Clover Go Review

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Pros

• Chip card compatible
• Numerous features
• Good web dashboard
• Compatible with other Clover products

Cons

• Can’t separate POS from payment processing
• Hardware is proprietary

Overview

At first glance, especially nowadays, it might be tempting to assume that Clover Go is like pretty much every other mobile POS (mPOS) app out there. It’s even got integrations with a full-fledged POS system (Clover Station), which makes it sound, at least on paper, like a pretty viable competitor to Square. Bring your own smartphone or tablet, install the free app, and then connect a card reader. Pretty simple stuff, right?

Scratch the surface, though, and you’ll discover there’s a lot more to Clover Go. And unfortunately, not all of it is good.

Some of it even makes me a bit angry. Like the limited pricing disclosures online and the total inconsistency from one processor to the next, or the fact that you may have to pay a small premium to get access to features that even bad mPOS apps provide for free. A kind way to put it is that Clover Go wants to be like all the other mPOS apps out there. and First Data wants you to think that it is. Unfortunately, it’s not.

Tackling this review was a bit challenging because with most mPOS products, the software and the processing are bundled together. It’s easy to treat them as one product. Most are also third-party processors, which often leads to concerns about account stability. Clover Go is different:

• First, because the entire Clover line backed by First Data, you are getting a proper merchant account. That will give you more account stability. However, it may come with a different assortment of headaches, depending on who you sign up with.
• Second, because Clover Go is available through First Data’s (fairly large) network of resellers, that means payments and software aren’t as neatly bundled. Prices and contract terms can and do vary from one seller to the next.

So how do you effectively evaluate an offering like Clover Go knowing that there’s so much variance? Evaluating the software alone ignores a major component in the merchant experience, and I feel that would be misleading.

I’ve opted to look at the software objectively and evaluate its quality. But I will also discuss the onboarding process for merchants through First Data and a handful of other resellers (where the data is available) because you need to understand how to avoid the pitfalls.

Clover Go gets a 3.5-star rating in this review. I don’t love Clover Go. Honestly, I barely like it. I will (perhaps grudgingly) admit that it’s a functional app. It has everything a mobile merchant needs, even if not everything they would want. And the account stability is a major selling point. But the business practices that surround this mPOS app give me a headache, and I don’t see why anyone would want to deal with that when there are better, more transparent and consistent options.

As with many mobile processing options, Clover Go isn’t for everyone. If you’re already using Clover products and need a mobile extension, it’s the obvious choice. However, if you’re a micro-merchant who only processes infrequently and in low volumes, I strongly encourage you to look elsewhere. Clover Go is not a good product for you.

If you process consistently and have at least a moderate monthly volume (above $3K/month, but preferably above $5K/month up to about $10K), Clover Go might be more up your alley, but you should be wary of who you sign up with.  

Read on for my full review, or go check out our top-rated mobile payments providers!

The Best Clover Service Providers

Features

You do get a full merchant account with Clover Go, which should deliver greater account stability than third-party processors like Square or PayPal. That also means it may take a few more days to get set up with Clover while First Data completes the required underwriting. So you shouldn’t expect to be up and able to process on the same day.

The Clover Go feature set is limited but functional. It’s not appropriate as a stand-alone register for a retail or food service business, but if you only need a card reader that works with your phone or tablet, Clover Go will get the job done.

Features include:

