What a POS system actually costs — and where the surprises hide.

The five things you are actually paying for

• Hardware — terminals, handhelds, kitchen displays, printers, cash drawers, scanners, kiosks. Bought outright or spread across a term.
• Software subscription — usually monthly per terminal or per location, covering updates, cloud reporting and the modules you enable.
• Payment processing — a percentage plus a per-transaction fee, charged by the processor, not the POS.
• Setup — menu or catalogue build, hardware install, network work, staff training, data migration from your old system.
• Support and warranty — the response time you get when a terminal dies mid-service, plus hardware coverage and swap terms.

What moves the number up or down

• Number of terminals and whether staff need handhelds for tableside ordering.
• Kiosks, KDS screens and self-serve add real hardware but usually cut labour hours.
• Number of locations, and whether you need consolidated multi-store reporting and stock transfers.
• Modules enabled — loyalty, online ordering, delivery integration, wholesale pricing, inventory depth.
• Cabling and network readiness at the site — an old building with no drops costs more to install.

Questions to ask any POS vendor before signing

• Is the contract term locked, and what happens if I close or relocate a location?
• Are software fees per terminal or per location, and what is the cost of adding a till later?
• What exactly is the payment rate, including per-transaction fees, and can I keep my own processor?
• Is support 24/7 with real people, and is on-site service included or billed per visit?
• Who owns the data, and can I export my sales, product and customer records if I leave?
• Is offline mode included, or is it an upgrade tier?

Where POS KING sits

We quote per deployment rather than publishing a price list, because the honest answer depends on your terminal count, hardware choices and which modules you switch on. What we hold constant: no charge for multilingual support, installation and staff training included in the deployment, a 1-year limited hardware warranty with optional extension, and no per-report or per-user upsell for the standard reporting suite.

A quote from us itemises hardware, software subscription, setup and support separately, so you can see exactly what each line does and compare it against anyone else's number.