Deposits & Reconciliation
This page is for event accountants, bookkeepers, and venue managers. Floor staff only need the coloured payment label in the Cirqle Handheld App. You need the money story.
Cirqle tracks the link between the customer’s payment and the unique cup ID (the EPC code on that cup’s RFID tag). That link is what lets the platform collect the deposit when the drink is served and return it when the same cup comes back.
How cup money moves
A guest pays the drink price plus a deposit on the reusable cup. For example, the drink is whatever the bar charges, and the cup deposit might be $2.00.
- When they bring that cup back, the deposit is refunded.
- If they take the cup home, the deposit stays. That retained money covers buying a replacement cup.
The Cirqle ledger is the list: money taken when the cup goes out, money given back when it returns, and money kept because the cup never came back. Use that list. Do not keep a second notebook that disagrees with it.
Tender status dictionary
These are the words on the scanner and in the money list. They mean the same thing in both places.
| Status code | Plain English meaning |
|---|---|
CARD | Deposit paid by credit or debit card. The refund goes back to that card, or to a contactless phone. |
CASH | Deposit paid with paper money or coins. The refund is cash, or a paper token, at the return window. |
MOBILE_PAY | Paid with Apple Pay, Google Pay, or the venue’s phone payment. Treated like a card refund. |
DEPOSIT_SYSTEM | Paid with an event wristband or a digital festival wallet. Releasing the wristband is the refund. Do not also hand over cash for the same cup. |
UNPAID | The cup was scanned, but there is no record that a deposit was charged. Do not pay a refund. It may be a cup that skipped the till, or one that is not yours. |
UNKNOWN on the scanner means the lookup did not get an answer. Check the Wi-Fi and tap Check payment again. Unknown is not the same as unpaid.
Reconciliation, in plain arithmetic
For one venue and one shift:
Net settlement = (total deposits collected) − (total refunds paid out).
Example:
- Collected 1,000 deposits
- Refunded 860
- Net still held = 140 deposits
That 140 is not profit yet. Some of it is still waiting for a late return. Some of it will be kept.
Retained / breakage revenue is the extra kept from cups that were not brought back. That money is there to buy replacement cups. Who keeps which share (the venue, or the programme) is the split already written in the contract and shown in financial settings. Do not apply a percentage you remember from a different event.
Close the night in this order:
- Make sure every scanner has tapped SEND BATCH, so late counts are in the list.
- Download the deposit list for this venue and this shift.
- Look at UNPAID lines first. Those are missing charges, not money you get to keep.
- Only after the return window has ended, treat the unreturned deposits as retained.
- Apply the contract split to that retained amount.
Administrators and finance can open this list. Floor staff cannot. Changing the deposit price is an administrator job, not a job for the middle of a rush.