• Quick Pay Mode: Every mPOS out there has a quick-pay mode where you just punch in an amount and swipe a card. Clover Go is no different in that regard.
• Inventory Mode: What does set Clover Go apart is its inventory mode. Most mPOS systems allow you to punch in a mix of items and a custom amount if needed. “Inventory Mode” is a separate feature that is mutually exclusive to “quick pay” mode. However, inventory mode still includes a “custom item” entry for unpriced items, etc. What I dislike most about this feature is that the fine print is hidden — it’s only available with the “register” plan which may cost you more, depending on your processor.
• Card Scanner: If the card readers aren’t working for some reason, you can use your device’s camera to scan the card instead of manually entering it.
• Item Descriptions: Pretty standard stuff here: Item name, price. etc. I’m disappointed, however, that you can only create items from within the Clover dashboard. You can’t create your inventory or add an item you forgot in the app. It’s also worth noting that Clover Go doesn’t support variable pricing or pricing per unit, so you will have to switch items to “fixed price” in the web dashboard if you are using other Clover products as well.
• Item Counts: Clover Go doesn’t have robust inventory counts. However, there is an integration with the dashboard where items sold in Clover Go will deduct from your inventory counts. Refunds will not restock items, however.
• Customizable Tip: Enable tipping within the web dashboard and you can set up to four pre-set tip amounts.
• Customizable Tax: Clover Go’s tax management tools aren’t as robust as other options I’ve seen, and I actually find them to be a little confusion. You can modify some tax settings in the app, but only for non-inventory transactions. Any taxes to be applied to inventory items need to be managed from the dashboard. But I’ll give Clover credit for allowing multiple taxes to be applied to items. 
• Refunds: You can issue full and partial refunds from within the app.
• Email/SMS Receipts: When a transaction is complete, send a text message or email receipt to customers.  Extremely standard stuff here.
• Clover Suite Integration: Clover Go will sync back to the dashboard and work with other data if you’re using additional Clover products. However, not all of the features the other devices support translate into Clover Go. 
• Unlimited Users: I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Clover allows you to create unlimited sub-user accounts for free. Clover also supports different permission levels so you can control access to some features. 
• Open Orders: This surprising feature allows you to pull up orders started in any other Clover POS system in Clover Go and vice versa, which is a nice touch.
• Barcode Scanning: iOS users can scan barcodes to find items instead of searching for them within the app.
• Searchable Interface: You can find items by entering them in the search box instead of just scrolling through the list. This is actually a nice touch.

Many features need to be enabled from within the browser set up and cannot be modified in the Clover Go app, which will no doubt be a source of frustration for some users — especially those who work primarily with the mobile devices. Even more frustrating, tax rates on items need to be set when you create the item in the system; you can’t override them with another tax option later. I really do not like this. It’s inefficient, for starters.

Clover claims that the web dashboard is mobile optimized, but you still have to go leave the app, log into the site, make changes, log out of the site, log out of the app, and then log back into the app. If you or an employee are already in an area with a poor signal (it happens a lot more often than you’d think), that could mean a very long process to make a change. This, to me, is a pretty serious failing. A standalone mobile app should be standalone — you shouldn’t be reliant on the web dashboard for something as simple as setting tax rates.

That also means you’re going to have to do a lot of prep work to get the Go app functioning according to your preferences before you can use it. And even so, you won’t get the same kind of flexibility you can get from almost any other mobile app out there.

I think overall this is a solid feature set. There are some surprising features, like the searchable interface and open orders, but there’s also a lack of features like discounts or variable pricing. And some aspects of the interface and controls are just completely counter-intuitive.

System Requirements & Compatibility

The Clover Go app and reader work with most iOS devices. Android compatibility is more spotty, and I’ve seen some complaints that even new, high-spec phones like the Galaxy S7 aren’t compatible or don’t function well. I guess it’s no surprise that the card reader is being sold in Apple Stores, then, and not somewhere like Walgreens or Staples.  

Here is what you’ll need to be running in order to use Clover Go:

• • • Your iOS version is 10.0 or higher (Model 5s or later).
    • Your device is Bluetooth 4.0 (BTLE) enabled (iPad and iPad2 not supported).
    • You have Android version 4.4 and higher.
    • You are not using Windows Phones or Amazon devices.
    • Your device is not a jailbroken or rooted device.

Clover Go Hardware

The EMV-compliant chip card reader is similar to Square’s basic model, albeit larger and clunkier. It connects via your device’s headphone jack and handles both swiped and dipped transactions, but not contactless NFC transactions. You’ll notice that unlike other readers, there’s a clip to stabilize the reader when connected to your phone. I think part of that is simply because of how BIG this reader is compared to other options. 

A micro USB port allows for charging of the reader’s battery, which lasts 100+ chip card dips or 200+ magstripe swipes, or seven days in standby mode, according to Clover’s own estimates.

In addition, Clover has responded to Apple’s removal of its headphone jack by introducing its “All in One” reader that connects via Bluetooth. It also supports EMV, NFC, and magstripe transactions all in one.

Clover estimates that the battery is good for 160 swipe or chip card transactions, or 130 contactless transactions (Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay).

