The Ultimate Square POS Review and Pricing Guide: Is Square Point of Sale System really the best free POS in 2024?
Square POS is one of the most popular point-of-sale systems today. Millions of users all over the world use the mobile payment application. I particularly like its simple and straightforward user interface and the portability feature which allows making transactions on the go.
Businesses can use the POS app for performing a lot of tasks that range from monitoring sales to inventory management and data analysis.
But is Square POS the right solution for your business? Will the software make the cut for you or should you look elsewhere? Get ready to explore the answers for these questions by reading our detailed review of the Square Mobile POS system.
Table of Contents:
Introduction To Square POS
Website: Square Mobile POS
Our Rating:
Square Inc. is a fintech company that has revolutionized the mobile payment business when it was launched in 2009.
The company was founded by two visionary entrepreneurs Jack Dorsey – the co-founder of Twitter and Jim McKelvey, who had a dream to establish a company that could aggregate mobile payments and merchant service on a single platform.
Square’s headquarter is in San Francisco, CA. The company has 9 other offices located in the US, Canada, Japan, Australia, Ireland, and the UK. The market cap of the company is $31.5 billion. In 2018, the company posted revenue of about $3.3 billion.
Globally, more than 2 million business users rely on the Square system for recording the sales transactions. The system makes managing sales transactions effortless and efficient. Almost all types of businesses use Square POS for carrying out sales transactions.
However, the pricing of the system makes it particularly ideal for small and medium-sized businesses. Square POS can run on both Android and iOS. The system supports both Android Pay and Apple Pay. You can also operate the system in the offline mode.
Take a look at the below video to get an overview of the important features of Square Point Of Sale.
Features
Square POS has many features which make it as one of the most popular sales processing solutions around. While the software may not have fancy features such as data analytics or expense tracking, the basic features of the app will be more than adequate for most of the small and medium-sized businesses.
Online Payment Processing
The basic app has payment accounts features that allow you to process credit card transactions. The payment details can be stored and this makes checkout easy. You can also integrate the system with the accounting software using the APIs to track all deposits.
Inventory Management
You can also manage inventory using the app. The system will send emails to a recipient when the items are low or out of stock. You can check items at multiple locations.
A simple grid shows the products on the left and sales receipts on the right. When you select a product, a small pop up that lets you choose the quantity, size, tax, discounts, and other properties will appear.
Customer Management
The POS app can generate customized digital receipts with a customer feedback option. It can process different types of payments ranging from cash, credit cards, debit cards, and gift cards. Moreover, the app also accepts recent innovative methods like Apple Pay and Android Pay.
A great feature that I like about this POS app is its ability to split the bill. This can be useful when a customer, for instance, wants to split the bill to pay with a credit card and cash. The customers can also add a tip if they want.
Another prominent feature which I like about the app is that you can integrate loyalty schemes. This, in turn, makes it easy for you to manage customer loyalty programs.
Employee Management
Employee management is another standout feature of Square POS. You can view the sales made by employees in a report. You can also assign different roles to each employee by providing them with flexible features.
Retail Management
Square has released a retail POS app in February 2017. This app includes an additional feature for inventory management. The app allows you to tag and transfer inventory in a different location.
The app can also let you create bar code labels of items that will help in physical tracking of the inventory. The app also includes a searchable library of items.
Square for Retail is better than the basic POS app when it comes to customer management. The app allows you to manage customer information done to a tee. The software can create automatically profiles that show customer purchase history and other important retail sales-related information.
However, the app is only for sellers who depend on barcode readers for sales record. The user interface of the app is barebones, and items do not appear unless scanned by the barcode reader. This POS app is not suitable for non-retail businesses.
Suggested Read => List of the Top Retail POS Systems
Square for Restaurant
Restaurant owners can select Square POS for restaurants. The POS has been built particularly for eateries. The software streamlines the entire restaurant operations. You can add and manage multiple menus using the app. The app is fully customizable by allowing you to personalize the app according to your business model.
