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NewChief
11-13-2013, 07:19 PM
POS stands for POINT OF SALE btw, you smartasses.


Okay Planeteers,

I'm back for another advice session. My wife has a small retail business that also involves custom projects for people. We're needing a better POS system (currently we handwrite receipts and do almost no inventory tracking) in order to get a better handle on things. We use QB for our accounting, so we're currently looking at QB POS system. A fellow retail store owner we know uses it and has no complaints. But in reading about it online, the reviews were awful.

Now I'm second guessing getting QB POS and looking into other options. Anyone have first hand experience?

Needs:
* Inventory tracking
* Speedy checkout (bar code scanning)
* Ability to track and bill custom orders
* Printing bar codes for inventory
* Integration with QB
* Handling of cash drawer

Wants:
* Payroll tracking (we use PayChex to handle our payroll for us)
* Remote access

Probably other stuff we need/want, and we just don't even realize it. So yeah.. I'm here again, CP, hat over heart, asking for advice.
ChiefRocka
11-13-2013, 07:21 PM
Ask Clark Hunt about POS QB.
Fire Me Boy!
11-13-2013, 07:21 PM
Have you thought about getting a GOOD system instead of a POS?
cdcox
11-13-2013, 07:25 PM
Spinner Defense.
Marty Ball.
Raiderhater
11-13-2013, 07:29 PM
I do not about the barcode scanning because I used it in restaurants but, I'd be surprised if it can't be done; Aloha was by far the best system I used while in the service industry. And it is not even close.
Cornstock
11-13-2013, 07:33 PM
There's not currently anything out there on the market like that. I hear there will be some new releases on May 8, but there will be a lot of bugs in the system.
NewChief
11-13-2013, 07:34 PM
I do not about the barcode scanning because I used it in restaurants but, I'd be surprised if it can't be done; Aloha was by far the best system I used while in the service industry. And it is not even close.

Yeah. Most people's experience is going to be in the restaurant industry. Restaurant POS systems tend to be WAY more robust than what we need for our little shop because you track tables and need to divide tickets and all kinds of other shit. Our needs are pretty meager. I think I actually just found one that's what I want... and it's cloud based, requires very little initial investment, and is "sexy" (which is kind of important to our customers).

It's called Shopkeep.
hometeam
11-13-2013, 07:38 PM
Hate POS systems.

Seems WCO may be one of those POS systems, but maybe its QB. Not really sure.
KCrockaholic
11-13-2013, 07:59 PM
Handwriting receipts already sounds like a POS system.
ClevelandBronco
11-13-2013, 08:04 PM
Don't know anything about available systems, but I'll tell you this: If you will email a copy of my receipt to me, you can have my email address and you can use it for marketing as well. Otherwise, you're probably not going to get it from me.
NewChief
11-13-2013, 08:06 PM
Don't know anything about available systems, but I'll tell you this: If you will email a copy of my receipt to me, you can have my email address and you can use it for marketing as well. Otherwise, you're probably not going to get it from me.

We can already email your receipt to you, yes. :)

We use Intuit GoPayment currently for CC processing, and that allows emailing of receipts.
NewChief
11-13-2013, 08:07 PM
Handwriting receipts already sounds like a POS system.

We're a paper/stationery story, so handwriting receipts originally had a sort of charm to it. We're way too freaking busy for that noise any longer, though, and things are going to get even nuttier in the next two months.
Johnny Vegas
11-13-2013, 08:21 PM
I've noticed a lot of retail shops using an ipad/tablet with the square app. They also use a wooden register like this http://www.pocketables.com/images/2012/06/cashbox-608x446.png
Superbowltrashcan
11-13-2013, 08:24 PM
I have one of these. Bought it for ten bucks at Starbucks and got a $10 credit. Looks pretty useful for some aspects you mentioned but doesn't do a realtime inventory... for now. Read somewhere that could be in the works though....

https://squareup.com/

FYI: they charge 2.75% of any transaction. That is it. No minimums or other variations I can see.
NewChief
11-13-2013, 08:28 PM
I have one of these. Bought it for ten bucks at Starbucks and got a $10 credit. Looks pretty useful for some aspects you mentioned but doesn't do a realtime inventory... for now. Read somewhere that could be in the works though....

https://squareup.com/

FYI: they charge 2.75% of any transaction. That is it. No minimums or other variations I can see.

Yeah. We use intuit gopayment on the iPad for our CC processing (which is the Intuit version of square). Like you said, it doesn't do inventory and itemized ringups, though.
NewChief
11-13-2013, 08:30 PM
I've noticed a lot of retail shops using an ipad/tablet with the square app. They also use a wooden register like this http://www.pocketables.com/images/2012/06/cashbox-608x446.png

The one I'm looking at now uses an iPad to check out still, which I really like. We're in a tight space, and our cashwrap is small. We don't need a big clunky machine there.

Anyway, I love that wooden swiveling register. Very cool.
digger
11-13-2013, 08:33 PM
http://max.limpag.com/article/qr-code-google-docs-inventory/

For inventory.
NewChief
11-13-2013, 08:35 PM
http://max.limpag.com/article/qr-code-google-docs-inventory/

For inventory.

I, personally, freaking love that idea. Because I'm a huge user of google drive/docs for my team workflow at my real job.

Sadly, my wife and a bunch of chicks run this store. I frequently have to come do things on breaks from my real job like... change light bulbs. So I'm looking for idiot proof here.:D
Braincase
11-13-2013, 08:44 PM
Packard Bell 386SX. Worst POS system I ever came across.
Johnny Vegas
11-13-2013, 08:52 PM
The one I'm looking at now uses an iPad to check out still, which I really like. We're in a tight space, and our cashwrap is small. We don't need a big clunky machine there.

Anyway, I love that wooden swiveling register. Very cool.

yea those are what I've seen in the shops I seen others in the google image search they got a lot of smaller swivel stands that simulate a stand for a monitor if you ever did want to get one but didn't know you were working with tight space so you gotta work with whats good for you. I've only worked with aloha but thats restaurant/bar territory.
jspchief
11-13-2013, 09:07 PM
Quickbooks or Peachtree can't handle it?
NewChief
11-13-2013, 09:08 PM
Quickbooks or Peachtree can't handle it?

Quickbooks POS can, but it's pretty robust and a large investment (for us). Rather than just going all in with the QB ecosystem, I'm investigating other options.

But yes, Peachtree's AccuPOS system gets extremely good reviews. It's also likely overkill.
DRU
11-14-2013, 12:56 AM
If you want something cheap and simple with basic inventory and barcode scanning check out the solution I developed, www.USBSwiper.com. It works with PayPal, PayLeap, Group ISO, Stripe, and Authorize.Net. Depending on your monthly volume and avg. ticket price we can get you into a merchant account that would be the best as far as fees go.

We have lots of customers that use our stuff with PayPal and then combine that with the PayPal Here mobile app. They basically use the two as companion products and we've gotten lots of good feedback.

We also have lots of people using our hardware card reader only with Intuit Merchant Services within QuickBooks. You can use it with regular QB, too. You don't have to get the POS version.