Nano for merchants

1Accepting Nano in three steps

Accepting Nano means: you give an address, the customer sends, you check what arrived.

1. Address: show the address of your shop wallet (it starts with nano_) as a QR code or text.

2. Amount: state the price in your currency and the amount in XNO at the rate of that moment.

3. Check: wait until your wallet shows the payment as confirmed. According to docs.nano.org this typically takes under one second, under heavy load longer. Only then hand over the goods.

The Nano network charges no fee for sending.

2A wallet for the shop

Use a separate wallet for takings, apart from your private spending. Then every payment clearly belongs to the business.

Back up the seed (the recovery words) on paper right away. Whoever knows it can send everything. You learn how in the Wallet security course.

Many addresses can be derived from one seed (docs.nano.org, Key Management). You can show one address per till or stall and still see everything in one wallet.

Staff only need the address to show, never the seed.

3Confirming a payment

For every payment check three things: is the amount exactly right? Is it your address? Does it show as confirmed?

A Nano transfer has two steps: the sender sends, the recipient receives. Until your wallet has created the receive, the amount shows as pending (receivable). According to docs.nano.org it stays that way indefinitely until the receive is created.

If a payment shows as pending, it is not lost: it waits for the receive in your wallet. Hand over the goods only when your wallet shows the payment as received and confirmed.

4Daily close

At the end of the day list every payment: time, amount in XNO, purpose (for example "table 4" or "order 118").

Then convert each payment into your currency. The rate at the moment of payment is usual; which rate applies to your bookkeeping depends on the country. Compare the total with your sales.

NanoTracker has incoming payments with purpose and a daily close in its merchant area (nanotracker.app). A hand-written table works too.

Which record-keeping duties apply to you depends on your country. Ask the competent office there. This course is not legal or tax advice.

5Converting into local currency

Nano has no fixed price. The rate moves, even within a day. Put the price in your currency on the sign and work out the XNO amount only at payment.

Calculation: price in local currency divided by the rate for 1 XNO gives the amount in XNO.

Example with an invented rate: 1 XNO = 2,500 TZS. Price 10,000 TZS. 10,000 divided by 2,500 is 4 XNO.

You get the current rate, for example, from nanotracker.app/tzs/ (Nano to TZS) or from the euro rate in your wallet. Hold the rate for a short window, say ten minutes, so the customer can pay calmly. That is a habit, not a rule of the network.

6Returns and refunds

The sender cannot take back a Nano payment (docs.nano.org: once funds are sent, they cannot be revoked by the sender). That applies to you too when you refund.

A refund is therefore a new payment from you to the customer.

Have the customer state and confirm the address. Do not copy it blindly from the incoming payment, because it may belong to an exchange or service that shares it with others.

Decide beforehand what goes back: the same XNO amount or the value in local currency. Write it down. Tell the customer before the purchase, best on the sign.

7Typical mistakes

Wrong address: when typing, a character can go missing. Scan the address as a QR code or paste it instead of typing it. Compare the start and end. For large amounts send a test amount first.

Wrong network: besides nano_ addresses, NanChat has usd_ addresses for NanUSD (nanchat.com/developers). These are different values. Ask for XNO if you want XNO.

Handing over too early: giving the goods before the payment is confirmed.

Passing on the seed: sending the words by chat or as a photo.

No note: payment recorded without purpose, impossible to assign in the evening.