PayPal Point Of Sale Review (Formerly PayPal Zettle)

PayPal Point of Sale offers ease of use, predictable pricing, and mobile POS hardware, making it a great processing choice for smaller merchants who want a simple way to accept payments.

WRITTEN & RESEARCHED BY
Jason Vissers
Expert Contributor

Last updated onUpdated June 17, 2025

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PayPal Point of Sale

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Total Rating	4.4
Pricing4.2
Ease Of Use5.0
Features4.3
Customer Service4.4
User Reviews3.9

Pricing

No monthly fee

Contract

None

Equipment Cost

$29 for your first card reader

PayPal Point of Sale At A Glance

PayPal Point of Sale (formerly PayPal Zettle) allows PayPal merchants to take payments in person while seamlessly connecting with PayPal’s merchant services ecosystem
PayPal Point of Sale offers a card reader, a smart terminal, and the ability to accept in-person payments with Tap to Pay
It also lets you accept QR code payments, offers in-app invoicing, syncs with your online store, integrates with QuickBooks Online, and much more

PayPal Point of Sale offers competitive pricing for small- to mid-size merchants

PayPal’s business suite is not without its flaws, which include inconsistent customer service and the risk of account holds and terminations

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Pros

Easy-to-use interface
In-app invoicing available
Free sub-user accounts
Competitive flat-rate pricing
Ideal for lower-volume merchants

Cons

Account stability issues
No offline mode
Inconsistent customer support
Not suitable for high-risk industries
Not ideal for higher-volume merchants

Table of Contents

What Is PayPal Point Of Sale?
Businesses That Would Benefit From PayPal Point of Sale
PayPal Point Of Sale Pricing
PayPal Point Of Sale Features
Customer Service & Technical Support
Ease Of Use
PayPal Point of Sale Contract & Commitment
Concerns About PayPal Point of Sale
PayPal Point of Sale Reviews
How PayPal Point Of Sale Compares To Other Mobile POS Solutions
Final Verdict On PayPal Point Of Sale

What Is PayPal Point Of Sale?

PayPal Point of Sale, formerly known as PayPal Zettle, is PayPal’s mobile processing solution that combines a free mobile app with two mobile card reader options and several ready-made Store Kits complete with receipt printers, iPad stands, and other accessories. PayPal Point of Sale allows small businesses to accept PayPal in-store, though it also integrates with PayPal’s online payment processing services.

PayPal Point of Sale offers well-designed and up-to-date card readers, an intuitive, capable app backed by the PayPal name, and a wide array of merchant services. PayPal is not without its drawbacks, though — its customer service is inconsistent, and it has less stability than you’d get with a dedicated merchant account.

Businesses That Would Benefit From PayPal Point of Sale

A wide variety of small, low-risk businesses stand to benefit from using PayPal Point of Sale to take payments and service customers, especially those that need same-day merchant account approval to get up and selling quickly.

While large, high-volume businesses will pay less for processing with a POS that connects to a dedicated merchant account with interchange-plus pricing, PayPal’s flat rates for in-person payment processing are actually lower than those of competitors like Square, making PayPal Point of Sale a solid choice for lower-volume merchants.

Occasional sellers who sell items at fairs or markets may find an easy mobile solution like PayPal Point of Sale particularly appealing, with its convenient card reader that fits easily in your hand and its competitive processing rates.

PayPal Point Of Sale Pricing

Rating: Excellent

Pricing4.2
Hardware 4.3
Payment Processsing 4.0

Because PayPal Point of Sale offers low POS processing rates and doesn’t charge hidden fees, the company has earned an excellent score in this category. Here is what you can expect to pay when using PayPal Point of Sale:

Item	Value
Pricing Starts At	$0/month
Account Setup Fee	$0
Contract Length	Month-to-month
Processing Model	Flat-rate
Card-present Transaction Fee	2.29% + $0.09 (including QR code transactions)
eCommerce Transaction Fee	3.49% + $0.49 for invoices paid with PayPal; 2.99% + $0.49 for invoices paid via credit card
Keyed-in Transaction Fee	3.49% + $0.09
Equipment Cost	$29+

PayPal Point of Sale Plans	Price	When To Use
Free Plan	$0/month	If you have basic retail or restaurant POS needs

High-volume merchants may be able to negotiate better rates — contact PayPal for a custom pricing plan.

