Stores around the country have been unable to process Eftpos payments for much of today due to a worldwide outage.

Payment provider Windcave says it has been investigating technical issues since 9am, which caused intermittent blackouts. It also provides services internationally, including in Australia, Asia and the Pacific.

Several retailers across the country took to social media to notify frustrated customers of the outage.

Homeware store Briscoes confirmed all of its stores had been affected by the outage, but payments were still being processed with a delay.

A Herald reader said Eftpos machines were down at the Warehouse in Westgate this afternoon. She had been told Countdown supermarket was also affected.

Social media users describe chaotic scenes in shops as customers without cash are unable to pay.

Some have described the outage as causing retail “chaos”.

 “I am in Auckland and not even parking meters are working,” said one social media user.

The worldwide outage was first reported around 9am by Windcave, which facilitates such payments for businesses.

Merchants were experiencing “intermittent level timeouts” as the company worked to restore access, it noted on its website.

“We apologise for the inconvenience and the disruption this outage has caused,” the company said.

By 2pm, the company said it had been able to resolve the issue and “get processing back to normal”.

“Merchants should start seeing transactions and Payline access stabilise as of above times,” the company said.

Movie theatres, retail stores and restaurants were among the many businesses unable to accept card payments.

Wellington City Council sent a notice to residents that the PayMyPark app was unable to accept payments.

“Due to this, we will not be enforcing meter payments until this is resolved,” the council said. “Time limits will still apply and will be enforced.”

The outage also appeared to be causing issues for charitable giving website Givealittle.

“We are aware there is a current issue with processing payments which may affect some donors,” a banner on the website told visitors today. “Our payment provider is working to resolve this.”