Square Terminal review: card machine and POS in one affordable device

How Square Terminal works

The latest card machine by Square, the Terminal model, works as a standalone payment and POS terminal with software and receipt printer built in. It accepts chip and contactless cards (with a slot for foreign swipe cards), or you can key in card details manually for phone payments.

The terminal needs to be connected to the internet via WiFi. Optionally, you can purchase a Hub for Square Terminal that allows you to connect via Ethernet cable. It does not work with 4G or other network connections the way your phone does.

Costs and payouts

A major upside to Square is their simple costs. You just pay for the terminal, then a fixed transaction rate for any debit and credit cards processed. There is no minimum sales volume required, no payout fees and no contract lock-in. Unless you have opted to pay for the terminal over a number of months, there are no fixed monthly costs.

The card machine costs £199 + VAT upfront. You can also choose to pay in instalments of 3, 6 or 12 interest-free monthly payments (subject to credit check and approval). If you choose to pay over 12 months, you pay a monthly instalment of £20 – an attractive option for many startups. The repayments are handled internally by Square, not by a third party provider, and the first payment is taken when you place the order.

If you’re connecting the terminal to other hardware, you’ll need the Hub for Square Terminal costing £29 + VAT.

In Square’s store, you can buy the following compatible accessories:

• Countertop mount: £15 + VAT
• Belt clip: £45 + VAT
• Barcode scanner: £74.99 + VAT

Transactions cost a fixed rate, 1.75%, for all chip, contactless and swipe card payments through the terminal regardless of card brand, country of issue or whether it is premium. All key-in payments through the terminal or online via Square Invoices, Online Store or Virtual Terminal cost 2.5% per transaction.

Refunds are free to process and chargebacks incur no admin fees. You even get free payment dispute support from the Square team, in case a chargeback should incur.

Transactions are automatically cleared – for free – in your bank account within 1-2 working days. If you want the money faster, you can activate Instant Deposits in your account and a 1% transaction fee will be added to the card rate – you then receive the money in your bank account nearly instantly (within a couple of hours). For example, for chip and PIN cards, you pay 2.75% per transaction with Instant Deposits.

Photo: Emily Sorensen (ES), Mobile Transaction

PIN on glass – i.e. on the touchscreen of an industry-approved terminal like Square Terminal – has been deemed highly secure.

Terminal specs and features

Apart from looking pretty, what should you know about the payment terminal?

Therefore, we recommend switching it off completely when you don’t plan on using it to avoid having to recharge it first the next time you need it.

Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction

The power cable socket and power/standby button are on the left side of the terminal.

Because it runs on a local, secured WiFi connection, it can be used across your premises, for example for taking payments at the customer’s table. The Ethernet connection through the Hub could be necessary if your WiFi is unreliable, but then you have to keep the Terminal connected at the till point.

Software features are very similar to Square Reader’s mobile app, Square Point of Sale. For instance, the checkout screen gives you two options for adding to the shopping cart: enter transaction/price amounts manually or tap to add products from the library.

The checkout flow and products can be edited on the terminal – no need to log in on a computer to do it. Add product variants like size and colour and enable the “Eat-in” or “Takeaway” options if you’re a café, all of which can be selected during the checkout flow.

What about transaction options? You can accept cash, payment cards and mobile wallets, ‘card on file’ saved in the customer library, gift cards (which can be issued from the terminal too), invoicing and manually-entered card details. Split the tender, add either custom or preset tipping amounts, and once the transaction is complete, either choose to print, email or text the receipt.

The customer library enables you to add a person to the invoice rather than entering recipient details manually. You can create and send Square Invoices directly on the terminal, accessed from the side menu. Over-the-phone payments are also possible – just add products or enter an amount on the regular checkout screen and choose manual card payment as the payment method.

Transactions, sales history and reports can be viewed on the terminal. In fact, you go to Transactions to process a refund (itemised or custom amount) or resend a receipt via email or text. Receipts can be customised in Settings, and food places can set the Terminal to print order tickets.

Significant things you cannot do on the Terminal, which the mobile app can do, include:

• Access team management features
• Do more complicated product library edits

The software is updated automatically daily when the Terminal is connected to the internet. Just be prepared to wait for the update to process when you switch on the terminal every day (it took minutes on most days we tested it). For increased security, set the terminal to require password login every time it’s used. You can reset the password on the terminal if needed.

Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction

Square’s built-in receipt printer produces itemised and customised receipts, as opposed to traditional card machines that only display transaction totals.

Square Terminal vs. Square Reader

Given how cheap the Square card reader is, you may be wondering why there’s a big price difference. Put simply, Square Terminal is a premium, self-sufficient card machine from Square, while Square Reader has no screen, no PIN pad, no receipt printer and no app features on the card reader itself. The Reader is fully dependent on the Square POS app on a connected smartphone, iPad or Android tablet.

