What is a sale hold?

Point of Sale (POS) Glossary

A sale hold is when ringing up a customer is suspended before the process is completed. A cashier can later unsuspend the pending sale in a point of sale system so a customer can add or remove items and complete the payment at that time.

Sale holds are useful if a customer has not yet completed shopping or is unable to pay immediately due to an unsuccessful payment method. All of the pending sale information can be stored in a POS system, making it easy to complete the sale later.

While a sale is suspended, the items that have already been rung up might be set aside. Then they are ready to go when the sale is resumed. A robust point of sale system may offer multiple options for recalling and resuming a pending sale.