Square Terminal Review (1 month later)

[cmusicshop]

I waited to post any review until I owned the Terminal for awhile, I always think it is better to read a review of an item that has been in use rather than right out of the box.  I'll preface to say, no, I do not work for Square or get any special discounts, etc.  I just like to share and appreciate seeing the same when I'm looking at new stuff.

I had thought about getting the Terminal for a while, my Samsung tablet and contactless chip reader worked fine but always seemed buggy.  Sometimes the wifi or bluetooth connection would drop and I'd be making the customer wait while I fumbled with getting it back online.  I like the larger screen of a tablet but the whole larger POS system is too much for me, I'm a small business.

Well, the Covid hit and as we were facing reopening I thought the Terminal would help with contactless sales and the ability to go to the parking lot and take payment, keeping distancing measures in place.  So, I bought one.  After some back and forth over a price drop literally days after I bought mine at full price (I got it resolved in full) I put it to work.

Pros:  Portable, can maintain a contactless transaction, quick wake and it is ready to go, so far no wifi drops.  Having the ability to print receipts right from the unit is very cool.  Printable daily/weekly/monthly reports right from the unit is a surprising feature I started using, so it will replace my old school cash register for daily totals, etc.

Cons: The predictive texts and keyboard could be improved (thinking more like a phone keyboard that learns new words and has some tweakability).  The flow, like the free POS on my tablet, could be improved such as adding detail to an item, going from one section to another can take more steps than it would have to.  

The reports feature as mentioned was a nice bonus because while you can get the information through the dashboard, being able to print a nice receipt is sweet.  During this whole shutdown/reopening I have sometimes 'lost' my routine and if I forget to ring out the day my cash register will change the date but with the Terminal I can go to any day and print what I need.

Overall, I am very happy with it.  Hoping for some improvements as we go but it is solid, quick and works very well.   One more thing, I had a bunch (50 plus) of old register rolls from a previous printer.  These were just a bit too big in diameter so I unrolled a few yards until it fill easily in the paper holder.  Shame to waste those few feet but better than wasting the whole rolls.  So...you may have to tweak off the shelf rolls.

[Helen · Accepted solution]

Thank you very much for taking the time to share this review @cmusicshop! I'm going to 'pin' it to the homepage today and mark this post as a 'Best Answer' so that other sellers can read this. 

I hope you're well and that you have been able to get your routine back, or something close to it. Thanks again for being part of the Seller Community.

[VanKalkerFarms]

I have 2 terminals and love them.  While they would never replace the 3 iPads in Square stands we have at our checkouts, they serve a great purpose for triaging a line that is long or for in the yard sales due to there compactness and all in one design.  The interface isn't great if you offer lots of options, personally I think a scaled-down in size grid could work as an option rather than the search or scroll option there is now.

Overall though they are awesome, glad you like yours.

[cmusicshop]

Yes a smaller size grid would be nice, even if it were category driven.  Ideally, something like that with the ability to select what is on it, like 'best sellers'.

[MootownCreamery]

We just got 2 terminals a few weeks ago - and LOVE them!!!!! Previously we were using a tablet from my cell phone company and while it worked, printing tickets back to the kitchen printer was tricky.  It didn't always work - especially if we stepped outside of wifi range.   What sold me on the terminal was literally the ability to print a ticket and receipt right there.   With Covid and mask requirements in-store, we've had to completely change our work flow and take a huge number of orders outside.  This makes it so much easier - and has improved the customer experience.  We've had less "walk offs" from angry customers without a mask - and they have more than paid for themselves.  We also do a weekly car show and these terminals allow us to take orders carside - which is awesome!!!!

So far they work perfectly.  There's been a couple bugs with credit cards not swiping, but that may just be the card themselves and not the terminal.   Or sometimes the receipt paper will print crooked - but still readable - just slightly angled.  

[elementstyle]

We use the square for retail terminal.  It is great.  I just wish we could do refunds on split transactions.  As we are unable to add items back into the inventory.  
The terminal really helps us out during busy times where we can increase our sales due to the speed of checkout with the barcodes.  

[Adiscipio]

Need to have some sort of protective case.. silicone maybe then I would replace all tablets and hand held phone that our delivery driver use. Sent one out with a driver and he dropped it cracked case. 300$ 
need to lower price 

[N2Vinyl]

I've had my terminal about 11 months, now due to covid, it will be more than 11 months before I get to use it again. I got it for doing transactions at doll shows so my business is very small. It was a nice choice for me, expensive, but nice in comparison to what we were doing, triple the work. I love the receipt printout, logo included!

Learning curve was definitely there will on the fly! Everything was great until we had a split ticket! LOL it would have been ok, but it wasn't 1/2 and 1/2. Somewhat embarrassing, but we got something to work, but it was a mess behind the scene.

I do love the convenience and compactness. I bought a case for it on Amazon and I am happy that we learned a bunch of things (trial and error), the service department was a great help. I just hope for the price, this isn't something that in a couple of years will be obsolete. Then I will be unhappy.

[cmusicshop]

UPDATE: Now it is almost 2 months and everything I said in the original post still stands.

Two or three times it dropped connection and didn't resume.  A simple restart and it was good as new.  Hard to say if it was a Square thing or an internet blip that triggered it.

I would add for future version, put the on/off/sleep button somewhere else.  Because it is near the front people tend to grab it as they push their chip card into the device.  No matter how easy it is to slide the card in without having to touch the unit, they still do.

Otherwise, I wake it up, punch in the sale and almost instant approval.  Very nice.

Still hoping for a update to keyboard and app flow.

[DerekICT]

I would like to get one VERY MUCH... but the requirement of a crazy box attachment to get USB and no bluetooth are deal killers for me. I have 2900 items in my store and need a bar code scanner.

This would pair so well with a bluetooth scanner!