Another major difference is connectivity. Square Reader uses Bluetooth to connect to a mobile device running the POS app, and it is the mobile device that connects to the internet through its SIM card (using 3G or 4G) or WiFi. Square Terminal directly connects to the internet without the need for a phone or tablet, but then it cannot use a 3G/4G network, deeming it useless in places with no secured WiFi or fixed Ethernet setup with Square Hub.

Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction

Square Terminal prints detailed receipts and has swipe card functionality, unlike Square Reader. The software is largely the same as Square POS app, such as the pictured product menu.

On a practical level, Square Reader is tiny compared to the Terminal, so it’s very convenient on the go. The POS app has more features than Square Terminal, so even with the tiny card reader, you can do more. Of course, this requires using both the card reader and phone or tablet, and some customers may be hesitant entering their PIN on your mobile screen.

Square Terminal’s PIN entry is more practical since it happens on the terminal directly, although you do have to create the transaction first before handing the terminal to the customer.

Hardware integration

If you wonder “how does this work with the rest of the POS system”, we should emphasise the terminal IS the POS system. That said, you can still connect it to up to three hardware pieces through the optional Hub for Square Terminal (purchased separately for £29 + VAT). The Hub connects to the terminal via cable, has three USB ports for POS hardware and one Ethernet socket for internet.

Photo: Square

Square Terminal Hub has three USB ports for optional POS accessories.

Compatible till equipment is plugged into the Hub’s USB ports (so no Bluetooth accepted) and includes:

• Receipt printers
• Kitchen ticket printers
• Kitchen display
• Cash drawers
• Barcode scanners

You cannot connect the terminal to a tablet or computer, since the terminal contains all the POS features it can use, and transactions happen directly in the cloud. However, it is perfectly possible to run the full-fledged Square Point of Sale system on a tablet at the till simultaneously to the independent Terminal connected to the same account.

Reporting

On the Terminal, you can view sales history, generate custom reports and track sales by team member. You can’t view cash drawer session history like Square Point of Sale allows on a tablet.

All Square users have backend (in any internet browser) access to sales reports sorted by date, location, time period and more. Generated reports can be exported to Excel. There are lots of other free analytics on gift cards, popular sales categories, sales trends, transaction status, discounts, employee sales, etc. Custom reports can also be created.

If these are not enough, you can integrate your Square sales with more advanced accounting and reporting tools including Commerce Sync, Enterpryze, KashFlow, Kashoo Accounting, Shogo, Xero and Zoho Books.

Who is Square best for?

If you’re a small shop, café, hairdresser or any other type of merchant who doesn’t require massively complicated POS features at checkout, Square Terminal will save you counter space and money because you don’t need to buy a receipt printer, tablet or touchscreen monitor too. And if you’re cashless, it is truly only the terminal you need, since there is no cash drawer to connect to.

If your sales are primarily online, but you have a brick-and-mortar store too, the simple Square Terminal checkout could be what you need to connect those sales without superfluous equipment to fill your face-to-face shop.

Photo: Square

Square Terminal is ideal for businesses wanting to connect an online store with in-store sales.

It works best in locations with a fixed WiFi connection or till point where you can connect an Ethernet cable. For this reason, we would not recommend it for use on the go where WiFi networks can’t be depended on.

Of course, if you’re already using Square Reader, there’s no faff changing over to a different system if you go for Terminal. It is only if you require more custom features that we recommend looking elsewhere for card machines that connect with advanced POS software specifically for your industry.

Customer service and user reviews

Square provides 24/7 support over the phone if you buy Square Terminal. This is more customer support than with their other products, such as Square Reader that only offers a helpline on weekdays during work hours. There’s a very helpful Support Centre on the website, which answers most of people’s questions.

Furthermore, you get a year’s warranty on the terminal and a 30-day cooling-off period where you can get a full refund if you don’t like the product.

Customer reviews in the UK are generally very good, implying the service works smoothly. Occasionally, users complain about sudden account closures and funds being held by Square, which seem to be a result of Square mistakenly accepting sign-ups from merchants trading within business areas that Square considers high-risk.

How to get started

Getting started with Square could hardly be any easier. The pricing is already set since it is the same for everyone, in contrast to many payment companies that like to get on a call to get business information before giving you a quote.

It takes 2-3 days for your terminal to arrive after placing the order. The terminal is so intuitive that you don’t need a manual setting it up – just make sure your WiFi is working so it can connect with that.

Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction

Square Terminal comes in a sturdy, white box (as if you received an Apple product) containing the terminal, power cable, decals and ‘get started’ booklet.

Your bank account can take around 4 days before it is properly set up to receive your payments. Any transactions accepted by then will just be held by Square until they can clear in your bank account.

Our verdict

If you’re looking for a compact, affordable point of sale without lock-in or complicated fees, Square Terminal is definitely a strong contender. The sleek payment terminal fits in nicely in a small shop that hasn’t got very complicated software needs at checkout.

That said, there are plenty of add-on features such as creating an online store, invoicing, phone payments and connecting with a wide range of business tools. Some of these may have different charges, but using the Terminal only costs the transaction fee.

Bottom line: Square Terminal is very good value for a small shop that doesn’t want monthly fees or commitment.