Clover POS Review

Cash payment and bank payment via cheque were popular forms of executing all business transactions. With the emergence of technology the modes of settling business transaction has widened.

For the owners of small businesses there are many options to receive payments. Choosing the right option can be an overwhelming task. Today let’s discuss about one such option – POS system or Point of Sale system. Point of Sale system is wherein the invoice/bill is generated and the customer makes the payment digitally using a credit card.

Since the onset of the Point of Sale system, many players have jumped onto the bandwagon of POS system. For a small business owner making the choice is often difficult. We will make the choice easier by reviewing one such POS system.

Clover POS System

The best feature of Clover is that it has 2 software plans and 4 hardware plans so you can combine the best of both worlds and have a POS system suitable for your type of business. Clover mainly offers POS business solutions for Restaurants, Retails, and Service-based companies.

As mentioned earlier, Clover POS system offers four hardware options:

Clover GO POS

As the name suggests, this is a portable Bluetooth enabled device or hardware. You can connect this to your smartphone or tablet or iPad and process payments. It can process magstripe-only cards, chip cards, and contactless payments. The cost of Clover Go POS is $69 and is an economical POS options offered by Clover.

Clover Flex

Clover Flex POS is yet another handheld, mobile device with dynamic capabilities. This is one good option for restaurants. You can swipe magstripe-only cards, chip cards, and contactless payments. Apart from this Clover Flex can scan barcodes, can capture signatures, and process all types of payments. To top it off it can print receipts as well. Clover Flex is a small wonder POS. All this for the price of $499

Clover Mini POS

Clover Mini POS can do all the functions that Clover Flex can perform but faster. This is a counter-top model and best suitable for retail businesses.

It supports magstripe-only cards, chip cards, and contactless payments. It scans barcodes, captures signature and prints receipts. It also supports all types of payments. Clover Mini POS is for $749 and it is a countertop hub with excellent speed and power.

Clover Station

Clover Station gives you a complete package of countertop display, cash drawer, and printer for receipts. This is best suitable for huge restaurants and retail businesses. It supports magstripe-only cards, chip cards, and contactless payments. You can scan barcodes and print receipts. This POS system starts at $1349.

You can use the above hardware with any one of the 2 Clover’s software offerings:

Register Lite

The first and foremost function that it supports is that it can accept and process various types of payments along with credit and debit cards and chip and contactless cards. It can track payments made in cash and also payments made offline. It calculates discounts and item-level taxes. You can process refunds and track sales and reports. It also can email or text or store receipts digitally. You can set your employee shifts and other permissions using Register Lite. You can access it via the Clover App. The best feature is the $100000 liability protection offered in case your data gets breached.

Register Lite comes with a monthly fee of $14. The in-person transaction fee is 2.7% + $0.10. For Keyed-in transaction, the fee is 3.5% + $0.10

Register Lite is a good option to choose for start-ups and small businesses.

Register

In case you need options or features in addition to what Register Life has to offer, then choose the Register Plan. The monthly fees are almost double that of Register Lite at $29 per month. The in-person fee is 2.3% + $0.10 per transaction and for keyed-in it is 3.5% + $0.10 per transaction.

The additional features are management of Inventory, creation of loyalty programs for customers, creating mailing list, accessing customer feedback and managing coupons. It can also track item-wise profitability as it can add item-wise costs. It helps with the exchange of items. These features are best for retail models. For restaurants, it manages orders and sends them to display in the kitchen.  It is also useful for bar tabs and reservations as it can pre-approve credit cards.

Clover boasts of excellent 24×7 customer service and support system.  You can design digital gift cards and physical gift cards using over 70 templates.

Another excellent feature offered by Clover is the Virtual Terminal. You can log into your clover web dashboard and accept payments without any hardware. This is a secure mode and you can send digitally drawn receipts and also access contact details for CRM activity.

Conclusion

Clover POS System is an economical choice for small businesses. Since you can combine software and hardware options you can design a smart package for your business.  The best part is the Virtual Terminal which you can combine with Register Lite and use it on a trial basis, post which you can decide the right hardware for your business. Clover POS integrates well with other apps like Quickbooks, Yelp, Shopify and others. Using the Clover apps you can streamline loyalty programs, promotions, and discounts.

The Clover POS system offers all POS solutions with its hardware and software options. However one thing that needs to be considered is, in case, you need to use Register software then you will need countertop hardware of Clover. The handheld device is not compatible. This could increase the cost of POS system for your business.

The pricing of hardware and software is highly competitive compared to other POS system providers.  Overall Clover POS is an excellent option for small businesses mainly restaurant owners, retail outlets and other service providers. Though there are no free hardware options, with the handheld or countertop hardware options you can perform most of the POS transactions with ease and great speed.