Helcim Smart Terminal Review

The Helcim Smart Terminal is an excellent fit for:

You should use a Helcim Smart Terminal alternative if you:

Here’s a quick rundown of the Helcim Smart Terminal size, processing power, and other hardware features:

• Overall Dimensions: 7.56″ H x  3.19″ W x 2.13″ D
• Weight: 0.96 lbs
• Screen: 6.7″ HD+ touchscreen
• Payment Types: EMV chip cards, NFC cards, contactless payments
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi, built-in 4G
• Battery: 3350mAh/7.4V lithium ion rechargeable battery; lasts up to 12 hours
• Processor: Octa-core 2.4GHz processor
• Operating System: Android 13

Previously, you needed Wi-Fi to operate the device. The latest model has built-in 4G, which is a nice upgrade. And despite having a sleeker design, the touch screen is slightly larger.

The battery life is also improved, lasting up to 12 hours on a single charge.

The Helcim Smart Terminal is very easy to set up. There are no small parts to put together and no lengthy instruction manuals. There is a QR code you can scan at the bottom of the box for a simple guide, but you may not even need that. We simply had to load the printer paper, plug the device into an outlet with the included charger, wait for the battery to charge, and then follow the prompts when we turned on the device.

The POS software was pre-installed on the device, and we already had a Helcim account, so all we had to do was log onto the account with our account credentials. To sign up for a Helcim account, you simply answer a few questions about your business on your website, and a friendly Helcim representative will get your account set up. Most business owners have their accounts ready to go within a business day and receive their card readers within 2-3 business days.

There are a few other settings to customize, such as your tax and tip settings, employee login information (PIN vs password login), and device nickname, but otherwise, the setup was very straightforward.

From the Helcim Smart Terminal handheld POS, you can:

• Manually enter a payment amount or search from a product list and add items to orders
• Accept chip and tap card payments as well as mobile payments, store credit, and cash (the Smart Terminal does not connect to a cash drawer, so you’ll have to open a cash drawer manually)
• Attach an invoice payment to an invoice created in the Helcim back office
• Generate invoices from an invoice template
• Print or email receipts for regular orders and invoice payments
• Accept discount coupon codes and manually add discounts
• Process refunds and payment reversals
• Update tax and tip information when needed

I performed several test transactions with the POS app using the product lookup keys and others using the manual entry amount. I also linked end consumer and B2B customers to orders, and discounts attached to certain customers or customer groups populated when I linked them to an order. The system’s B2B customer management and invoicing features make Helcim one of the best retail POS systems for small to midsize businesses.

In addition to the Smart Terminal, you may also use Helcim on a desktop computer, tablet, or smartphone. This means that you can create more detailed custom orders and invoices from the Helcim admin office and use the Helcim Smart Terminal as a countertop card reader.

Create a new inventory item in Helcim POS.

Note: Most inventory management features are in the Helcim admin dashboard.

Helcim offers a lot of preset options when it comes to entering products and services. You can enter a product name, brand, cost, and price (in multiple currencies), create item variants, include add-ons, add products to a catalog, create tiered pricing structures, add wholesale pricing, and add advanced product details. Advanced product details include features like weight and dimensions, plus Level 3 data like units of measure and commodity codes.

Wholesale products are only available to designated wholesale customers, and you can set wholesale products to require a customer to log in to view wholesale pricing information. When testing Helcim’s inventory management functions, I created inventory items that can be purchased in small quantities by end consumers or in bulk by institutions such as schools. I designated “schools” as a unique customer group and created a percentage discount that can be applied to any large order from a school. I also created pricing tiers for B2B customers such as paint studios that encourage purchasing in larger quantities.

You can track inventory, easily modify inventory, and set low-stock alerts. If you use QuickBooks Online or another spreadsheet-based inventory/finance management tool, you can import and export product and service information.

While Helcim offers decent retail inventory management, these are the best retail inventory POS systems for large and complex inventory needs.

With Helcim, you have several ways to sell online, which include:

• Hosted Payment Pages: Hosted payment pages are checkout pages hosted by merchant services providers instead of web hosting providers. PayPal is a popular hosted payment page provider. Payment pages include a specific cost for a specific product or service and are very commonly used to generate buy button URLs and QR codes to sell products on an existing website, blog, or social media profile.
• Virtual Terminal: Accept payments over the phone by having customer service representatives enter transaction and customer payment information during a call. Helcim allows you to attach virtual terminal payment information pages to an existing customer or invoice to speed up the payment process. We believe Helcim is one of the best virtual terminals for small businesses.
• Online Invoice Payment: Send customers a payment request with custom messaging via text or email. Payment requests include a link to an online invoice payment page.
• Online Store: Helcim’s online store builder is an intuitive, customizable product, catalog, and payment page builder. While your online store won’t have as many customization options as store builders from providers like Shopify or BigCommerce, most businesses will find what they need and can get a live store up faster.

