POS Hardware & Mobile Credit Card Reader Ratings System

Point of sale systems come in all shapes and sizes and may vary when it comes to software services and features, but they all have one thing in common: the hardware required to accept payment, which might include registers, mobile card readers, and other similar devices.

• Merchant Maverick has been reviewing credit card readers and mobile payment services since 2009.
• Over the years, we’ve evaluated 100+ payment processing and POS systems, including the various readers, registers, and scanners required to use those systems.
• Each review involves 10-15 hours of initial research, followed by 5-10 hours of research for each review update.
• We update our hardware reviews at least every 12 months, though most reviews are updated twice a year, and a few of the card readers most popular with our readers receive quarterly updates.

While we research and compare many different systems, the reviews displayed on the site have been handpicked based on metrics like overall popularity, availability, and quality. The goal is to provide the most actionable and accurate information to our readers, so while we love to recommend great products, we don’t shy away from pointing out the areas where popular providers fall short.

Our expert writers engage in independent research and testing for each POS hardware review, evaluating usability, cost, depth of features, design, customer service, and more. When determining the star rating for a vendor, we score the following areas:

• Pricing
• Ease Of Use
• Features
• Customer Support
• User Reviews

Each section’s score is weighted differently, with the highest weights on pricing, features, and ease of use. The scores for each section are displayed openly in the review and then combined to create a holistic rating for the product out of 5 stars.

Read on for a more minute explanation of how we determine the individual section ratings.

Note: We use separate methodologies for our POS software review ratings system and our credit card processor ratings system.

Pricing

40% of the total score

The Pricing score is broken into two sections:

• Hardware (60% of the total section rating)
• Payment Processing (40% of the total section rating)

Our expert reviewer looks at many things when determining the Pricing score, including the relative cost of the equipment compared to the industry average, whether financing is available, the possibility for reduced fees on multiple terminals or devices, payment processing rates, and the availability of third-party payment processing options, among other things.

Ease Of Use

20% of the total score

The Ease Of Use score is broken into two sections:

• Initial Setup (25% of the total section rating)
• Device Use (75% of the total section rating)

When determining the Ease Of Use score, we evaluate the usability and customizability of the user interface, how easy it is to set up any compatible hardware accessories, the ease of syncing online channels, the overall design and trainability of the device, the battery life, and more.

Features

25% of the total score

The Features score is also broken down into two sections.

• Device Hardware Features (50% of the total section rating)
• Device Software Features (50% of the total section rating)

We take many factors into account when evaluating POS hardware devices. Our expert reviewer first looks at how many types of payment a device is designed for, giving the highest points to card readers that can accept most popular forms of payment. Then, they examine factors like access to third-party integrations, whether there is a built-in receipt printer or scanner, the ability to accept offline payments and returns, and more.

Customer Service

5% of the total score

The Customer Service score is broken down into two sections.

• Personal Support (50% of the total section rating)
• Self-Service (50% of the total section rating)

When scoring customer service, we pay the most attention to the number of support options available (phone, email, in-person, etc.), the quality of personal support received, the training options available, and the usability and depth of any online training materials, such as wikis, videos, and webinars.

User Reviews

10% of the total score

The Customer Reviews score is comprised of two sections.

• User Feedback (30% of the total section rating)
• Review Site Aggregate (70% of the total section rating)

We scour the internet for user feedback on all the products we review, looking for positive and negative feedback. Merchant Maverick is not a user review platform, so for part of this total rating we rely on aggregate user scores from review sites such as GetApp, TrustPilot, the App Store, the Play Store, and more.