Am I overpaying for my point of sale system?
As business owners consider what point of sale system to use, one of the first questions asked is always “how much will it cost?” The subscription costs and transaction fees charged to businesses are different with each system, so it’s important to understand which subscription plan is the most economically viable based on business size. While high-volume businesses with a low average revenue per transaction may benefit from a merchant processing POS system such as Clover, lower volume businesses with higher average revenue per transaction may reduce their costs by using a plan with a consistent transaction fee such as Square.
By analyzing billing statements, the 2021 +Impact Studio intern team were able to build a simple interactive cost analysis spreadsheet that business owners could use to help compare systems. Most billing statements include a fee of 2-3% per transaction, plus a set price per swipe of 10-20 cents. Many point of sale systems will also allow business owners to call and review their rates to better understand what they are being charged for. With this data, +Impact Studio interns were able to give businesses a cost comparison of varying point of sale subscription options. By documenting accurate rates and fees for the leading POS system subscriptions, business owners are able to calculate realistic cost estimates based on their transaction per month and revenue per transaction.
