I'm looking for some feedback on POS systems and credit card processors for a single-location small retail/manufacturing business. We are currently a very paper heavy and manual operation - every order is taken and written down on a piece of paper and then when it's time to pay is manually keyed into a cc terminal. The piece of paper is used to document orders and is used throughout the production process if necessary. I'm looking to modernize while avoiding headaches I've read about while researching. Looking for opinions I can trust rather than random reddit users.

Currently about 50% of our orders are folks walking into the store, picking items and buying right then and there. The other 50% are folks calling in with a large or custom order that may take a day or two to manufacture. I'd love to digitize orders with customer info/order details/status (ordered, paid, picked up, etc.) and from these created orders generate invoices or send payment links for deposits that will link to that same order, or have the order be open for a day or two until the order is ready.

I've researched several options, but most seem to have significant trade offs:
-Square: Decent tech, but read from many reddit users about funds being frozen, accounts locked due to fraud or other reasons (we've had bozos with stolen credit cards a few times over the last few years). Also you're locked into Squares CC processing rates which are high.
-Clover/Lightspeed/Helcim/GoDaddy: These all seem to have mixed reviews on reliability/support/payments
-Other options: Been reading about Korona (cc processor agnostic so you shop your own rates, but the software itself seems a bit clunky and only see the same reddit users talking about it)

If you go outside of some of these POS systems you can utilize a more interchange+small markup type processor.

Trying to find a system that meets our workflow (both in person payments and work order types), is reliable payment wise, generate invoices/deposits, etc.

For those in a similar spot, what has been working for you?

I've got a trusted contact in the space - happy to connect the two of you if you'd like.

Square will offer better rates than advertised depending on the amount that you process through them. It's super simple to use. You can POS and invoice with them. You can keep card on file for repeat customers, etc. Their customer service can be a bit frustrating.

Manual entry of cards is more expensive than chipping, etc. All the rates are somewhat negotiable. More you spend, better rates you get.

I have a very small store and use Stripe for the processing, I am very happy with them.

Check out Freshbooks. They take credit cards through Stripe and can do your invoices and might be able to create work orders in it as well.

I haven't used it, but know a few people that have.

Conroe_Ag_8 said:

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I've got a trusted contact in the space - happy to connect the two of you if you'd like.

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Thanks I think I'm still a ways away from a decision.

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Square will offer better rates than advertised depending on the amount that you process through them. It's super simple to use. You can POS and invoice with them. You can keep card on file for repeat customers, etc. Their customer service can be a bit frustrating.

Manual entry of cards is more expensive than chipping, etc. All the rates are somewhat negotiable. More you spend, better rates you get.

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Right we could negotiate some depending on how much they're willing to play call, could be a decent option, there system is pretty close to matching my ideal workflow but wish I could change a few things. Almost want to tell Claude to build me an order management system designed specifically for me but seems like a headache to integrate it with a cc processor, terminal, and enable invoicing.

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I have a very small store and use Stripe for the processing, I am very happy with them.

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Thanks, does stripe have an actual POS solution in terms of the SW side of things, like I can have various SKUs with prices, reporting, etc. or is it just a payment terminal? There fees seem pretty high too but they also say you can negotiate.

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Check out Freshbooks. They take credit cards through Stripe and can do your invoices and might be able to create work orders in it as well.

I haven't used it, but know a few people that have.

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Thanks I'll have to look at this more but at first look seems like they utilize stripe which is a bit pricey on processing.

You might also look at a CRM like Monday or a bunch of others and then invoice through Melio.


I use Melio to pay my vendors by ACH and it is completely free with a 3 day pay time frame.
I can also send a link to customers to pay me by credit card. I can set it where I pay the fee or the customer pays the fee for each transaction. 95% of my customers are NET30, so i only use it a few times per year, but it works great and I am not having to take a CC # and run it manually like I used to do.

If anyone else needs to make ACH payments, check out Melio. Been using them for over a year now.

do you have a website or any kind of ecommerce that might offer a POS capability?

We have use shopify for our ecommerce website and and creating custom orders over the phone and shopify POS for walkin customers in our store and trade show sales. That way everything is tied together and easy to track all orders and inventory through one location.

phorizt said:

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do you have a website or any kind of ecommerce that might offer a POS capability?

We have use shopify for our ecommerce website and and creating custom orders over the phone and shopify POS for walkin customers in our store and trade show sales. That way everything is tied together and easy to track all orders and inventory through one location.

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No, zero business done online.

I'm leaning square if they play ball on rates. Them freezing assets does scare me a bit though. Of course they also just made an update to their platform that removed the ticket to invoice feature that would've been super nice to have.

We use Square at our cigar lounge. Haven't had many issues that I can think of.

Our business uses Lightspeed. We've been using them for 5 years and really don't have anything bad to say about them. We send quotes to customers everyday and send a link for them to pay when product is shipped. We get paid daily for the previous day's sales. On Monday we get paid for Friday-Sunday sales. Never had any issue with payments.

Let me know if you have any questions. There are tons of reports too. It's very easy and works well. We have hundreds of transactions per month with no issues.