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The Poynt Smart Terminal is a portable credit card terminal. It isn’t a point-of-sale system on its own, but you can get much of that functionality with separate apps. Poynt offers software for an end-to-end payment solution, and through parent company GoDaddy, it offers competitive pricing for payment processing.

You can buy a Poynt Smart Terminal from a third-party reseller or rent one from Poynt for use with a separate POS. Though the hardware costs and software plans can vary, the Poynt Smart Terminal may still be a cost-effective choice for businesses with time to talk to sales reps and accessories vendors.

Here’s more information about the Poynt Smart Terminal, as well as the company’s other hardware and software options.

Software plans run from $30 to $50 per month.

Poynt Smart Terminal: $30 monthly rental from Poynt, or purchase outright from an authorized reseller.

Poynt 5 reader: $15 monthly rental from Poynt, or purchase outright from an authorized reseller.

Online payments: 2.3% plus 30 cents per transaction.

Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Android Pay, cash, checks and gift cards.

Upfront pricing for payment processing.

Integration with popular hardware accessory brands, as well as QuickBooks, WooCommerce and POS systems such as NCR Aloha and Dinerware.

Analytics and monitoring tools work on the terminal and the Poynt website, as well as on mobile using a free app.

Hardware prices depend on whether you rent or buy, which may mean doing some extra cost analyses.

Buyers must purchase terminal and accessories from other merchants/resellers, which means more comparison shopping to do.

» MORE:  How to choose a POS system for your business

Poynt has two merchant software pricing packages. Here are some of their notable features.

Manages up to 575 items in inventory (products or services).

Offers digital receipts with your logo.

All of the features in the Advanced package.

Works with customer loyalty programs.

GoDaddy owns Poynt, so to accept payments with Poynt, you’ll need to set up a GoDaddy Payments account.

In-person payments: 2.3% per transaction. Includes contactless transactions, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Online payments: 2.3% plus 30 cents per transaction. Poynt transfers funds to your bank account on the next business day.

Virtual payments: 3.3% per transaction. Includes phone and keyed-in payments.

Poynt offers the Poynt Smart Terminal and the Poynt 5 wireless reader. You can rent these from Poynt for $30 or $15 per month, respectively, or purchase them from an authorized reseller.

Both are credit card terminals with touch screens, and both accept magstripe, chip card, NFC and QR code payments.

The Poynt Smart Terminal also has a user-facing display and prints receipts.

The Poynt 5 is smaller than the Poynt Smart Terminal.

Although the Poynt Smart Terminal and the Poynt 5 aren’t full-on point-of-sale systems like Square or Clover, a set of apps give them POS functionality.

Poynt integrates into other POS systems, including NCR Aloha , Micros and Dinerware.

on Square's website

on Clover's website

The Poynt Smart Terminal is a portable countertop device that accepts card swipes, dips and taps. It includes a built-in touch screen for you and a smaller, customer-facing touch screen. It has an NFC reader, prints receipts and comes with access to Poynt HQ, which is an analytics dashboard.

About half the size of the Poynt terminal, the wireless reader accepts chip cards and contactless payments, and merchants can use it as a QR/bar code scanner.

Poynt integrates with a variety of popular USB printers (Esky, Epson, Star, mPOP, POP10-B1), wireless printers (Star, Epson), cash drawers (Star, M-S, Solux, mPOP, APG, MMF) and a Kercan bar code scanner, but you’ll have to shop for and buy those on your own from a separate vendor.

Poynt’s payment processing prices are competitive and easy to find on its website, which is helpful when budgeting and comparing options. Also, there are no activation, early termination, interchange, chargeback or refund fees.

Poynt integrates with QuickBooks, which is a popular accounting software package for small businesses . The hardware also integrates with popular accessories (printers, bar code readers, etc.) from other manufacturers, which can help you customize your setup. Those in the food service industry will especially appreciate that Poynt integrates with restaurant POS systems Aloha, Micros and Dinerware.

Resellers are a key route for obtaining Poynt hardware and accessories. This means spending more time finding and comparing prices from various resellers. You may also have to seek support from the reseller rather than from Poynt. In addition, the reseller may work with only specific credit card processors.

Poynt offers useful features, competitive pricing and opportunities to customize your setup, but you may need to assemble parts of that setup yourself. This could save you money, but it may also cost you time.

About the author: Tina Orem is NerdWallet's authority on taxes and small business. Her work has appeared in a variety of local and national outlets. Read more

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