What is a POS Machine?

POS or Point of Sales machines is one of the popular forms of accepting payment. It is a device that processes credit or debit cards to enable a transaction. POS are available in many different forms like an entire terminal, printing UNI, monitor, or a small device like a mobile. The best part of these machines is that it integrates well with the business needs.

You would have often seen a device accepting your payment through swiping the credit or debit card and asking for a pin to enter. These days even a small shopkeeper prefers keeping a swipe machine as it is easier to use, needs a low space, needs no maintenance, and is user-friendly to operate.

How does it Work?

The POS terminals may use a telephone connection line, wired, wireless connection, and SIM-based cards to make payment transactions.

GPRS POS is one of the most used POS machines. It uses GPRS SIM cards for data transmission. The POS that uses PSTN or public switched telephone network is PSTN machines. Then, there are Ethernet POS that uses ethernet IP. Mobile POS needs you to install the same on mobile.

Benefits of POS

The reasons why POS has wholly taken over retail are listed here:

• It allows you to know what happened all day by providing you with a detailed real-time report.
• You can get a record for customer tracking and get a marketing opportunity.
• It is a more accurate way of payment as everything is digital. Hence, no chances of human error.
• Easy scan and pay with various options like QR code, UPI, PayZapp, Phone Pe, GPay, Paytm UPI, etc.
• It has an excellent connectivity
  
  

How to get a POS machine?

If you are a business owner, you can request your bank to provide you POS machine for your establishment. To get a POS, you need to submit a dully-filled up application form to the bank along with necessary documents. When the banks approve, the merchant creates an agreement with the bank and gets the terminal installed at his establishment.

What are the charges of POS?

The end-customer does not bear the charges for swiping his debit or credit card, but the merchant must pay the issuer bank. On July 1, 2012, RBI capped the MDR for debit cards at 0.75% of the transaction amount up to Rs.2,000 and 1% of a transaction amount for more than Rs.2,000. In the case of credit cards, it varies between 1.5% to 2%.