An EPOS till is a digital till system, an electronic till system in older wording: a touchscreen running point of sale software, usually with a receipt printer, a cash drawer and a card terminal beside it. On a quote the same things appear as EPOS equipment, an EPOS device or a touch screen till system. They are the same purchase, priced as software monthly plus hardware once.
POS tills, the EPOS device and what the words on a quote mean
EPOS till, EPOS device, touch screen till system and POS till all describe the screen and the software on it. EPOS equipment usually means the peripherals: printer, drawer, scanner, customer display. Ask for software and hardware on separate lines, because one is a recurring cost and the other is not, and a single monthly figure hides which is which.
Using an EPOS touch screen till system, and training a new starter
The daily loop is short: open the till, sell, take payment, close the till, run the day end report. Everything else, refunds, voids, price overrides, sits behind a supervisor code. A new starter needs ten minutes on the loop and to know where the supervisor is. Systems that hide the day end report or make a void hard to reverse cost more in staff time than they save in licence fees.
EPOS cost all in, and the EPOS till system price on a quote
Software runs from free to about 200 pounds a month per till on published UK tiers: SumUp prints its POS Pro plan at 49 pounds a month and storekit prints 99 pounds a month. Hardware for a tablet based counter is a few hundred pounds; Epos Now prints its Android POS system at 399 pounds plus VAT with 59 pounds a month on top, and EPOS Direct publishes indicative bands per component for a full build. Card acceptance runs separately from 0.79% to 1.75% on the published shelf, so the EPOS cost a business actually carries is three lines: software monthly, hardware once and the card rate on every sale.
The EPOS card machine: a till and card machine together, or kept apart
An EPOS card machine is a card terminal wired to the till, so the amount is sent from the screen to the terminal and the sale closes itself when the card is approved. Chip and PIN EPOS of this kind saves keying errors, but it ties the card rate to the software supplier and makes the two harder to price separately. A till and card machine kept apart means keying the amount twice, and it leaves you free to change card provider without changing your till. Published card terminals on this index run from 11 pounds to 179 pounds bought outright, so ask an integrated supplier for the card rate and the terminal price as separate lines and compare both with a standalone provider.
Questions people ask about EPOS till systems
What is an EPOS till?
A touchscreen running point of sale software, usually with a printer, a cash drawer and a card terminal. It replaces a cash register and is priced as software monthly plus hardware once.
How do I use an EPOS till system?
Open the till, sell, take payment, close the till and run the day end report. Refunds, voids and overrides sit behind a supervisor code, and knowing where that is matters more than any other training.
What does EPOS equipment usually mean on a quote?
The peripherals rather than the software: receipt printer, cash drawer, barcode scanner and customer display. Ask for hardware and software on separate lines.
An EPOS till system: how to use one at the end of a shift?
Close the till and run the day end report, which is the step that turns a day of sales into a figure you can reconcile. Anything corrective at that point, a refund, a void or a price override, sits behind the supervisor code rather than in the normal loop, so a closing shift needs either a supervisor present or the code held by someone who is.
Buying an EPOS till for sale outright: what does the hardware cost?
On the pages that publish, a single till counter is a few hundred pounds. Epos Now prints its retail package as was 849 pounds, now from 299 pounds, and states that the discount needs a twelve month payments, care and support subscription starting at 54 pounds a month, so add the subscription over the term before calling it a sale price.
Is an EPOS till with real-time reporting worth paying for?
The day end report comes with every tier. Reporting you can read while the shift is still running, on a phone or a back office screen, is usually what the second tier buys, along with stock and multiple registers. It is worth paying for when you are not on site every day; a single counter run by the owner can manage on the day end report.