Frequently asked questions about Places 360.
The awkward questions first: what it costs, what happens when the tap fails, and what we haven’t built yet. If yours isn’t answered here, the contact form is the place to ask it.
GETTING STARTED, AND THE TAP
Setting it up, and how the tap behaves.
Which phones can collect a stamp?
Any iPhone or Android phone with NFC, which is most phones sold in the last few years. If a phone can’t tap, staff scan the customer’s code instead, so nobody is turned away at the counter.
Do my customers have to download an app?
Yes, one app, once. It holds every place’s card in the same wallet, so a customer who already has it for the bakery down the road is ready at your counter on the first visit. A first stamp works in guest mode, with no account to make.
How long does setting up take?
One sitting, on a phone, between customers. You create the business, add your logo, colour and blurb, build a stamp card, then tap a tag to register it. No hardware to order, no installer to book. A menu imports from a CSV or a photo of your printed one.
Do I have to change my till?
No. It works beside whatever you use now, or beside nothing at all. If you use Square, there is an integration. Change till next year and your cards, page and stamp history stay where they are.
What do I actually get on day one?
Your own page, in the app and on the web, with your branding, opening hours and the blocks you choose. A stamp card customers collect by tapping. Offers and promo codes. A dashboard. Staff accounts with roles and PINs. Menus and ordering with real card payments when you want them.
What is the tag, and where do I get one?
A small NFC tag that sits by your till. Every paid plan comes with one, free, in our standard design, or in yours on Branded app. Further tags, and tags on the Free plan, are £9 + VAT each. One is enough to start. Tap a new one in the app to register it, name it “counter”, and it’s live.
What if the tap doesn’t work?
Staff open the scanner, enter their PIN and scan the customer’s code. Same stamp, a few seconds longer. It covers an older phone, NFC turned off, or a tag that has taken one spill too many.
Can someone cheat it?
Stamps are validated on our server, not on the phone that tapped, and only tag UIDs you registered count. Each card has a cooldown between stamps and a daily cap, and you can require the customer to be at the venue.
Does it work without a signal?
The customer’s own stamp code works with no signal on their phone, and staff scan it as usual. The venue side does want a connection, since validation happens on the server.
MONEY
What it costs, and what it costs to leave.
What does it cost?
Four plans. The Free plan is £0 a month, Regulars £19 + VAT (£22.80 inc. VAT), Growth £59 + VAT (£70.80 inc. VAT), and a Branded app at £99 + VAT (£118.80 inc. VAT). Plans are per business and cover every location, so a second café is not a second subscription, and the price doesn’t move as you get busier.
Is VAT included?
Digit Places Limited is VAT-registered, so both figures appear wherever a price does: £19 + VAT (£22.80 inc. VAT), £59 + VAT (£70.80 inc. VAT). If you’re registered yourself, the first number is the one that matters. The card fee on each payment is charged plus VAT as well, and we send you a VAT invoice for card fees every month, so a VAT-registered business can reclaim it.
What do I pay to take a card payment?
From 1.75% + 15p + VAT (2.10% + 18p inc. VAT) per online card payment on UK debit cards on a paid plan, and from 1.95% + 15p + VAT (2.34% + 18p inc. VAT) on the Free plan. Read “from” literally: it is a floor, not a flat rate, and other cards, commercial or non-UK ones among them, cost their real rate.
Can I use it free forever?
Yes. The Free plan is £0 a month with no contract, no setup fee and no end date. The limits are on features and payment fees, not on time, so nothing expires after thirty days. Plenty of small places never need more.
What happens if I want to stop?
You cancel. There is no notice period and no contract to run down. Before you go, export your transactions, your menu and your timesheets as CSV, and on Branded app the customers who said yes to your marketing emails. There is no export of every customer, and we’d rather say so here than at the end.
FIT, DATA AND LEAVING
Whether it suits you, and whose data it is.
Does it do bookings?
Not yet. Bookings and reservations are coming soon, and we won’t imply they are here before they are. Until then, keep the booking tool you already pay for; the page, the card and the offers run alongside it, and your booking link sits on your page.
Does it do subscriptions or memberships?
Not yet. Subscriptions are coming soon: a fixed monthly price for a service, paid by card into your own account. What exists today is stamp cards with milestones, loyalty points on spend, rewards as a free item or money off, welcome offers and promo codes. If a subscription is what stands between you and using this, tell us; it helps decide what ships first.
Is it only for cafés?
No, though hospitality is where it fits best today. Cafés, bakeries, delis, restaurants and caterers use all of it, ordering and payments included. Salons, barbers, studios, groomers, car care and home services use the page, the card, offers and the team tools, and keep their booking tool. Each trade has a page saying what works and what doesn’t.
Can I run more than one location?
Yes, on one subscription. Customers get a venue chooser, each venue keeps its own hours, and page content can be scoped to one venue or scheduled to a daily window or a date range. Roles are granted per person, so a manager at one site is not an owner everywhere.
Can I use my own domain?
Yes, from Regulars. Your page or website can sit on your own domain, so the address you print on a card or a receipt is yours and stays yours. On the Free plan your page lives at places360.io/your-name.
Do I get my own app?
Yes, on the Branded app plan: your own app under your name and icon in the App Store and Google Play, with push notifications sent under your name. It is £99 + VAT a month, with £300 + VAT once to set it up. Every other plan gives you your page inside Places 360 and on the web, and the cards and history you build there carry over to your own app.
Who can see my customers’ details?
You see what happened: stamps, redemptions, orders, activity over time. The dashboard is built around that rather than around handing you a list of customer email addresses, because people join one app rather than give their address to every counter. On Branded app you also see, and can export, the customers who said yes to your marketing emails. Your team sees only what its roles allow.
Can I take my information with me?
Transactions, your menu and your timesheets export as CSV, in the shape an accountant or a payroll run wants. On Branded app, so do the customers who said yes to your marketing emails. There is no export of every customer, which follows from the answer above and is worth weighing against a product that hands you a spreadsheet of addresses.
Where is it hosted?
In London. Stamps are kept as an append-only ledger, so a customer’s history is added to rather than edited.