Stripe is a company that may need no introduction. Since its founding in 2010, it has taken the payments world by storm and attracted millions of customers across the globe, especially in the Northern American region.

Stripe conquered the payments market with a simple API integration that enabled any business to accept dollar payments online. Gradually, it began adding more currencies and expanding across the globe, and it’s now available across all continents. The company released the Stripe Terminal point-of-sale solution in 2018, first in the U.S. and later in European countries including Ireland, France, Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands.

Since 2018, many businesses have adopted the Stripe Terminal to process in-person payments. It now represents one of the company’s major sources of revenue.

We'll look at whether we think it might be one of the best POS systems out there. 

Stripe Terminal: Plans and pricing

To use Stripe Terminal, you must choose from one of two pieces of hardware; the Stripe Reader M2 or the BBPOS WisePOS E. As the names suggest, the former is developed and marketed by Stripe, while the latter is manufactured by another company.

The Stripe Reader M2 will cost you $59 and the BBPOS WisePOS E costs $249 to purchase one-time. Additionally, you'll pay a fee of 2.7% + 5 cents for every successful card transaction. If you choose Tap to Pay, you'll pay an extra 10 cents per authorization. Likewise, if you choose point-to-point encryption for your transactions, you'll pay an extra 5 cents per authorization.

Stripe’s fees are relatively expensive compared to the competition. You can find many other point-of-sale terminals with lower fees, but many people still go with Stripe because of the convenience and extensive customization it allows. 

Stripe Terminal: Features

Stripe Reader M2

This is a fast and secure mobile card reader that Stripe offers with its point-of-sale solution. It accepts any card with a "Europay, Mastercard, and Visa (EMV)" chip for payments. Alternatively, customers can swipe or use the contactless method to make a payment.

This card reader is battery-powered and lasts a whole business day after a full charge, so you don't need to worry about it going off at crucial times. If you're still worried, then you can purchase an optional charging cradle and tablet mount to charge the device while in use. The card reader supports end-to-end encryption to prevent malicious actors from snooping in on your transaction information.

A special thing Stripe does is that it allows you to customize the looks of your card reader before ordering it. So, you can design it with your logo and brand colors to look more professional.

BBPOS WisePOS E

This is a much larger point-of-sale terminal with a 5-inch touchscreen that makes it easy to use, either handheld or on a countertop. Like the card reader, it accepts EMV chip, swipe, and contactless payments, and supports end-to-end encryption. You can power it with a battery or a plug-in wire. It works with a Wi-Fi connection, and there’s another optional dock for Ethernet connections.

Tap to Pay

A good thing about using Stripe's point-of-sale solution is that you must not even purchase the hardware. You can use your existing iPhone or Android device as a payment terminal and accept contactless payments. 

This Tap to Pay solution works with American Express, Mastercard, and Visa contactless cards or NFC-based mobile wallets including Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Google Pay. However, the iPhone solution is only available for U.S.-based retailers while the Android solution is limited to the U.S., Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.

Customization

One of the main selling points of the Stripe Terminal is the platform’s extensive customizability. You can create your own point-of-sale and checkout experience using Stripe's APIs and SDKs. For example, you can create customized email receipts or reader splash screens with your own logo. 

Note that you will need technical and programming knowledge to customize the checkout experience. However, with the right skills, you can do wonders with this and look very professional to customers. You can customize it via server-driven integration (US-only) or with a software development kit (SDK) for Android and iOS systems. 

Stripe Terminal: Interface and use

Ease of use is a point that many customers highlight when reviewing the Stripe Terminal. Setting up the hardware to use is relatively easy, and so is navigating the software to configure and accept payments from customers. But, you may encounter difficulty if you want to customize the checkout experience using Stripe’s APIs and SDKs.

Overall, Stripe Terminal scores high in ease of use. 

Stripe Terminal: Support

Stripe provides customer support through email, live chat, and telephone. The support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you send an email, expect a response within 24 hours. If it’s live chat, the company claims an average wait time of 3 minutes.

For telephone support, Stripe does not actually have a dedicated support line. Instead, you can provide your phone number and request a phone call, and the company may decide to honor your request. This gives Stripe a disadvantage in the support category.

Stripe Terminal: The competition

GoDaddy POS and Shopify POS are two major competitors to the Stripe Terminal. GoDaddy’s solution has significantly lower fees than Stripe’s (2.3% flat compared to 2.7% + 5 cents for every transaction). Shopify’s fees range between 2.4% and 2.7% for every transaction, but there’s also a recurring monthly subscription required.

Stripe has the drawback of being more expensive, but it beats these two competitors in customizability and functionality.

Stripe Terminal: Final verdict

The Stripe Terminal is one of the best point-of-sale solutions that your business can choose. It’s easy to set up and use and offers more customizability than virtually any other point-of-sale system. However, these benefits come at a cost of higher fees, which constitutes a major drawback.   

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GoDaddy is best known as a domain name provider, but it provides many other complementary services for online businesses, including the Godaddy point-of-sale (POS) system. The company’s point-of-sale devices let businesses accept payments from customers with ease. 