With PayPal Point of Sale, you won’t pay any:

Monthly/annual fees
PCI compliance fees
Setup fees
Monthly equipment fees

Note that if you process a lot of American Express transactions, you could potentially save money with PayPal because of its flat-rate pricing. You’ll pay less for Amex transactions with PayPal, but you might pay a little bit more for some kinds of Visa and Mastercard transactions than you would with a full merchant account.

PayPal Point of Sale’s in-person transaction rates are more competitive than PayPal’s online transaction rates, making PayPal a good choice for merchants who have an online presence but do the bulk of their sales in person. To learn more about pricing for credit card processing and how PayPal’s fees compare to other options, check out our guide to credit card processing rates and fees.

Extra PayPal Point Of Sale Costs & Fees

PayPal Point of Sale Extra Costs	Price
Card Reader	$29 for first reader ($58 with charging dock)
Additional Card Readers	$79 each
PayPal Terminal	$199
POS Store Kits	$229 - $699+
Chargeback Fee	$20

Paypal Point Of Sale Transaction Limits

PayPal Point of Sale’s transaction limits are as follows.

Chip & Tap (Includes Contactless)

$500,000 limit per 24 hours
$50,000 limit per card payment
$50,000 limit per card per day

Manual Card Entry & QR Code Payments

$10,000 limit per payment

The minimum amount for a single payment is $1 in all circumstances.

Note that the above pricing pertains to US merchants only. For UK pricing, see our Zettle By PayPal (UK Version) review.

PayPal Point Of Sale Features

Features4.3
Device Hardware Features 5.0
Device Software Features 3.5

PayPal Point of Sale makes for quite an attractive mobile POS package. It’s easy to get started, and if you use PayPal for anything else, your information gets consolidated in one place. And along with the mobile card reader, you’ll get the option to have a full countertop register.

PayPal POS includes numerous features and integrations. It’s not as fully featured as Square, but most retail and restaurant businesses with basic needs will find everything they need in the app, including multichannel selling options.

With that being said, I’d like to see PayPal add an offline mode. This would let you securely add all of your customer’s credit card information into the app without an internet connection. Whether you’re offline temporarily due to an outage or you’re offsite, you shouldn’t have to stop business due to a bad connection. While a PayPal POS reader can be a very handy tool for taking payments at farmer’s markets and conventions, Wi-Fi at such events can be spotty at best.

Features Overview

PayPal Point of Sale Features	Availability
Multi-Store Support
Contactless Payments
Multi-Channel Selling
Gift Cards
Customer Loyalty
Marketing Tools
Online Ordering
Inventory Management
Reporting
Menu Management
Delivery Management
EBT Acceptance
Employee Management
Text Messaging

PayPal Point Of Sale Features In Detail

Let’s look at some Paypal Point of Sale features in detail.

PayPal Point Of Sale App Features

PayPal & Venmo QR Codes: PayPal POS enables you to accept both PayPal and Venmo QR code payments. Just have your customer scan your QR code using their phone.
Manual Card Entry: Need to accept payment over the phone quickly? Just enter the customer’s card information into the app and the amount to be charged. The transaction is recorded, but no items are added to your sales reports.
Cash Payments: With the ability to log cash payments, you’ll be able to manage more of your payments in one place. Sadly, the app doesn’t currently allow you to log check payments. However, you can still accept checks using the regular PayPal app if you have a PayPal Balance account.
Item Library: PayPal Point of Sale lets you build an inventory of products through the dashboard or within the app. Add product images and prices (both the cost price and selling price), sort your products into categories, add up to three item variants for each item, manually adjust your tax rates, enable inventory tracking, bulk import products from a spreadsheet, and more. Stock levels will now update automatically.
Reports: View sales reports, customize time periods, and export Excel files and PDFs. You can access your sales reports by time, specific products, and each employee. You can also see a table that shows your ten best-selling products for the selected day, week, or month.
Discounts: PayPal Point of Sale supports the option to add discounts at checkout if you’re having a sale.
Custom Gift Cards: You can offer gift cards to your customers, either in physical form or via email.
Tap To Pay: You can accept contactless payments with just the PayPal Point of Sale app and your smartphone. Learn more about Tap to Pay for merchants.
Support For Register Setup: You can build an entire register setup with PayPal Point of Sale, with support for cash drawers, tablet stands, receipt printers, and barcode scanners.
Refunds & Partial Refunds: You can issue full and partial refunds from the app and the online dashboard.