It’s not the slickest design out there, but it does have Bluetooth and contactless, which are big marks in its favor. Unlike Square, it also supports swipe transactions in the same device, so you won’t have to pull out the headphone jack reader. There’s even a tabletop mount available for it, which is good. However, the dock is just as clunky as the readers, and really, the rest of the Clover hardware. There’s something that’s very 80s-ish about Clover’s hardware designs, and it’s hard not to notice when you look at as much hardware as my coworkers and I do. But at least the hardware mostly seems to work, so I will complain about the dated designs but not mark Clover Go down for it.

Clover Go doesn’t support a receipt printer or cash drawer connectivity, so if you want something that can also do register duty, you’ll want to look at another Clover product or consider something such as PayPal Here or Square. You can connect an Air Print- or Google Print-enabled printer, but that’ll be your standard computer printer paper.

The cost of the reader (of both readers, actually) depends on the reseller. I’ll talk a little bit more about that in the “Pricing” section.

Integrations

One of the major selling points for the Clover systems is the app marketplace, that can extend the functionality of your POS in all sorts of ways, from adding customer loyalty to CRM and engagement. 

There you’ll find dozens of special-feature apps from Clover and third-party developers. Unfortunately, very few apps currently work with Clover Go aside from those that function only on the web. In theory, you could use some of them because Clover Go syncs to the web dashboard. But it leads me back to the idea that Clover doesn’t really stand well on its own. You are very reliant on that web dashboard because of how limited the app itself is.

And if you want a QuickBooks integration (or Xero), that’ll cost you a minimum of $19.95/month. I’ve seen this come up several times in complaints about the Clover suite on the whole.

Something that surprised me was Clover’s support for integrating with other POS systems, including a beta for mobile integrations on both Android and iOS. Here’s what Clover says about it:

“If your goal is to enable your native mobile application for EMV payments using a streamlined set of functions and in a cost-effective EMV-capable device, then integrate with Clover Go. Clover Go is Clover’s BYOD (bring your-own-device) solution for taking EMV payments. Fill out the form at the bottom of the page to get a developer preview of our high-level SDKs that enable payment communication with a light, portable device.”

If this moves beyond the beta test, it would be a game changer for mPOS apps, and it would open up a lot of possibilities for others in the mobile space.

Pricing

Pricing for Clover Go accounts varies depending on the reseller that sets up your account. Shop around, do your homework. Make certain you are getting the best rate and fairest terms. That means flat-rate or interchange-plus pricing and a month-to-month agreement with no monthly fees. 

As a major departure from First Data’s typical way of doing business, you can now buy Clover Go’s all-in-one Bluetooth reader at Apple Stores and sign up for an account online. When you do this, the Apple site advertises a flat-rate pricing of 2.75%.

That’s identical to Square’s rates, and comparable to PayPal Here and, well, most other mPOS providers actually. However, there’s no mention of monthly fees, monthly minimums, contract length, or early termination fees — or a lack thereof. This is a fairly recent development, so I think it’ll be a while before we get any clear data on how well this works for First Data or for merchants. There’s also no mention of whether that 2.75% fee includes access to the inventory mode, or just quick sale mode.

Sam’s Club, the warehouse membership club, also offers merchant services to its members. The only caveat is that you have to be a Sam’s Club member to be eligible, so effectively there is an annual fee, but it’s a lot more reasonable than some merchant account providers ($45 compared to $150 or more in some cases). Sams Club offers two pricing plans:

• Value Rate Plan: Starting at 1.29% + $0.15 for Visa, Mastercard, and Discover (American Express processed at undisclosed rates)
• Simplified Pricing Plan: Starting at 2.29% + $0.19 for Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express/ 3.29% + $0.19 for manually entered transactions

Beware the fine print, as Sam’s Club says these rates are “starting at,” which could mean you’ll pay more for business and rewards cards as well as keyed transactions. Still, this is pretty decent pricing.

Many banks have partnered with First Data to offer merchant solutions, so you’ll find institutions such as Bank of America and PNC hawking the system, too, and often promising next-day deposits into accounts you open with the bank. We have one report from a merchant claiming that Bank of America is now offering comparable pricing and contract terms to Square.