I created custom invoices using the invoice template designer. I then populated invoices with information such as business contact information, line items including products and shipping costs, applicable discounts, tax settings, deposit requests, and repayment terms. Repayment terms included a 60-day repayment schedule with a partial payment due at the 30-day mark. I sent a deposit request and the invoice itself via email to my test customer. Customizations were easy, and the invoices looked very professional.

On the Smart Terminal device, you can check for new orders that need to be picked and packed for shipping and BIPOS (buy online, pick up in-store.) You can turn on new order notifications so employees can quickly fulfill orders.

In-person invoice payments can be linked to invoice numbers or customers. You can search through invoices or find customers with the Smart Terminal, so you can take invoice payments out in the field instead of having to send invoices later on when you’re near a computer or tablet.

Helcim POS example art store invoice deposit request.

Helcim also offers some niche features, including a subscription manager and Level 3 card data entry. The subscription manager allows you to create very specific subscription settings and monitor customer activity. Level 3 card data entry is a great way to lower payment processing fees because there is more information available on payments from B2B/B2G (business to government), and transactions are more secure.

The main concerns about Helcim are ensuring that your business type is supported before signing up for an account, making sure your business is verified by a Helcim representative, and making sure that Helcim has enough functionalities for your business type.

Helcim users have reported account cancellations due to their businesses being considered high-risk. The company provides an acceptable use policy online explicitly detailing the types of businesses Helcim will not work with. If you’re not sure whether your business can work with Helcim, contact a Helcim representative before signing up for a merchant account.

• Account Cancellations: A few customers complained that their accounts were quickly canceled after signup or after a few transactions. However, the majority of these reviews are because the businesses are considered high-risk.
• Higher Payment Processing Fees: Businesses with smaller transaction volumes note that they did not get the lower payment processing rates that Helcim promised. Additionally, businesses that accept mostly premium credit cards were also subject to higher payment processing fees than expected.
• App Instability: Some users report that the Helcim POS app occasionally crashes.

• Excellent Customer Service: The majority of Helcim reviews mention the company’s quick responsiveness, politeness, diligence, and amount of knowledge displayed by Helcim customer representatives. The company also personally responds to every negative customer review, finding and getting in contact with users who had a poor experience to help remedy the situation.
• Lower Payment Processing Fees: Many companies, especially midsize companies, express their happiness about getting lower payment processing fees than competitors that offer flat-rate payment processing.
• Intuitive User Interface: The Helcim user interface is simple for most users. Those who had any difficulties contacted Helcim for assistance, and representatives helped them find a solution that worked for their business.

The Clover Flex has a very similar design to the Smart Terminal and allows you to connect your own merchant account to your Clover POS software and card reader.

However, the Clover Flex comes with access to Clover’s app market, which offers over 400 integrations to popular third-party software. Also, Clover Flex hardware is compatible with more than one merchant account provider, but you run the risk of getting a less transparent merchant account than if you get a merchant account with Helcim.

We recommend the Smart Terminal over the Clover Flex if you’re looking for more self-contained POS software and a guaranteed transparent merchant agreement with fair interchange-plus payment processing fees. We recommend the Clover Flex as a Helcim Smart Terminal alternative if you need a high-risk merchant account, which Helcim won’t provide.

Read our Clover Flex review for an in-depth analysis of the device setup, features, and unique pricing structure.

The Square Terminal is Square’s proprietary handheld POS system, which can run Square For Retail, Square Appointments, and Square For Restaurants software.

Square, like Helcim, offers free POS software and affordable POS hardware. However, Square offers flat-rate payment processing for almost all businesses, which is not a cost-effective solution for businesses with larger monthly transaction volumes.

We recommend the Helcim Smart Terminal over Square if you own a retail or service business that processes $5,000+/month, and Square as a Helcim alternative if you have a smaller business in the retail, restaurant, or service industry. We also believe that Square is one of the best salon POS systems, especially for small salons accepting appointments, so consider Square if you own a salon or spa.

Read our Square Terminal review to learn more about how you can use it for your retail, restaurant, or service-based business and our Square POS app review for more information on the best free Square features.

The Shopify POS Go is a relatively new handheld Android POS system built for retailers who want excellent eCommerce features in addition to POS capabilities. It’s great for picking and packing orders for in-store pickup and shipping, as well as taking mobile orders at trade shows or events.

However, like Square, Shopify offers flat-rate payment processing for most business owners, which is not cost-effective for many small-to-midsize businesses.

We recommend Shopify as a Helcim alternative if you’re looking for one of the best POS systems with eCommerce features. You should stick with Helcim if you only need a straightforward online store builder or virtual terminal for invoices and want better payment processing rates.

Read our Shopify POS review for more on how Shopify in-person and eCommerce sales work together to create a multichannel retail sales solution.