Integrations With Other PayPal Features

Invoicing: Invoicing features come with your PayPal business account. You can send invoices to customers through the web or directly in the PayPal POS app. The invoice itself is free to send, but when you get paid, PayPal charges a fee. Being able to send PayPal invoices within the app is a major plus.
Same-Day Funding: Funds go to your PayPal account almost immediately. Sign up for a PayPal merchant debit card and get access to the cash right away, even when you’re not spending it online. As a bonus, it’ll make your bookkeeping easier if you only use it for business expenses.
Recurring Billing: PayPal lets you set up recurring billing options, but this add-on service costs an additional monthly fee. Recurring billing requires saving a customer’s information on file. It makes sense you’d pay a little extra for a service that includes secure data storage and the additional risk involved with a card-not-present sale.
Sub-User Accounts: PayPal gives merchants a generous 1,000 additional sub-account users with unique permissions (at no extra charge), which is admittedly impressive. As a comparison, Square charges a monthly fee for this feature, as it’s bundled with the premium employee management suite of tools.

Third-Party Integrations

eCommerce: PayPal Point of Sale integrates with Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce. You can sync all product and inventory changes between both platforms once you integrate with one of the above.
Accounting: PayPal Point of Sale integrates with QuickBooks Online, so you can import your daily sales and payments data into your QuickBooks Online account. It automatically imports data to QuickBooks Online once every night in your configured time zone.
Marketing: PayPal POS integrates with NearSt, a tool that automatically displays your in-store products on Google and Facebook.

Card Readers

With PayPal Point of Sale, you can choose between two different card-reading devices.

Card Reader

The PayPal POS Card Reader is a Bluetooth-enabled contactless + chip + PIN card reader that requires an internet connection. It connects to all Apple and Android smartphones and tablets. Along with credit and debit cards, the Card Reader accepts Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay contactless payments.

PayPal states that its battery should last about eight hours or 100 transactions and that it takes one to two hours to charge via USB cable, but if you don’t want to worry about charging, you can order the Reader Dock to ensure that your reader stays charged throughout your sales day. The reader also supports register setups with tablet stands, receipt printers, and barcode scanners.

Terminal

The PayPal Point of Sale Terminal is an all-in-one device — it sports a touchscreen, boasts features like a built-in barcode scanner, and does not need to be paired with your smartphone or tablet, as it runs the POS app natively. The terminal comes with an activated SIM card. The cost of the terminal covers mobile data usage.

POS Systems

If it’s a full POS system you want, PayPal offers four different options (referred to as Store Kits). Each Kit comes with a Card Reader and can include (depending on the Kit you get) a dock, an iPad stand, a Smart Printer, thermal rolls for the printer, and a barcode scanner. Each of these accessories is available separately as well, along with a cash drawer. See the website for details and pricing.

Individual Hardware Items

Hardware and accessories can also be ordered à la carte:

PayPal Reader dock
PayPal tablet stand
Cash drawer
Mobile printer
Stationary printer
Smart printer
Thermal paper
Terminal printer & dock
Scanner

Customer Service & Technical Support

Customer Service4.4
Personal Support 3.8
Self-Service 5.0

With PayPal Point of Sale, you’ll be using PayPal’s main support system. PayPal has several different customer service/support options, including a community forum and online help center. However, phone support is not great.

Customer Support Channels

PayPal Point of Sale Customer Service	Availability
Phone Support
Email Support
Support Tickets
Live Chat
Dedicated Support Representative
Knowledge Base or Help Center
Videos & Tutorials
Company Blog
Social Media

PayPal Point of Sale’s customer support offerings include the following:

Community Forum: The PayPal Community has over 5 million members with over 2 million posts and over a thousand people online at any time. You can ask any question and likely get a quick response. However, keep in mind that PayPal doesn’t guarantee the answers here. You’ll find a dedicated spot for business owners called the PayPal Merchant Community, with subsections on merchant products and services, business tools, reporting, managing risk and fraud, and more. It also features a searchable knowledgebase.
Help Center: You can search and find answers for issues, including password and account access, account setup, payments-specific matters, such as holds and declines, as well as other how-tos.
Phone/Email: Sadly, PayPal’s phone support is notoriously inconsistent. If you have an account-related issue, you’ll have to call. For most other questions, concerns, or problems, you can find help through one of PayPal’s other support channels. To be fair, while my experience involved a considerable wait for a callback, the help I received was reasonable.
Social Media: Besides the primary Twitter account and Facebook, there’s a support Twitter account where PayPal will field your service and support questions.

