Point-of-Sale System Checklist

This checklist offers suggestions for what questions to ask when talking with sales representatives or others to determine which systems best meet your needs.

The basics

• Compatibility – What device(s), operating system(s), payment processors, and basic hardware components is the system compatible with?
• Cloud-based – Can you access sales reports and other information online? If internet goes down, can you continue to process and track transactions offline?
• Payment processing –
  • Can the system process/track EBT payments, Apple Pay, and other mobile payment types?
  • Can you create customized payment categories to track other forms of payment like Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program coupons?
  • Can the system easily handle “split tender” transactions, such as when a transaction is paid with both an EBT card and cash?
• Reporting – What types of sales reports can the system generate? Can you view sales by product, product category, date range, time of day, payment type, sales channel, and/or other criteria?
• Accounting integration – Can information from the system easily be transferred to QuickBooks or any other accounting system you use? (Note: Systems that automatically transfer information to QuickBooks can produce errors unless routinely checked, so this may not be better than efficient manual entry systems.)
• E-commerce integration – If you sell (or foresee selling) your products online, how well would the system integrate with an online store?
• Customer support – When and how can you access customer support?

 Added features

1. Scale integration – Is an integrated scale available and affordable?
2. Product management –
   • Can the system easily accommodate pricing by weight?
   • Can the system easily accommodate your needs for discounts, up-charges, or any other pricing variability your products require?
   • Can products be labeled to designate which are eligible for SNAP/EBT, HIP, or other payment types, as well as which are subject to regular tax or meals tax?
3. Inventory management –
   • What inventory management capabilities does the system have?
   • Is it easy to manage inventory for items you grow or produce yourself?
   • Is it easy to adjust inventory as needed to account for sales through other channels?
   • If needed, can the system manage inventory for multiple locations?
4. Customer management – Can the system track individual customers’ information? If so, how?
5. Employee management – Can the system track sales by employee or record employee hours, if desired?
6. Invoicing – Is the system able to handle invoicing and/or purchase orders?

Costs

1. Software costs – What are the costs of the software and technical support?

• • Upfront: Are there upfront costs to purchase a software license?
  • Monthly: Are there monthly costs to use the point-of-sale platform?
  • Multiple terminals: Do software costs increase if you have more than one check-out terminal?
  • Add-ons: Are there additional costs for key add-on features (e.g. QuickBooks integration, scale integration, EBT processing)?
  • Support: Are there additional costs for customer support?

2. Transaction costs – What are the costs of payment processing?

• • Working with a designated processor: If the point-of-sale company handles the payment processing directly – or requires or recommends a particular partner company for this – what fee and/or percentage is charged per transaction?
  • Choosing your own processor: If you want to work with your own payment processor (e.g. through the bank where your checking account is located, or a processor that can handle EBT payments) is this possible, and are there added costs?

3. Hardware costs – What are the costs of compatible hardware components? Consider asking, at minimum, about the following components:

• • Register screen and stand, if provided
  • Separate computer or tablet, if you will be providing it
  • Credit card reader (and stand, if necessary)
  • Cash drawer
  • Receipt printer (and paper)
  • Barcode scanner
  • Barcode label/printer, if you need one
  • Scale, if integration is possible