Clover POS System Review

Pros

• Easy to set up
• Large app store and a wealth of integrations
• Aesthetic appeal

Cons

• Can’t separate POS from payment processing
• Upfront costs

Clover POS System Overview

Clover point of sale is a major player in its industry for a number of good reasons. On the surface, Clover POS systems do some things better than virtually any of Clover’s competitors. The system is incredibly intuitive and a breeze to set up and learn. If I was a small business owner who was just getting started, it’s the exact kind of interface I would be looking for. Clover also offers a variety of software and hardware options for any type of business and gives you the ability to upgrade if your business expands.

On its own, this POS has only basic functionality, but that’s a bit of a misnomer. When supplemented with apps from Clover’s App Marketplace, the Clover POS system becomes a powerful tool. The system enables you to manage employees and customers, track inventory, create and view reports, and monitor your revenue stream. Most of these apps are free or can be purchased for a small fee.

Clover was acquired in 2012 by one of the biggest players in the credit card processing industry: Fiserv (formerly First Data Corporation). Given that fact, I suppose it isn’t particularly surprising that Clover’s various products are always sold in conjunction with a merchant account. We strongly recommend going with a reputable Clover merchant services provider rather than getting your Clover account through Fiserv.

At first glance, Clover seems like an ideal POS solution, as it’s flexible, feature-rich, and functional. However, the processing and customer service issues that have plagued the company continue to persist, and Clover has dragged its feet on addressing them. Customer feedback hasn’t significantly improved over the years, primarily due to First Data/Fiserv’s unsavory reputation through the years. Clover is also not a cheap product, generally requiring some spendy initial hardware costs. That said, there are very few gaps in the actual software and features that Clover offers.

Is Clover worth the risk? Read on to find out!

Don’t have time to read an entire review? Take a look at our top-rated point of sale solutions for a few quick recommendations. Every option we present here offers excellent customer support, detailed user interfaces, and easy-to-use software, all for a reasonable price.

Clover Point Of Sale Software Pricing

Clover differs from other POS systems in the way it’s marketed and sold: It must be sold with a merchant account. So instead of being available from one location for one set price, you can buy Clover from thousands of different banks, business suppliers, and merchant services providers, each one offering different swipe fees and hardware costs.

Getting the actual equipment is the easy part, and for this review, we’ll focus on the pricing you can get by buying from Clover directly. Through Clover’s site, you can choose from five plans:

Payments Plus Plan: Best for very small businesses with a small number of sales and inventory

• $4.95/month
• 2.7% + $0.10 for in-person transactions
• 3.5% + $0.10 for keyed-in transactions

Register Lite Plan: Best for businesses with card sales of less than $50,000 a year

• $9.95/month for first device; $9.95/month for each additional device
• 2.7% + $0.10 for in-person transactions
• 3.5% + $0.10 for keyed-in transactions

Register Plan: Best for businesses with a higher number of card sales

• $39.95/month for first device; $9.95/month for each additional device
• 2.3% + $0.10 for in-person transactions
• 3.5% + $0.10 for keyed-in transactions

Table Service Restaurant Plan: Best for full-service restaurants

• $69.95/month for first device; $9.95/month for each additional device
• 2.3% + $0.10 for in-person transactions
• 3.5% + $0.10 for keyed-in transactions

Counter Service Restaurant Plan: Best for quick-serve restaurants (available with Mini and Station Pro only):

Bear in mind that credit card processing rates and swipe fees at other banks are another matter entirely and can range from 0.30% + $0.05 to 2.5% + $0.15 or higher, depending on the bank. Some locations may offer flat-rate processing fees. The rate you receive will probably depend a lot on your credit rating and your business’s sales volume.

Pricing For Clover Devices

You also have your choice when it comes to hardware, and you can purchase everything from small card readers for processing payments with your phone to a full-service station that can run an entire store or restaurant. Interest-free financing options are available for all devices. Here’s a quick look at your options:

Clover Go: $69

This mobile device syncs with all other Clover products. Clover Go works on iOS or Android devices, and it allows you to take multiple types of payments on the go. Clover Go provides a bird’s-eye view of transactions and is fully customizable. Go can be used with the Register Lite or Clover Register plan, but by itself, Go cannot take advantage of all features available with the Register plan.

Clover Flex: $499

Clover Flex accepts multiple payment types and comes with Rapid Deposit, getting you your cash quickly. Flex is an all-in-one POS system that you can operate from the palm of your hand, featuring advanced inventory, a loyalty program, and customization options. The Flex can also be used as an add-on to a Clover Station or Clover Station Pro setup.

Clover Mini: $749

Clover Mini is made to run your entire business from the front to the back of the house. The Mini features a simple interface and the ability to take a wide variety of payments. The all-in-one POS comes with advanced inventory, a wide array of reports, and excellent employee management, along with many other features. Don’t let its small footprint fool you — the Mini can be used for any type of business, from retail to QSR to full-service restaurants.