The biggest mark against PayPal is the customer service via phone — numerous users have had a poorer phone experience than my own. When you need help, you probably don’t have time to worry about inconsistent phone service.

Ease Of Use

Ease Of Use5.0
Initial Setup 5.0
Device Use 5.0

I can say from my experience with the PayPal Point of Sale app that it is intuitive and easy for non-techies to operate successfully. Functions are easy to access, and nothing threw me for a loop.

While there’s nothing particularly new or innovative about the app itself, its well-designed, easy-to-navigate features fit the bill for almost any need you’d encounter on the go. As a bonus, most of the features are also easily managed right from within the app, making it a truly mobile option. Plus, connecting to your POS device and peripheral hardware is a cinch.

PayPal Point of Sale Contract & Commitment

PayPal is a third-party payment processor, which means it aggregates accounts instead of creating individual merchant accounts for each business. This model makes signing up more accessible since approval is also a simpler process with fewer hoops to jump through. Most merchants can sign up and start processing on the same day. As far as additional fees, you won’t face any added monthly costs or early termination fees.

If you already have a PayPal business account, it’s fairly easy to start using PayPal Point of Sale — though you’re not automatically guaranteed access. You’ll have to apply and wait for approval.

While you won’t need to sign a three-year contract, you will be signing a contract, so take the time to understand what you’re signing. All in all, we’re happy to give PayPal an excellent rating in this category because of the freedom it gives you to change your mind or scale when needed.

Concerns About PayPal Point of Sale

Beyond the aforementioned lack of an offline mode and lackluster phone support, there really isn’t much to warrant concern. The card reader and touchscreen terminal are both capable and reasonably priced devices for taking payments, and the POS software is solid and versatile.

The real concern regarding PayPal Point of Sale is on the payment processing side of things; in particular, it’s the frequency with which users experience withheld funds and account freezes/terminations.

As a third-party processor, PayPal aggregates all its merchants into one single merchant account, which means there’s an inherent amount of account instability. You can get set up almost right away, but PayPal analyzes your individual transactions that much more closely to make sure you’re not conducting prohibited business activities or processing fraudulent transactions.

Upticks in processing volume — common for seasonal merchants — may also trigger an account review, followed by a hold/reserve, a freeze, or even an account termination. However, that’s the risk of using an aggregator; you’ll find these issues with Square and Stripe as well. I should note that a majority of PayPal business users experience no such issues.

PayPal Point of Sale Reviews

User Reviews3.9
Customer Feedback 4.0
Review Site Aggregate 3.8

Reviews specifically addressing PayPal Point of Sale can be hard to find amidst the avalanche of PayPal reviews posted by both consumers and merchants. However, PayPal Point of Sale currently gets an average rating of 3.1 out of 5 at the Apple store based on 950+ ratings and an average rating of 3.8 out of 5 on the Google Play store based on over 43,000 reviews.

Generally, merchants seem to like the app itself, though a lot of users have complaints about PayPal’s credit card processing.

Negative PayPal Point of Sale Reviews & Complaints

There aren’t too many PayPal POS reviews, as the service doesn’t typically get specific attention from review sites. PayPal doesn’t have a separate BBB account for PayPal Point of Sale. However, the Apple and Android app stores reveal some POS-specific complaints:

Connectivity issues
Software glitching
Can’t set permissions for staff members
Delayed reporting

You’ll also see many complaints surrounding funding holds and account freezes/terminations as well.

Other consistent complaints about PayPal include the following:

Inconsistent customer service
Glitches and syncing issues

Positive PayPal Point Of Sale Reviews & Testimonials

PayPal Point of Sale receives praise from users regarding the following:

Easy-to-use app
Quality card reader
Fair pricing
Seamless integration with PayPal business account

How PayPal Point Of Sale Compares To Other Mobile POS Solutions

PayPal Point of Sale is a strong contender in the mobile POS and processing fields, but how does it stack up against its competitors? We decided to compare it to two competitors whose products are targeted to a similar audience in the mobile processing/mPOS space: Square and Helcim.

Square POS VS PayPal Point Of Sale

With a free POS app, mobile card readers, an all-in-one touchscreen terminal, and flat-rate pricing for credit card processing, Square POS looks extremely similar to PayPal Point of Sale on the surface. Dig deeper, and while you’ll still see lots of similarities, key differences emerge.