However, beware of these offers, because banks usually have very little value to add as resellers. You’d be better off going to a top-rated processor or even First Data directly. Keep in mind that if your business grows and you need additional hardware or services, you could wind up with an expensive contract and a very bad deal on hardware leases. Clover Go and the Clover suite isn’t necessarily a good option to grow with your business.

You’ll also want to check on what the charge is for the “Register” plan if you plan to use the inventory features. The only reference to it I’ve found is in the Clover Help Center, so be wary.

Clover Go Hardware Pricing

The Clover Go app is compatible with two readers: a magstripe/EMV reader that connects via headphone jack, and an all-in-one Bluetooth reader. Unfortunately, your pricing on both will vary. And that’s pretty frustrating because you could pay quite a bit more than you should.

• All-In-One Reader From Apple Store: $39.95
• Sams Club: $39.95 off an undisclosed price
• Bank of America: $39.99 for EMV reader; $59.99 for Bluetooth reader

I feel like if First Data really wants to compete with Square and PayPal Here and other mobile options, it should start by standardizing pricing its hardware at a minimum.

Clover Go isn’t compatible with any other extra hardware except AirPrint- or Google Print-enabled printers. When they’re in range, you can print receipts to them.

The Best Clover Service Providers

Contract Length & Early Termination Fee

Your terms depend on your reseller. If you use Clover Go as a standalone, some providers will include a multi-year contract with an early termination fee, while others will allow you to go month-to-month. If you’re using other Clover products already, Clover Go will most likely function as an add-on package with a potential monthly service fee on top of your contract and hardware lease. 

For this reason, it is very important that you review your contract and pricing terms carefully when setting up a Clover Go account. You may even be able to negotiate a waiver for the ETF — just make sure you get everything in writing and signed. Verbal agreements aren’t enforceable. We’ve read far too many complaints from merchants who were told by a sales rep (from many different companies) that their contact had no ETF, only to find out that’s not the case. 

That kind of nonsense is a major reason why I don’t think Clover Go is a good starter option and I don’t think it’s a good option if you plan to scale up your business, either. Even assuming that more and more resellers will over Clover Go with minimal contract terms, they assume that when you’re ready for more services and tools, you’ll stick around and sign more agreements with them. First Data and its resellers have a problematic history of charging early termination fees and hidden fees in their processing contracts. And that’s not even getting into the problems with First Data’s leasing program for Clover products. (Short summation: Don’t do it. Just don’t. Buy outright instead.)

So signing a new contract with a reseller — or with First Data, to be honest — could lock you into a processing agreement that is both expensive and difficult to escape from. And there are so many reports of dubious customer service.

It’d be very nice to see a bit more consistency here, both in the experience across resellers and the experience across the Clover platform.

Some processors do offer favorable terms for merchants who need Clover Go, so long as you’re willing to put in the effort to track them down. Don’t settle for the first quote you get. But be aware that signing up for Clover Go isn’t a good way to judge what signing up for the full Clover suite will be like.

Sales & Advertising Transparency

Signing up with Clover is not unlike navigating a minefield, and I’m only being slightly overdramatic.

Transparency varies according to your reseller. Some do better than others. (I’m going to say that a few more times still. I apologize now.) Let’s first start by talking about First Data and Clover.com, since those are the direct channels for signing merchants up.

The First Data site has zero information about pricing on it. This is likely because resellers offer different terms, and even First Data customizes pricing based on the business. Still, I think First Data could do much better in this department. Especially since it can disclose pricing for its readers sold in the Apple Store. 

Pricing disclosure on reseller sites varies. Generally speaking, the more ethical the processing company is on the whole, the greater disclosure and transparency you’ll get, but don’t assume that a price quote means it’s a good processor.

I don’t like that there’s absolutely no disclosure about the difference in inventory features based on which Clover Go plan you have unless you read the Help Center FAQs very carefully. The idea that you might have to pay more to get access to a basic item library in addition to a quick-sale mode is utterly ludicrous when you look at any other mPOS out there. Even the bad ones offer item libraries at no extra charge. Some resellers do waive this charge, but you’d think that would be a selling point worth mentioning.

