# Store customers, invite codes, messages and subscribers

> Decide who can make an account in your store, approve them, give out invite codes, and find their messages and newsletter sign-ups.

*Section: Online store · Updated: 2026-10-19 · Needs the plan feature: online_orders*

By the end you will have decided who can make an account in your online store, and you will know where their messages and newsletter sign-ups arrive.

## Who can make an account

Customers order with an account in your store. Each account is also a customer in **People › Customers**, so their sales and what they owe sit in the same place as your till's.

Open **[Store › Settings](/app/Store/Settings)** and find **Registration Access Control**:

- **Public Registration**: anyone can make an account. Switched off, nobody can sign up in the store: you make the accounts yourself.
- **Require Invite Code**: a new customer must type a code you gave them.
- **Require Admin Approval**: new accounts wait for you to approve them before they can sign in.

![Registration Access Control: Public Registration Enabled, Require Invite Code No, Require Admin Approval No, each with its explanation.](https://armpos.online/storage/help/19c2cd52e7-online-store-customers-1-registration.webp)
*Open to everyone: the switches that are on show only their word, Enabled.*

Click **Save** at the bottom of the page after a change.

## Approve new customers

With **Require Admin Approval** on, a customer who signs up sees that their account is waiting, and you get a notification.

Open **[Store › Pending Customers](/app/Store/PendingCustomers)**. Each one shows the **Customer**, **Email**, **Phone**, the **Invite Code** they used and when they **Registered**. Click **Approve**, or **Approve All**. **Reject** removes the sign-up; the customer record stays, so that email can't sign up again.

Store Settings also shows how many are waiting, with **Review**.

## Invite codes

With **Require Invite Code** on, only people with a code can sign up.

1. **Open [Store › Invite Codes](/app/Store/InviteCodes)** and **click Create Code.**
2. **Type a Code,** such as **WELCOME2026**, or leave it blank for a random one.
3. **Set Max Uses,** or leave it blank for no limit.
4. **Set Expires At** if the code should stop working on a date.
5. **Click Create.** Give the code to the customers you invite.

![Create Invite Code: Code (e.g. WELCOME2026, leave blank to auto-generate), Max Uses (leave blank for unlimited), Expires At, Active Yes, and Cancel and Create.](https://armpos.online/storage/help/823de97ae6-online-store-customers-2-invite-code.webp)
*Leave Code blank for a random one. Each sign-up uses the code once.*

**Generate Batch** makes up to 50 codes at once. The list shows each code as **Active**, **Disabled**, **Expired** or **Exhausted** (all its uses taken).

## Give a till customer a store account

**[People › Customers without Login](/app/People/Customers_without_ecommerce)** lists your customers who have no store account yet. **Register Account** gives one an account: type their **Email** and a password of 6 to 14 characters, and tell them how to sign in.

![Customers without Login: There are 21 customers not having an account in the online store, and the list with Code, Name, Phone and Email, each with Register Account.](https://armpos.online/storage/help/cfbed15365-online-store-customers-3-without-login.webp)
*Your till's customers who can't order online yet.*

**[People › Customers with Login](/app/People/Customers_ecommerce)** lists the accounts. **Edit** changes the email (also on the customer), the password or the **Status**: **Inactive** stops the account signing in. Delete removes the account only, not the customer.

## Messages and newsletter

- **[Store › Messages](/app/Store/Messages)** receives what visitors send from the store's **Contact Us** page, with a notification. Open one to read it; **Unread only** shows the new ones. Reply from your own email or phone: ArmPOS has no reply button.
- **[Store › Subscribers](/app/Store/Subscribers)** lists the emails left in the home page's newsletter box, which shows while the **Newsletter** block is active. ArmPOS doesn't send them anything by itself.

## What's next

Bring customers back with [Promotions and promo codes](/app/help/promotions-and-promo-codes).