Unlike PayPal , Square offers a free card reader to new subscribers. However, this reader is magstripe-only, so it’s only appropriate for very occasional/light sales. For most business activity, you’ll at least want the Square Reader for contactless and chip. While this device takes chip and contactless/NFC payments just like the PayPal Reader, it doesn’t have a display or PIN pad like the cheaper PayPal Reader, so PayPal has the edge here.

Square also offers an all-in-one touchscreen terminal — Square Terminal — that offers very similar functionality to the PayPal Terminal. Both devices are impressive, modern credit card machines, but the PayPal Terminal is cheaper. Advantage: PayPal.

As for the POS software, Square’s basic POS stacks up well against the PayPal POS while having one big advantage: an offline mode. This alone will make Square’s POS a more attractive proposition than PayPal for some merchants. But if you don’t particularly need that, PayPal’s main point of advantage here is that its processing rates are cheaper than Square’s in-person rates.

Strictly comparing Square’s free POS to PayPal Point of Sale, Square’s main advantage is that it has an offline mode, while PayPal offers less expensive equipment and processing, so the best choice for you depends on which of these attributes you value most.

Beyond this comparison, I should note that Square also offers specialty paid POS packages: Square For Restaurants, Square For Restaurants, and Square Appointments. If your business has complex, specialized needs, these POS packages will be a better fit for you than PayPal Point of Sale, but keep in mind that to get the most out of these specialty POS offerings, you’ll have to pay an extra monthly fee per location.

Check out our full Square VS PayPal comparison piece for a full rundown of how these two processing giants stack up.

Helcim VS PayPal Point Of Sale

Helcim is a month-by-month pay-as-you-go processor with no monthly fee, and it offers a handy free POS with card reader options, all of which give it a very close resemblance to PayPal Point of Sale — on the surface, at least. Let’s dig deeper.

With its PIN pad, display, and chip + contactless functionality, the Helcim Card Reader is extremely similar to the PayPal Reader. The difference is the cost, with the PayPal Reader being cheaper. Helcim also has an all-in-one touchscreen Helcim Terminal that offers very similar functionality to the PayPal Terminal, but again, it is more expensive.

Feature-wise, Helcim’s POS and PayPal Point of Sale offer very similar functionality — neither has an offline mode, but both capably cover the basic POS functions most small businesses will need. The big difference here lies in the fact that while PayPal offers third-party processing with flat-rate pricing, Helcim offers full merchant accounts with interchange-plus pricing.

What does this mean? It means that while it may take a bit longer for you to sign up for Helcim, if and when you’re approved, you’ll enjoy more account stability, which can be particularly important for merchants with significant sales volumes but who sell seasonally and therefore see big revenue spikes and valleys throughout the year.

And with interchange-plus pricing, businesses earning upwards of $5K-10K/month will see significant savings on payment processing. Businesses processing under $5K/month, on the other hand, will likely save money with PayPal’s flat-rate pricing. That, combined with the cheaper equipment, makes PayPal Point of Sale a better choice for most smaller merchants. But again, whether Helcim or PayPal is best for your business depends on your individual business needs.

Final Verdict On PayPal Point Of Sale

PayPal Point of Sale Review Summary
Pricing Range	$0/month
Choose If You Need	User-friendly POS for small business An inexpensive touchscreen POS terminal Free sub-user accounts

PayPal Point of Sale has everything most new and mid-sized businesses need to take payments, whether on the go or as part of a full retail setup. We can wholeheartedly recommend PayPal Point of Sale to anyone interested in standalone, pay-as-you-go processing. PayPal Point of Sale gets a strong score for its ease of use, great hardware, transparency, and overall dependability. It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s among the top mPOS apps on the market today.

If you already have an online store or want to start one, PayPal has a lot to offer in this area. Check out our full PayPal review for a thorough rundown of the company’s online credit card processing and the other myriad tools in PayPal’s payments arsenal.

Before making a final decision, however, check out some of your other options to compare features and decide what’s best for your particular business type. If you prefer to avoid PayPal, look at the top PayPal alternatives for businesses.

Jason Vissers

Expert Contributor at Merchant Maverick

Jason has been writing about small business software platforms, services, and financing since 2015. Jason’s expertise has been featured in Yahoo Finance, Time/NextAdvisor, Home Business Magazine, CreditCards.com, GoBankingRates, TheLadders.com, and other publications. He has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from San Diego State University.

@jvizz_mm

View Jason Vissers's professional experience on LinkedIn.

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Square is an industry-leading point-of-sale and payment processing provider. Sign up for a free account and get a complimentary card reader for use with Square POS. Start For Free.

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