I also do not like that Clover doesn’t offer a publicly accessible demo. With mobile POS systems, I believe that you should be able to try before you buy, which is one of the reasons that pay-as-you-go processors have thrived — there’s no commitment, no investment before you can use the service. I know that’s not how most big processors work, but you should tailor the product to the market. Even more video tutorials about how to use Clover Go features would go a long way. But you really won’t know if you’ll like Clover Go until you’re already signed up and using the service. Depending on your processor, you may not be able to back out if it doesn’t work for you.  

As far as social media goes, Clover has a Facebook page that’s fairly active and filled with actual useful information, which is always nice to see. I’m also happy to see that there seem to be very few actual complaints about service on the Facebook page, and when they do come up, Clover responds with helpful information. (I just wish that were true of other channels.) Clover’s Twitter account is also active, but there’s no dedicated Twitter support feed, which is at odds with most other companies — but makes sense given that there’s a very large network of resellers who are the first line of support for their clients.

I will say that Clover seems to be turning out some interesting educational and promotional tools on its blog and it seems to have a solid grasp of what is required to market to small businesses. And that is important — a company that doesn’t understand how to reach small businesses has no business providing services to them. So Clover gets a point for understanding digital marketing and the importance of informative resources. It’s just not enough to overcome the complete lack of pricing or contract information.

Unfortunately, you absolutely need to be on your guard as you look for a merchant account provider with Clover Go. You do not want to end up paying an early termination fee. And you don’t want to overpay for mobile processing with expensive per-transaction fees and monthly service plans. You should read every piece of communication, every document, and every web page and every statement with care, because odds are there is going to be some fine print somewhere.

Customer Service & Technical Support

You won’t find customer support for Clover Go on the First Data site. The closest you’ll find it actually a 2013 “Quick Start” manual. Instead, you need to head over to the Clover.com site. While the support number for most Clover products depends on “your merchant account,” as Clover puts it, there is one dedicated 24/7 line for Clover Go support.

You can also email with queries, but there’s no information about response times.

For merchant-account related questions, you can also typically reach out to your processor, though for technical questions you’re certainly going to be referred back to Clover’s support line.

The good news is that Clover has a fairly comprehensive self-service online knowledge base for basic tech support. For the vast majority of questions about features and standard use, this will serve you well. You won’t have to contact anyone to get help just setting up your Clover account and get the app running, in theory. 

User Reviews

Negative Reviews & Complaints

There is no separate BBB complaint page for the Clover software, and the First Data complaint page has too many entries to effectively sort through. It’s not clear how many of these complaints relate to the Clover software. After looking over a sampling of recent BBB complaints, I found that few of them mention Clover in general, and almost none mention Clover Go.

However, we do know that Clover has about 500,000 merchants (it announced at the end of 2016 that it had shipped its 500,000th Clover device), which is a respectable number of clients for a company that only launched in 2014.

A better source of information is mobile app reviews. The Clover Go app has just about ratings on the Google Play app store, with 3.3 stars out of 5. Surprisingly, Google also says it has 100,000 downloads (but don’t assume that automatically means 100,000 unique merchants using Clover Go).  In the iTunes app store, Clover Go has a more impressive 4.6 stars out of 5 on 850 reviews.

I also want to point out that Bank of America has its own version of the Clover Go app, with 50,000 downloads (again, don’t assume that’s unique merchants) and a 3.3-star rating on about 200 reviews in Google Play, and a 1.9-star rating on about 50 reviews in iTunes. I’m a little confused about the major difference in ratings between the B of A and standard Clover Go apps for iOS, but we’re dealing with such small samplings that it’s hard to draw definitive conclusions.

You’ll also find a smattering of complaints about Clover and Clover Go across the web. Here’s what I’ve seen overall as far as frequency of complaints:

• Card Reader Troubles: This is an especially common complaint among Android users. Specifically, users seem to have trouble with the standard headphone jack reader connecting to their phones, forcing people to get new readers and manually key in transactions. You can get around this by opting for the all-in-one Bluetooth reader, which seems to solve most merchants’ issues. And obviously, if you have a new iPhone, this is your only option.   
• Lack Of Features: The Clover Go app is functional, but very basic when compared to a full-featured POS or even a system like Square, which blurs the line between mobile and full-fledged POS. You can’t manage a lot of settings from within the app, and the tablet versions of the app don’t support a landscape view mode, which is at odds with a lot of tablet display stands.  
• Glitchy Software: App crashes and login problems are common and not all that surprising for complaints. It looks like a recent upgrade accidentally removed the entire custom tip feature from the app, which is exactly the opposite of what you want to happen when you roll out an upgrade, and it took about a week to fix from the dates on app reviews and First Data responses. 
• Poor Customer Service: Users report long hold times and unresolved issues upon contacting customer support. This echoes the reports we’ve heard regarding other Clover products and First Data generally. However, your experience will vary depending on who does your onboarding. 