Clover Station: $1,349 or $1,399

The Clover Station is Clover’s classic offering. It’s designed to run larger businesses, including full-service restaurants. Clover Station comes with a 14″ high-definition screen, receipt printer, and a cash drawer (not pictured), and it has a simple and sleek interface. You can build restaurant floor plans with ease and take mobile orders, and there’s a large number of back-end features to help you keep your business running at peak efficiency.

You can purchase Clover Station “for any business” for $1,399 or a version specifically for full-service restaurants for $1,349. The restaurant version has a regular receipt printer, while the more expensive version comes with an NFC-enabled receipt printer that has a customer-facing screen.

Clover Station Pro: $1,649

Clover Station Pro is Clover’s newest hardware offering. The main difference between the Station Pro and the Station is that the Pro adds a customer-facing screen, which appears to be a pared-down version of the Clover Mini. The merchant-facing screen is also slightly different than the Station screen (though both are 14 inches), and the receipt printer is advertised as “high speed.”

With the Clover Station Pro, you have the option to choose the Counter Service Restaurant plan or the Register plan for any business.

Cloud-Based Or Locally-Installed

Clover is cloud-based and stores your information online. If online services are down, the software can continue to function for a time, queuing up transactions until the internet is restored. This includes the ability to take card payments during an outage, the data of which is encrypted and stored to be processed once service is restored.

Specific Industry

With its various systems, Clover works for virtually any type of retail store and is especially well-suited for quick-service restaurants. Clover can handle full-service restaurants with features such as table mapping and tableside ordering available with the Table Service Restaurant. Clover is also great for QSR, fast-casual, and bars, with the new Counter Service Restaurant plan, which comes preloaded with apps such as Bar Tab Auths, Tips, Shifts, Discounts, and Happy Hour.

Clover can also be used for service businesses (such as hair/nail salons) or businesses in the hospitality industry (hotels, motels, resorts, etc.).

Specific Size Of Business

Clover is best for small to mid-sized businesses in retail or restaurant establishments but, with its powerful system, could also be suitable for some larger and franchise businesses as well.

Clover POS Ease Of Use

• No-Hassle Setup: Clover prides itself on being user-friendly, which is a huge factor in its popularity. It arrives nearly ready to go (with a preloaded menu if that appeals to you), and there are only a few pieces to assemble.
• Short Learning Curve: Employees should be able to pick up everything they need to know about Clover after 15-20 minutes of basic training. Most of the Clover POS apps (at least the most common — reporting, inventory, customers, etc.) are self-explanatory and clearly labeled. The nice thing about a truly all-in-one POS solution such as Clover is that all of the hardware works together naturally. For many business owners, Clover takes the guesswork out of things. It’s one of the most visually-appealing interfaces you’ll find, and system navigation can be mastered in a matter of minutes. Depending on what functions you want, there are various apps on the screen that you can open with a touch of your finger.

Clover Hardware & Operating System Requirements

There are essentially no software requirements for Clover. Everything you do gets stored in the cloud. As long as you have a viable internet connection, you should be good to go. Updates are automatic and apply to all of your Clover devices. Additionally, if you want to access your information away from the store, you can use the Web Dashboard, which will show you everything you want to see as long as you have an internet connection (even if you have multiple Clover devices and multiple locations).

You can check out all of Clover’s hardware options on its website, and it offers a range of products for nearly every sized business, all of which sync together seamlessly.

Clover Software Features

Clover software is so adaptable (and can be customized with such a wide variety of apps) that it is difficult to discuss features in general. That said, I will discuss some of the most popular available features that come with Clover’s varying plans and are likely to be useful to any type of business.

Payments Plus

This is Clover’s most basic plan but a good entry point if you’re looking to try it out or feel like your business might grow quickly in the near future, allowing you to upgrade. This plan is only available on Clover Flex, Clover Go, and Clover Mini, and it includes:

• Cloud-based payments
• Employee management (clocking in and clocking out)
• Customer management (storing customer information and spending histories)
• All forms of payment accepted
• Open tabs
• Rewards in the form of discounts
• Limited access to Clover App Market

Register Lite Plan

Register Lite starts at $9.95 a month and is also only available on Clover Go, Flex, and Mini. It comes with everything the Payments Plus plan offers along with the following:

• Expanded ordering management
• Item assignments including notes for tracking
• Greater but still limited access to Clover App Market
• Standard inventory management with item tracking
• Customer-facing display option
• Tax calculations

Register Plan

This plan starts at $39.95 a month. It must be used in conjunction with Clover Station and comes with everything you get from Register Lite along with:

• Advanced inventory, including modifiers and tracking
• Built-in item exchanges
• Combine multiple orders and tickets
• Kitchen printing
• Scale integration
• Full access to Clover App Market

Counter Service

For restaurants and quick-service food industries, you also get:

• Kitchen printers
• Menu management
• Pre-authorized bar tabs

Table Service

For full-service restaurants featuring servers and larger table layouts, the table service plan offers the following:

• Multiple check splitting options
• Table mapping
• Tableside ordering and bill pay
• Scan pay

Advanced Features

As mentioned, you really get the most out of Clover by downloading many of its apps and customizing your own Clover POS system. These are just a few of the advanced features you can expect.

