Tipping, in payments, is the handling of a gratuity that a customer adds on top of the price of a service. It matters to payment systems because the final amount is not known when the bill is first presented. On modern terminals the customer selects or types a tip before the card is read, so the amount authorized already includes it.
Where the card is taken away from the table, as in many United States restaurants, the merchant first obtains a pre-authorization for the bill, the customer writes a tip on the receipt, and the merchant later submits the higher total at payment capture. Card network rules allow the captured amount to exceed the authorized amount within a set tolerance for restaurants and similar merchant categories. Online, platforms offer a digital tip jar for creators and drivers. Tips collected by card reach the business in its normal settlement and must then be distributed to staff.