What is a POS system?
In short
POS stands for point of sale: the place where a sale is settled, and the till system that handles it. A POS system consists of till software with hardware such as a screen, card terminal and receipt printer, and often also tracks stock and revenue.
What is part of a POS system?
- Till software on a tablet, POS screen or in the browser, with your products, prices, discounts and VAT rates.
- Hardware such as a card terminal, receipt printer, barcode scanner and cash drawer.
- Payments via a payment terminal or payment provider, linked to the till so the amount is not keyed in twice.
- Reports on revenue per day, product and employee, and often inventory management.
Modern till systems are often SaaS: you pay a subscription and the data is in the cloud, so you can see revenue even when you are away from the business.
Which rules apply to till data?
What your till records is part of your records. So the tax requirements also apply to your till system, and you keep the data for seven years. The Dutch Tax Administration has a guide to a reliable checkout system: all transactions are kept in detail, changes and corrections remain visible and a copy is kept in another location. Data can be supplied with the Auditfile Afrekensystemen (see audit file).
What should you look out for?
Choose a till system that suits your industry: hospitality needs tables and orders sent to the kitchen, retail needs inventory and a webshop integration. Ask about the payment terminal's cost per transaction, the integration with your accounting and how you export your data if you switch.
Which software helps with this?
Till systems differ mainly by industry: hospitality, retail and services each have their own features. Look at integrations with your webshop, accounting and payment terminal.