Features: At a Glance
- Invoice tracking
- Customized invoices
- Unpaid invoice reminders
- Credit card payment processing.
- Mobile integration – Android and iOS.
- Taxes and discounts option.
- Accepts multiple payment options i.e. credit cards, gift cards, cash, etc.
Also Read => Best Restaurant POS System To Know
Frequently Asked Questions
Enlisted below are some of the popular FAQ’s:
Q #1) Which Countries Does Square Work From?
Answer: Square POS card payment system is currently available in the US, Japan, Canada, Australia, and the UK. You should note that the hardware sold in one country cannot be used in another country.
Q #2) What is a Square Cash Register?
Answer: Square Register is a card-swipe dongle which allows the users to process credit and debit cards on mobile devices.
You can enter approved cards in multiple ways. Square system can accept cards through manual entry, dipping a chip card, swiping a card, and tapping a contactless card.
Q #3) Can Square Accept International Payments?
Answer: You can process credit card transactions only in the country where you have activated your Square account. You cannot process card transactions abroad using the device. You can process cash transactions when abroad.
Q #4) What Cards are Supported by Square POS?
Answer: It is compatible with most international and US issued chip or magstripe cards. The device can process most prepaid, credit, debit, corporate, and loyalty cards issued by companies such as MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover, and UnionPay.
Q #5) Does Square POS Work with a Cash App?
Answer: Square Point Of Sale System can be linked to your Cash App mobile payment account. Deposits from Square System can be deposited directly into the account. This option, however, is available for standard deposits only. Instant deposits cannot be transferred to the account.
Types of Square POS
Square, initially launched the Square Reader for smartphone headset jack. But later on, as Apple and some other smartphone manufacturers started removing the jack from their devices, the company released few other types to cater to the needs of the users.
Square Chip Reader for Magstripe
The first device that was released by Square was the chip reader for magstripe. The device that connects to an Android and iOS smartphone costs nothing. The connector can connect to a headset jack and the newer Lightning connector.
Square Reader for Contactless and other Chips
This device connects with EMV chip cards. The device supports Google Pay, Apple Pay, and other NFC payments.
Square Stand with Chip Reader
Square Stand with Chip Reader allows you to turn the iPad into a POS terminal. The device is compatible with iPad Air, Air 2, Pro 9.6, and 5th and 6th generation Apple tablets.
Suggested read =>> iPad Pro vs iPad Air – Which is better for you?
Square POS Terminal
Square POS Terminal is an all-in-one payment processing system. The benefit of buying this system is that the transaction fee is 0.15% lower when compared to the other systems.
What is Square POS Best For?
Square system is ideal for e-commerce companies. The online payment processing feature of the system makes it an alternative to Shopify.
The system is also great for retail shops, counter service firms, coffee shops, and restaurants. In addition, bars & lounges, health & fitness, beauty professionals, home & repair and other professional service providers can benefit from the POS solution.
The POS solution is also great for startup firms who want to keep costs down during the initial phase. This is because the cost of using the service is based on the percentage of transactions.
As a result, you will have to pay less when the transaction volume is low. The fees will increase gradually as and when the business starts to grow and the sales volume increases.
Best For
- Small and medium-sized businesses
- E-commerce businesses
- Startup companies
- Restaurants and bars
- Health and fitness
- Beauty professionals
- Home and repair
- Other professional services
What Do Customers Like About Square Point Of Sale?
Lots of Features
Most of the customers have praised the number of features that they can avail without having to pay a monthly fee. The payment system can integrate with e-commerce platforms. It’s hard to beat the POS system for the price when it comes to an array of features.
Security
Several customers have praised the security features of the online app. The app offers robust security to all customer data. Every time when a customer swipes the card with the POS system, the information is encrypted. This greatly reduces the risk of hackers getting access to confidential customer data.
For maximum security, the system won’t store the customer-related data on the system. All the information is stored in a secured server online.
Integration
Another thing that most of the users like about the software is its e-commerce integration. Online business users can integrate the app with the website using API. They can integrate the app as a checkout solution for the online business.
