How to read a POS quote before you sign

Find out what the software price is counted by

Software can be priced per location, per device or per employee, and the quote may not say which. Square’s Plus plan is US$49 per location. Toast’s Build Your Own plan is custom-priced; Toast also advertises a POS + Payroll bundle for new restaurants from US$69/month plus US$9 per employee. Toast also notes that its plan price covers the first terminal and additional devices cost extra.

Add-on apps follow their own rules. On Square Plus, the kitchen display app is US$30 a month per device and the kiosk app is US$50 per device. Write down how many locations, registers, screens and staff you will have in a year, then price the quote at that size, not at the size you open with.

Get a rate for every way you take cards

The rate in large print is usually the in-person one. Typed-in cards cost more almost everywhere: Square charges 3.5% + 15¢ for manual entry against 2.6% + 15¢ in person on its Free plan, and Clover’s retail packages charge 3.5% + 10¢ typed in. Online orders and invoices often have their own rate too.

Ask for in-person, keyed-in, online and invoice rates in writing, plus anything different for American Express. Then run last month’s real mix through them. If a vendor will not put a rate on paper, as with any quote-only pricing, treat the quote as incomplete.

Know whether you own, finance, lease or subscribe to the hardware

These four look alike on a monthly line and behave very differently. Square lists one-time prices, such as US$299 for Terminal. Clover’s Standard retail package is US$1,899 plus US$84.95 a month, or US$180 a month for 36 months; over three years that is US$4,957.20 against US$6,480. Toast’s Easy Pay is a 180-day lease repaid by holding back 0.75% of daily card sales once you are live.

For each device, ask who owns it at the end, what it costs to pay off early and whether it works with another provider’s software. Toast, for example, says its service runs only on Toast-approved devices.

Read the term and the way out

Contract terms range widely. Square’s pricing page says there are no locked-in contracts. Clover’s pricing FAQ says device subscriptions are non-cancelable and ineligible for refunds, although they can be paid off.

Find three numbers before signing: the term length, the early-termination fee, and the buyout amount for any hardware still being paid off. Also ask whether the processing agreement is a separate contract with its own term, because the software and the card processing can end on different dates.

Look for fees that start after launch

Some charges only show up once you are trading. Clover lists a 1.75% fee for Rapid Deposit, which puts card funds in your account within minutes. Square charges 1% with a US$1 minimum on invoices paid by ACH bank transfer on its Free plan. Neither is hidden, but neither sits in the headline price.

Ask for a full fee schedule, not a summary. Look for instant payout fees, chargeback fees, monthly minimums, PCI fees, statement fees and any charge for extra registers or users. If a fee is optional, decide now whether you will use it and price it in.

Read the promotion’s conditions

Discounts often come with strings. Clover’s US$450 statement credit applies only to new merchants, needs US$10,000 in card sales within the first four billing cycles and requires a 3-year contract. Toast’s 60% hardware discount applies to a new customer’s first order signed by December 31, 2026. Clover also notes that partners such as banks may sell the same system at different prices.

Ask the seller to write the promotion’s conditions into the quote. Then work out your cost if you miss them, because a credit you do not qualify for is not a saving.

A one-page check before you sign

Put every quote you are comparing on this grid. A line left blank is a question for the seller, not a zero.