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Picture a hair salon where three hairdressers work — but each is an independent business with their own bank account. A customer pays by card at the counter. Question: whose account should the money land in? Should they each rent a separate terminal with three monthly fees? Or would one device be enough — one that knows which hairdresser's customer is being served?
This is exactly what a multi-merchant terminal is for: a single POS or SoftPOS device shared by several separate businesses, where the system keeps each merchant's revenue apart. This article covers what it means, who benefits, how it works in practice, what to watch out for, and which Hungarian providers offer it.
A multi-merchant terminal is a card-acceptance device or app shared by several independent merchants. At payment, you select on the terminal which business the transaction belongs to, so the money goes to the right merchant's account. From the outside it looks like a single device; in the background several separate settlements run. It can work on a traditional physical POS terminal and on phone-based card acceptance (SoftPOS) installed on a phone.
A multi-merchant terminal adds real value where several independent businesses operate in one place or on one device. The most common cases:
Shared salons and studios: hairdressers, beauticians, nail technicians, masseurs working in one space as separate businesses.
Franchise locations where several franchise partners are present at one site.
Shared spaces, markets, pop-up shops: coworking spaces, fairs, temporary stalls.
Courier and delivery services: one courier delivering for several businesses with on-site payment.
Software vendors and platforms (ISVs) handling transactions on behalf of several merchant clients.
Back to our opening example. In a three-person salon, a single multi-merchant device is enough instead of separate terminals. When a customer pays, the staff select which hairdresser the service belongs to, and the amount is booked straight to that business's account. One device, yet clean settlement for everyone. Such a salon is typically low-volume: a few hundred thousand forints in monthly card revenue per hairdresser, with a basket of a few thousand forints.
Cost efficiency: one device serves several businesses, with lower hardware and admin costs.
Flexibility: quick switching between merchant accounts.
Simpler operation: switching takes just a few taps.
Scalability: a good starting point for a growing business, franchise or platform.
There is a clean technical and legal logic behind multi-merchant operation. The key principle: the hardware (the terminal or phone) is shared, but the underlying financial and legal infrastructure is fully separated. The process typically has five steps — but note that details may differ by provider, so always check the specific terms with your provider.
Although the terminal is shared, there is no "joint" contract. Each hairdresser (as a sole trader or company) signs up independently with the payment provider, completes their own company and identity checks (KYC/KYB), and provides their own data. After successful registration the provider issues each merchant a unique Merchant ID (MID), which identifies the business in the card networks (Visa/Mastercard).
In its back-office system the provider links the single physical device (or, for SoftPOS, the app installed on a given phone/tablet) to each merchant's MID. The device has a main profile (usually the one who rents or bought the hardware), and the others are added to it as "co-merchants".
When the customer pays, a selection menu appears on the terminal (by name, number or logo). The merchant selects their own profile, enters the amount, and the software automatically embeds their unique MID into the payment request. The transaction then runs through the banking network with that code.
The money does not get mixed up and does not arrive in a shared collection account. The acquiring bank totals transactions by MID and transfers the money directly to each merchant's own bank account. The provider deducts its commission per merchant (net settlement) or invoices it separately (gross settlement).
Each merchant has their own login to the provider's merchant portal and sees only their own turnover (not the others', for data-protection/GDPR reasons). At month-end everyone downloads the itemized list and fee invoice for their accountant — from the accountant's view it is as if there were a separate terminal.
Everyone pays the percentage transaction fee on their own turnover. A physical terminal, however, often has a fixed monthly rental fee (with SoftPOS this is frequently 0 HUF). If there is a fixed fee, the provider invoices it to a single party (the main profile owner) — the merchants must settle this among themselves by internal agreement; the provider does not split it automatically.
Selecting the wrong profile at payment: the most common error is forgetting to switch profiles, sending a colleague's payment to the wrong account. Use clear names/logos and check as a routine.
Tax and invoicing: the receipt/invoice must be issued in the name of the business the transaction belongs to. Make sure the cash register/e-invoicing tool and the profile selected on the terminal refer to the same merchant.
Tipping: if the terminal handles tips, they go to the selected merchant too — agree in advance how tips are handled and shared.
Sharing the fixed monthly fee: the provider invoices one party; settle it with the others by internal agreement.
Refunds and disputes (chargebacks): be clear about which merchant is responsible for a disputed transaction.
Since these details vary by provider, alongside thinking through the differences between POS terminal, SoftPOS or online payment gateway and the hidden costs, always ask about the specific terms. If unsure, it helps to work through how to choose a payment provider.
Based on POSnavigator data and feedback from providers (as of June 2026), multi-merchant capability is available at the following providers:
Viva.com — according to their own feedback, multi-merchant operation is supported in the Viva.com Terminal app on both Android and iOS. They recommend it for several business models: franchise networks, shared premises (markets, pop-up shops), courier services, as well as software vendor (ISV) partners and platforms.
Teya — in the POSnavigator database this capability is flagged on their phone-based card acceptance (SoftPOS) solution.
Paynance — according to the database it is available on both their POS terminal and SoftPOS solutions.
Agora Pay — this capability is flagged on their POS terminal solution.
For balance, note that not every provider offers this: one large domestic bank-based provider offered it before but, based on its experience, does not currently continue it, while another has put it on its development roadmap. The market is moving, so always check the current status.
In multi-merchant operation several separate businesses use one device, and the full transaction goes to the selected merchant. Split payment, by contrast, divides the amount of a single transaction among several parties.
Not necessarily. The feature can work on a physical POS terminal and on a SoftPOS app installed on a phone.
Before payment you select the merchant on the terminal, and the transaction is assigned to their unique MID, so the money lands in the right account.
If several independent businesses share a location, often yes, because they share the cost of a single device. The exact payback depends on fees and turnover.
We put together a pre-filtered view specifically for a low-volume, multi-merchant need — for example a hair salon's profile. See the multi-merchant POS solutions and compare offers from a merchant's perspective.
Weekly summary of the best POS terminal offers
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