Positive Reviews & Testimonials

Amid the lackluster reviews and complaints, you’ll still find some positive reviews of Clover Go. This is what happy users praise the most:

• Compatible With Other Clover Systems: For merchants already using other Clover products, using Clover Go as a simple mobile solution makes a lot of sense. Information syncs up with an existing Clover account, which is a big selling point. 
• Good Customer Service: I saw praise of Clover’s customer service come up often enough to mention it here, even though there are far more merchants claiming the opposite. Again, your experience will vary. Some resellers do better than others at providing support, especially in the onboarding process. Once you’re up and running, you’ll deal with Clover directly, and that may not go as well.
• Pricing: Again, this doesn’t exactly come up a lot, but a handful of merchants say the pricing is comparable to other options. Your experience may vary, but I’m inclined to think the merchants who get the best deals are larger businesses or are using Clover Go as an extension of their existing Clover system.

Clover seems to want to treat the Go app like an extension of the other products and therefore tends to treat testimonials for one of its more popular products as representative of the whole. Finding other, genuine testimonials apart from app store reviews is hard. And most of the 5-star reviews don’t explain why they like the app. There’s a lot you could speculate about here, but nothing I can say with any sort of confidence.

Final Verdict

I have some pretty strong opinions about Clover Go. The software is well-rounded overall, and it has everything merchants need. The account stability you get with a merchant account is a big draw. But some aspects of it — like needing to modify settings in the web dashboard, not the app — drive me bonkers! And you can certainly get better feature sets from other providers.

That would be fine if Clover Go could compete in other regards, like pricing, or transparency. But pricing for both processing and the hardware is inconsistent and rarely disclosed up front. Your experience will vary quite a bit depending on who you sign up with.

There are hints that First Data wants to treat Clover Go as a standalone product like other mPOS options out there. Selling the readers in the Apple Store is a big step toward that. However, the lack of standardization in pricing and contract terms makes it hard to compete.

It’s also pretty clear that Clover Go is meant to be an extension of the Clover system, despite its limitations. And that’s why I can’t say that Clover Go is a good solution that will grow with your business: merchants who upgrade from Clover Go to another Clover product will be dealing with some major transparency issues, problematic and expensive leases, and expensive processing contracts.

Very small and just-starting-out businesses really shouldn’t be considering Clover Go. I think you will be better served by Square or PayPal. They’re both very friendly to new businesses, especially ones that process inconsistently. They’re not perfect, but the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. Plus, they will grow with your business.

If you’re sure your business will grow and you might need a full-fledged POS or online processing in addition to your mobile capabilities, please don’t pick Clover Go. At best, it’s a stopgap until it’s time to shop for something better. There are much more reliable, consistent, and transparent options for both POS systems and online payments, and many of them will work with other mPOS options.

So that leaves me with the two major categories merchants that Clover Go might be good for: Mid-sized businesses that only need mobile capabilities and are mostly concerned with stability, and businesses that are already using Clover. In both cases, I can say that yes, Clover Go might be a good solution for you. But at the same time, you can do better. I promise.

All things considered, I can’t really give Clover more than 3.5 stars. If it would do some major work in the transparency category, that could change. Some more improvements to the user experience, like more in-app controls, would also help. If you have your heart set on Clover Go and you’re aware of the pitfalls, I think you’ll be okay. But that’s no reason not to demand more from any processor. You have lots of options, and I encourage you to explore them!

You can start by checking out our top-rated mPOS options, including Square (see our review). If you absolutely want a merchant account and are only focused on mobile capabilities, I suggest checking out Payline Mobile (see our review). You’ll get the account stability plus interchange-plus pricing and very fair contract terms. However, plenty of our top-rated merchant account providers offer mobile capabilities as part of their packages, too.

Do you have experience with Clover Go? Leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

The Best Clover Service Providers