GoDaddy made its foray into point-of-sale systems in 2021 when it released a mobile card reader and a Smart Terminal. These systems made it easy for GoDaddy's existing business customers to operate online and offline. It came with competitive fees, which has helped make it popular.

The Smart Terminal is the best option for physical store owners while the Card Reader is ideal for businesses operating on the go. You're free to purchase any of these devices and use them. 

We tested GoDaddy’s POS systems to provide an unbiased review that’ll help you decide if GoDaddy’s POS systems are a good one to adopt.

GoDaddy POS: Plans and pricing

The GoDaddy Card Reader has a suggested retail price of $99.99 and the Smart Terminal has a suggested retail price of $499.99. However, GoDaddy sometimes offers heavy discounts that bring down the price of the Card Reader to as little as $49.99 and the Smart Terminal to $249.99 (note that these discounts may not always apply).

Every device comes with a 1-year limited warranty and a 30-day money-back guarantee if you change your mind. GoDaddy's POS systems work exclusively with the company's own payment processing system (GoDaddy Payments), which takes a 2.3% cut on every transaction and no fixed fee, unlike other rival payment gateways.

While GoDaddy Payments has a competitive fee, we think it’ll be better if the company’s POS devices worked with other payment gateways, as companies may not want to be locked within one company’s ecosystem for processing all their payments. 

GoDaddy POS: Features

Smart Terminal

As the name suggests, this is a modern and sleek payment terminal for physical retailers. It has dual screens; one for the customer and the order for the retailer. You can customize the side that the buyer will see to showcase your brand and product promotions. This is an all-in-one terminal that includes a payment processor, printer, and scanner, so you do not need additional hardware to receive payments for your store.

Card Reader

The Card Reader is a much smaller payment processing hardware. It has a 3-in-1 swipe, chip, and tap function to accept payments and works seamlessly with the GoDaddy mobile app. You will get a docking station that makes the device easy to handle. It has a battery life that lasts a whole day, so you do not need to worry about missing a sale as long as you fully charge it before the business day kicks off. 

This smaller point-of-sale solution is ideal for businesses that move on the go, e.g., farmer's markets.

GoDaddy Payments

GoDaddy Payments is the exclusive payment gateway that the point-of-sale terminals mentioned above work with. This gateway allows you to accept most credit or debit cards for payments. Customers just need to swipe or insert their cards and provide their PINs to authorize a payment. This gateway also allows Tap to Pay on iPhone. The transaction fee is a flat 2.3% and nothing else for in-person payments.

Setting up GoDaddy Payments is noticeably quick and easy, and you can receive your money in as little as one business day. Note that some types of businesses are not allowed to use this gateway, such as firearms retailers, gambling services, Hemp and CBD products retailers, etc.

Website and E-Commerce

GoDaddy is best known for its website and domain hosting services. A good thing about using GoDaddy's point-of-sale systems is that you also get access to its e-commerce website-building tools. 

You can set up an online store with ease and accept money from customers using GoDaddy Payments. You'll have access to over 100 templates that you can customize to make your store look professional. You can also connect your store and sell through third-party platforms like Instagram, Facebook, eBay, Amazon, and the Google Merchant Center. Likewise, you can connect your store to various social media platforms for advertising and to boost visibility. 

In short, adopting GoDaddy’s POS system gives you access to a broad range of tools to set up a full-fledged retail operation.

GoDaddy POS: Interface and use

GoDaddy's point-of-sale software is famous for its relative ease of use. It is a cloud-based platform that's easy to set up and deploy. The Smart Terminal offers an intuitive interface to process customer payments. The card reader works with the GoDaddy mobile app, which also offers a user-friendly interface.

If you wish, you can integrate your point-of-sale hardware with third-party accessories, e.g., accounting software to help you track and record sales. You can also adopt GoDaddy's complementary features such as appointment booking and website building.

GoDaddy POS: Support

GoDaddy offers customer support through live chat, telephone, and email. You can always head to the Contact Us page and choose Chat Now. If live chat is unavailable, then you can look for the appropriate support numbers to call in the Call Us section; the exact one depends on your region. Similarly, you can send a message to one of GoDaddy’s support email addresses and wait for a response within 24 hours. 

GoDaddy POS: The competition

There’s no shortage of point-of-sale systems out there rivaling GoDaddy’s. Two good examples are Stripe Reader and Shopify POS. The Stripe Reader works similarly to the GoDaddy Card Reader; it is compact, has strong battery life, and accepts both chip, swipe, and tap payments. It is a more intuitive system but comes with higher fees of 2.7% + 5¢ per transaction.

The Shopify POS is another intuitive point-of-sale system. But, unlike GoDaddy’s, it requires a recurring monthly subscription fee of between $1 and $399 in addition to transaction fees of between 2.4% and 2.7%.

GoDaddy POS: Final verdict

Many people complain about GoDaddy’s domain name services but these complaints hardly extend to the company’s point-of-sale systems. GoDaddy has put a lot of effort into its point-of-sale products to please customers with competitive features and fees. It is a POS system that we can recommend for every eligible business.  

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