• Inventory: Clover has updated its inventory features. Items can be described with variants (such as color) and options (such as size) and organized into categories or labeled for quicker access. Those of you in food service can create modifiers for each item. New items can be created with or without variants and be sold at a fixed or variable price or priced per unit (oz, g, kg, lb).
• Reports: Clover comes with a basic but solid array of reports. The Clover app provides decent reporting tools, including a “By Payments” report (see below), which shows you a summary of completed transactions made during a specified time. There are also reports for net payment statistics, cash reports, payments by card type, employee statistics and activities, discounts, taxes, orders, and more. All reports can be sorted according to date/time and filtered for specific requirements; once created, reports may be exported and/or printed for further analysis.

• Customer Management: Clover gives you the ability to collect customer information at the time of sale. Later, you can search for customers by name and date or look up a customer’s order history.
• Gift Cards: As you would expect, Clover is on top of its game when it comes to customized gift cards. Both digital and physical cards can be branded to suit your company. Customers can access and use their cards on their mobile devices. The cards are all tracked digitally, taking away the need for messy receipts or yet another card taking up valuable wallet real estate. There is also a report that allows you to track and analyze all gift card sales.
• Loyalty: Clover’s loyalty functionality comes included with Clover Mini, Flex, and Station, which is a nice perk. You can customize your program, allowing customers to accrue loyalty benefits in several different ways. Store and easily look up customer information and track their spending habits. You can send out real-time promotions through text or email campaigns, and you can receive customer feedback directly. Another nice feature is that, with a mobile app, you can find Clover businesses and track your reward points.

Integrations & Add-Ons For Clover POS

Clover’s App Market is truly one of the system’s biggest draws. It allows you to pick and choose the features and/or tools your business requires, such as coupon processing, virtual PIN pads, gift card management, employee management, and advanced reporting. Most of the apps are completely free, though many cost a small fee.

Also, the app store is constantly updating and improving to meet customers’ needs. Basically, if you can dream up something your business could use, there’s a decent chance the app store has it, and it can be available at your fingertips in seconds. Furthermore, if you have particular needs and want to design your own application, the Clover API is available to developers.

Compatible Credit Card Processors

This has been the rub with Clover, but it’s not all bad news. First off, as we’ve mentioned, there are hundreds of places where you can purchase Clover equipment, as there are resellers all over the country that sell through their sites.

As a general rule, the safest option is to go through Clover.com for your purchases. There you can talk with someone directly from the company if you have any questions, and you can be guaranteed that you’re going to get competitive pricing and avoid any potential scams. While you may find vendors out there with slightly lower prices on equipment that are completely on the level, sometimes it’s worth passing on a potential deal to save some peace of mind.

Also, when it comes to hardware, we strongly recommend that you buy your equipment outright instead of leasing it, something that will save you money and headaches down the road.

Clover Systems Credit Card Processing

If you do your research and are happy with Fiserv’s processing options, this might not be an issue. Fiserv’s rates are very competitive if you compare them with other companies. However, if being locked into a large processor with some of the problems (primarily with customer service) that plague Fiserv gives you pause, this may be a deal-breaker, and you’ll want to look elsewhere.

The Clover system is vertically integrated with credit card processing. It is always sold together with a merchant account from Bank of America, Citibank, Restaurant Depot, and any other Fiserv Independent Sales Organization (ISO).

Clover Customer Service & Support

Customer service for payments and merchant account issues will likely come from whichever merchant services provider you end up going through (unless you sign up directly with Fiserv). For this reason, it’s important to be careful about the bank/provider you choose to buy from. On the other hand, technical support for the actual software and hardware will come directly from Clover (or, more accurately, Fiserv), which is where you start running into problems.

Fiserv has historically had problems on the merchant services side of the business (excessive fees, account terminations, withheld funds), so you’re rolling the dice when it comes to software and hardware support. Customers cite rude customer service representatives, dodgy responses (if any), and general dissatisfaction.

Clover POS customer service also provides a self-help center with guides, FAQs, and troubleshooting tips. This material is helpful for the most part, especially when supplemented with videos on the website and YouTube. The app providers themselves manage assistance with individual third-party apps.

