Vend By Lightspeed Review

Pros

• Strong inventory management
• Multistore capability
• Loyalty program
• Gift cards

Cons

• Nontransparent pricing
• May be expensive for smaller businesses

What Is Vend By Lightspeed?

Vend by Lightspeed is a point of sale system designed for established retailers that want a POS system that grows with their business. This highly scalable system — which is also known as Lightspeed Retail (X-Series) — is loaded with features for all types of retailers, including those who sell both online and in-store.

Vend by Lightspeed covers all of the basics (and then some) that retailers would expect from a POS, including easy inventory management, multichannel selling, support for multiple stores, loyalty programs, gift cards, and more.

Vend By Lightspeed Pricing

The biggest drawback of Vend by Lightspeed is that monthly pricing and fees aren’t disclosed. Instead, you can reach out to an expert at Lightspeed through its website to learn more about the product and its pricing.

Based on the pricing that Lightspeed has for its other products like Lightspeed Retail, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that Vend by Lightspeed offers fair, competitive pricing (although it may be a little expensive for smaller retailers). But you won’t know for sure until you contact Lightspeed for a quote.

It’s worth noting that Lightspeed generally puts advanced features on its higher tier plans, and an additional charge is generally incurred for additional registers or locations.

There is a variety of hardware available for purchase at various price points. You can purchase card readers, iPads, iPad stands, and smart terminals directly from Lightspeed. You may also source your own hardware, provided it’s compatible with Lightspeed.

Vend By Lightspeed Features

Vend by Lightspeed has a great set of features for retail businesses.

Here’s an overview of some of the most notable features:

Vend Retail POS

• Returns and store credit
• Split payments
• Order holds and layaways
• Track customer payment history and past purchases
• Points-based loyalty program
• Branded gift cards
• Customer management portal for targeted marketing campaigns

Vend POS Inventory

• Barcode importing, creation, and printing
• Barcode scanner app
• Purchase order creation and progress monitoring
• Automated stock reordering based on custom inventory rules
• Custom price books based on location, customer type, and/or time-sensitive discount
• Product bundling (to sell special bundled products) and breakdowns (to sell bulk inventory as individual items)
• Item transfers across locations
• Full/partial inventory receiving and returns
• Demand forecasting to predict when you’ll need more or less inventory

Other Vend POS Features

• Open API access (to add third-party software to your POS ecosystem)
• Cash management
• Employee sales monitoring
• Reports by product, brand, supplier, employee, end-of-day, end-of-week, etc.
• Mobile Retail Dashboard containing all your data, across multiple locations, from any device
• Numerous integrations, including integrations with accounting software
• Integrated financing

Ease Of Use

Getting started with Vend by Lightspeed is pretty self-explanatory, given how intuitive the software is.

Even as you get into some of the more peripheral functions of the POS, such as the loyalty program and inventory management setup, the system is simple to use.

Customer Service & Support

Vend by Lightspeed offers 24/7 support — something you won’t find with every POS provider.

With Vend by Lightspeed, you can get help through a dedicated support representative, email, phone, or live chat. There are also multiple great self-help resources, including a help center and the Lightspeed company blog. Lightspeed also has profiles on Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Lightspeed generally gets positive reviews for the quality of its customer support, although there are some complaints that customer service is sometimes slow to respond. Overall, though, its 24/7 support, dedicated support reps, and great self-support resources should make it easy for you to easily navigate any issue you may encounter with the system.

Payment Processing With Vend By Lightspeed

Vend by Lightspeed uses Lightspeed Payments, Lightspeed’s in-house payment processing. In-person rates are 2.6% + $0.10, while eCommerce processing fees are 2.9% + $0.30.

If you don’t want to use Lightspeed Payments, you can use a supported third-party processor. Options include Square, Verifone, Worldpay, and other options. Just know that you will be charged an additional fee by Lightspeed if you opt to use a third-party processor.

Contract & Commitment

Vend by Lightspeed contracts are month to month. There are no fees and no refunds if you cancel your monthly or yearly subscription early.

If you choose a third-party payment processor, additional fees will apply. You can avoid these fees by using Lightspeed Payments.

User Reviews

Finding specific reviews for Vend by Lightspeed is a bit difficult. Vend by Lightspeed does receive a 1.4 rating on Trustpilot, although the most recent reviews are from 2024. Lightspeed as a whole receives a rating of 3.9 on Trustpilot and a 3.9 on SoftwareAdvice.

Negative Reviews & Complaints

Some of the complaints about Vend by Lightspeed include:

• Fees For Third-Party Processing: Several users complained about being charged for not using Lightspeed Payments.
• Additional Fees: Some users have complained about various fees that have increased their monthly payments.
• Customer Service: Some Vend by Lightspeed users complain about the speed and quality of customer support, noting that it has seemingly gone downhill since Lightspeed acquired Vend in 2021.

Positive Reviews & Testimonials

Users praise Vend by Lightspeed for:

• Simplicity & Usability: “Simple,” “smooth,” and “intuitive” are all words you’ll repeatedly see people use to describe this system. It’s virtually impossible to get lost in this system since every function is self-explanatory. Even start-up hiccups appear to be minimal.
• Inventory Management: Many customers praise the inventory management system as helpful and easy to use. Reviewers especially like that you can view images of products in your inventory.
• Solid Reporting: Users like the availability of reports, as well as how easy it is to run custom reports.

Final Verdict Of Vend By Lightspeed

Vend by Lightspeed is one of the rare POS systems that will allow you to open it up and feel immediately at ease. And just because it’s easy to use doesn’t mean it’s lacking in features. Vend by Lightspeed is ideal for established retailers, as it offers great inventory management and customer insights, omnichannel selling, multilocation support, and customizable reports.

We do wish that pricing was more transparent, but it’s easy to get in touch to get a personalized quote. It’s also a bummer that Lightspeed does charge fees if you opt out of Lightspeed Payments and use a third-party processor, but fortunately, Lightspeed Payments’ fees are competitive.

Take the software for a test drive and contact Lightspeed for a quote to see if its features and pricing are right for your business. With complaints of extra fees, make sure to review any contracts carefully before signing. If you want more transparent pricing, you can also check out Lightspeed Retail, which may be a better fit. You can also compare other options by checking out our picks for the best retail POS systems.

Retail POS Review Methodology

We evaluate and test each software system that we review at Merchant Maverick, placing special emphasis on certain key software characteristics in order to generate our granular product ratings.

For retail POS software in particular, we have a 62-point rubric we use to evaluate the system in terms of its pricing, ease of use, features, and user reviews. These points are based on attributes relevant to the retail POS niche—such as the availability of features like purchase ordering, customer-facing displays, BOPIS (buy online, pick up in-store), and others.

Our rating system also takes into account attributes that are desirable for POS systems and cloud-based software in general, such as the availability of monthly pricing plans, free trials, and transparent software contracts.

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

Vend By Lightspeed	Visit Site

After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Vend By Lightspeed for yourself.

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

Vend By Lightspeed	Visit Site

After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Vend By Lightspeed for yourself.