is.

Example

Say for example you’ve opened Hike on your tablet, and have selected a register and opened the sales screen. At this point, our servers will have reserved a receipt number for you, regardless of whether you’ve made a sale.

But instead of making a sale, you put your tablet away and you or your staff open the same register on a desktop computer. Again, our servers will request a receipt number, but because you did not make a sale on the tablet, it will request the same receipt number. You then proceed to make a sale on your desktop computer.

Sometime later, you return to your tablet and resume activity on the same register that is still open. You then complete a sale from your tablet, but your receipt number will be the same as the one created by the servers when you first opened Hike on your tablet, thus creating a duplicate receipt.

How to prevent this from happening

There are several ways to avoiding duplicate receipt numbers including:

  • Use only one register per device and not the same register across multiple devices. If your business requires multiple registers, add a new register and use it for one specified device.
  • Make sure you’re using Google Chrome for Hike, and only in one browser tab. Hike recommends using Google Chrome on Mac or PC for the best results; however, we do not recommend using Google Chrome in Incognito mode. 
  • Reload the Sales Screen if you do switch between two devices, connected to the same register. The servers will then use the most recent receipt number for each sale.

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