Clover also has Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and GitHub accounts that all appear to be somewhat active.

Clover POS System Reviews & Complaints

Negative Clover Merchant Reviews & Complaints

Clover merchant reviews bring up a few major red flags, including:

• Cost: The biggest complaint I’ve heard (from customers and reviewers alike) is that the upfront costs can be prohibitive. If your business needs more than one terminal, for example, it could run you upwards of $2-3K right off the bat. While there are leasing options available, this cancels out one of the advantages tablet-based software generally holds over locally-installed terminal systems. All of the best cloud-based POS software will run on an iPad and/or Android tablet, meaning that if you test out one system and it doesn’t work for you, you can transition to another system without having to invest in new hardware. Clover, on the other hand, is run exclusively on Fiserv’s proprietary hardware, meaning that you can’t even test the system without investing around $1,000 upfront — and forget about an inexpensive switch if it doesn’t work out. If you’re leaning toward Clover, it’s best not to be on the fence about your decision.
• Purchasing Market: Another Clover negative is that there is no one place to buy it, yet you are restricted to a single merchant services provider. You’re going to get different rates, prices, and customer service options at each location. However, no matter which reseller you go through, you’re still limited to Fiserv as the processor. I’d be wary around any POS that only integrates with one processor, but this is a notorious problem with Fiserv because of its increasingly poor reputation. Though some resellers have managed to maintain a great reputation, they can only help on the payments/merchant account side of things. For technical support, you’re still at the mercy of Fiserv’s hit-or-miss service.
• Customer Service: Customer service (or the lack thereof) is a major complaint among many Clover customers. This is where doing your research on which provider you choose can save you lots of heartache in the long run.
• Lack Of Transparency: Feedback about non-negotiable contracts, hidden fees, and other surprises are also extremely common. Along these lines, a few customers complained about being told they could download apps that would help with specific issues later, only to find out that the apps did not do what was promised. The word ‘scam’ has been used in quite a few of these comments. On that note, you should also be aware of some actual Clover Station scams on eBay.

Positive Clover Merchant Reviews & Testimonials

We found several positive aspects in Clover POS reviews, including:

• Ease Of Use: This is Clover’s hallmark. The interface is exceptionally intuitive and modern. Users appreciated that it doesn’t bog you down with too many buttons, and the back end is accessible and well laid out.
• Exceptionally Fast Setup: Along the same line, multiple users liked that they could get their system up and running in minutes, and the time it takes to train new employees is minimal.
• Wide Variety Of Apps To Adapt To Nearly Any Industry: While a few users complained about having to download apps to get certain functions, the overwhelming majority of reviews I saw about the app store were positive. They appreciated how many options there were and how easily they synced to the POS software.
• All-In-One Design: Many users were happy that they could purchase all of the necessary hardware in one place and liked that Clover came with everything they needed for their business included.

Final Verdict

There’s so much that Clover does exceptionally well. During a trial run, I encountered very few red flags with the software itself, and it truly is one of the most intuitive programs I’ve dealt with. I love the simplicity of the interface, and it’s hard to beat the visual appeal and practical design of the hardware. Clover is easy to use, adaptable, and able to integrate with many useful third-party applications. I’m a sucker for any product that you can pull from the box and have up and running within minutes. I’m also a sucker for a product that is as all-in-one as Clover, and its sheer number of in-house apps and integrations are impressive.

However…

One of my primary concerns about Clover is the fact that thousands of different banks, merchant services providers, and small business suppliers sell it. In general, I applaud a system that is set up for competitive pricing/rates, but there is something lost when a company stops providing support for its product. I’m troubled by the inherent disconnect between Clover, as a company, and the people who use the product. Worse still, we’ve continued to see multiple complaints about Fiserv regarding negligent customer service and sketchy interactions that leave customers feeling scammed.

These issues hold Clover back from being one of the truly elite products on the market, which is unfortunate. I generally don’t have a problem with recommending Clover to customers because the software won’t leave you wanting. One of the best things about the system is that, unlike some of its competitors, you can easily add on features or upgrade systems if you like what it has to offer and you find that your needs have changed.

That said, those of you who want a simple, attractive POS solution — and don’t mind taking a risk on customer service and payment processing — could do a lot worse than Clover and its many different offerings. Just be sure to work with a vendor you trust (our favorite is Payment Depot) and research their support/technical assistance policies beforehand.

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

Clover POS	Visit Site

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

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

Clover POS	Visit Site

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

Sources

Read Next

Need Merchant Services For Small Business? These Are The 9 Best Credit Card Payment Processing Companies

Read More

Jun 17, 2021 328 Filed under: Credit Card Processing

7 Retail POS Systems With The Best Features For Small Businesses In 2021

Read More

Apr 23, 2021 6 Filed under: Point of Sale