There is also an API for integration with other POS systems such as Zen and TouchBistro which allows the users to keep the customized system and thereby benefit from lower rates.
Account Opening
Customers also like the ease with which one can open an account. However, this is something of a double-edged sword. While opening an account is easy, the chances of terminations and freezes gradually increase. Square processes the model only when you have signed up for an account.
If your business model is considered to be of high risk or violates the terms, then your account can be easily closed without prior notifications.
Chargeback Feature
Most of its users like the chargeback protection offered to customers. In case, if a credit card holder disputes a charge on the financial statement that is determined as valid by Square, then the chargeback fee will be reimbursed. However, the vendor has to report about the fee within seven days of the chargeback.
In addition, there is a limit of $250 per month for each customer. You should also be following the best practices recommended by Square such as providing a receipt, monitoring shipment, and requiring a signature.
What Customers Dislike About Square System?
Customer Support
Many people were not happy with the company’s customer support. Prospective customers cannot call customer service. Only customers with a special code are allowed to contact the customer service personnel. Users will have to gather information about the software by scouring the online site and reading the reviews like this.
Gets Overloaded
Some customers have also complained that the POS software gets slow in case of a large number of transactions. There will be a lag while selecting an item to add to the card. That’s understandable as the app is not meant for a large business with millions of transactions per month.
Insufficient Reports
Customers have also complained that the reports are not detailed. You will also find difficulty while generating reports for odd shifts. For a shift that runs from 12 pm to 2 am, you will have to run two separate reports.
Account Access
A number of customers have complained about its account freeze and termination. Due to the robust fraud prevention feature, customers aren’t able to access the account if a red flag is raised.
Based on the BBB companies, the company doesn’t properly disclose what activities result in a warning. Customers aren’t informed beforehand that they have violated the terms of the agreement. They only receive a notification that their account is being closed as your business model is unsupported.
Transaction Fees
A lot of customers have also complained that the transaction fees can take a chunk of your profit.
The fees can be particularly high for merchants with large volume transactions. Although the company does give discounts for companies that process more than $250,000 transactions per year and the average ticket size of above $15.
How Much Does Square Cost Per Transaction?
Basically, the Square POS app is completely free. However, you only have to pay a percentage of each transaction processed through the app. You also have to pay for the hardware that ranges between $199 and $999.
Hardware Price
| Square Reader for Magstripe Chip | Square Reader for Contactless and other chips | Square Stand with Chip Reader | Square POS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $49 | $199 | $999 |
Software Plans
| Square Reader App | Square POS for Retail | Square Stand with Chip Reader | Square POS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transaction fee is 2.75% per swipe or tap. | $60 plus 2.75% per swipe or tap. | Transaction fee is 2.75% per swipe or tap. | A transaction fee is 2.6%+10 ¢ per swipe or tap. |
Businesses that process a large number of transactions every month can also contact Square for a custom quote. The company offers great discounts for businesses with a large volume of payments. This can greatly reduce the fees paid for the services for medium-sized businesses.
To be eligible for custom volume rates, your business should have more than $250,000 in card sales with an average ticket size of more than $15.
Final Verdict
Square POS is an affordable option for small businesses and startups. The software excels with a rich array of features. You don’t have to pay any monthly fee for using the app. For startups with a few transactions, the fee can be very low.
However, the POS app can be costly for businesses with a large number of transactions. The fees get progressively higher with growing sales. I think the software will be a great deal if the monthly transaction of your business is less than $10,000 per month.
Businesses with high volume will get a better deal with other POS solutions such as Clover POS and Toast POS. Overall, I think the software provides small and medium-sized businesses with great value for money. If you are a startup firm, you should definitely start with this POS solution.
Square POS offers businesses with great flexibility and mobility. The software supports robust order management and inventory tracking features. You can also generate reports to get an overview of the business performance within a specific period.
Hope this tutorial would have enriched your knowledge on Square POS.