Square Terminal Review

Pros

• Ease of use
• Set up in minutes
• Mobile with long battery life
• 24/7 customer support

Cons

• Bulky design
• Processing rates can add up

What Is Square Terminal?

Square Terminal is a convenient, all-in-one credit card machine. The POS system, card reader, and receipt printer are all contained in a small device designed to allow you to take credit card payments wherever your customers are.

Businesses That Would Benefit From Square Terminal

Nearly any sized business that is looking to give its employees more mobility could benefit from Square Terminal. It can function as both a desktop device and a handheld device as it syncs up with all of Square’s major POS software platforms like Square for Restaurants, Square for Retail, and Square Appointments. Square Terminal is particularly useful for restaurants looking for a way to implement tableside ordering to simplify the process of sending tickets to the kitchen.

Square Terminal Pricing & Processing Rates

You can purchase Square Terminal directly from Square’s website for $299 or from third-party retailers for the same price.

You can purchase Square Terminal directly from Square’s website for $299 or from third-party retailers for the same price. Square also offers financing for as low as $27 monthly for 12 months if needed. If you need to attach additional hardware via a USB connection, such as a cash drawer or scanner, you’ll need to purchase the Hub for $39. You can also purchase additional accessories, such as the belt clip. These prices are very competitive with Terminal’s top competitors if not slightly cheaper, which helps it receive high marks in our ratings rubric.

There are no long-term contracts or hidden fees, which is something Square prides itself on. Square’s processing rates for Terminal are 2.6% plus $0.10, which is competitive but could add up if you’re a high-volume seller. Funds are available as quickly as the next business day in most cases or immediately if you have the Square Card. Square’s processing fees have always been competitive, which also figured into its high score in this category.

Also, Square advertises that you can try Square Terminal “risk-free” for 30 days on its website. What this actually means is that you can purchase the card reader and test it out for 30 days. If you don’t like it, you can return it within 30 days, buy different hardware, or stop using Square altogether.

Overall Design

As mentioned, Square Terminal isn’t a large machine. It’s got a 5.5-inch screen and measures 5.6 inches long by 3.4 inches wide, with a height of 2.5 inches. It’s not overly heavy, so it shouldn’t be much of a burden if you plan to use it remotely around your store.

Square Terminal supports both Wi-Fi and Ethernet connections. You can keep it plugged in for stationary use, but you can also leave it unplugged because the battery is “designed to last all day.” After keeping Terminal on all night, it only drained about a third of the battery, so even with heavy use, I would imagine the battery would last through most standard workdays. But given the small profile and overall design, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to have a dedicated spot on your counter to plug the Terminal in for charging and then just unplug it and carry it off when you need to go mobile.

Square Terminal supports magstripe, chip cards, and contactless transactions. The magstripe reader is located on the side of the device, while the chip card reader is at the base. Square Terminal lets customers see an itemized list of everything they are paying for rather than just a single, final sum. Signatures can be collected digitally as well as on paper, depending on your preferences. 

Ease Of Use

If I haven’t driven the point home well enough already, Square Terminal is absurdly easy to use, and that is perhaps its biggest selling point. Whether you want to use it as a tidy, out-of-the-way countertop card reading machine or use one (or multiple devices) for employees to operate remotely, you can be up and selling in a matter of moments, not to mention uploading inventory and menu items equally fast.

While the device offers a more professional look than the standard mobile phone and Square reader you see so often, I’m not overly impressed with how it fits in your hand. It’s not an intuitive feel and is a bit bulky if you have to switch from hand to hand.

I would worry about its durability if dropped (something I imagine would be fairly common if employees were using them remotely throughout the day.) I would also worry about them being hit against tables or counters when attached via the belt clip.

That said, the software is remarkably user-friendly, and the processing rates are simple to understand, helping it earn a solid all-around score.

Getting Started With Square Terminal

I have to admit I have an affinity for Square because, in my mind, getting its products up and running is as smooth and uncomplicated as everything should be. Square Terminal is no exception.

It should come at least somewhat charged, but if not, you can easily plug it in and turn it on, getting to your Square login screen. If you have an account, log in. You’re then walked through a 30-second tutorial that you will likely not even need and then given the opportunity to connect to the internet via an Ethernet cable or through available Wi-Fi.

If you need to know how to set up your Square account, that process is also extremely easy, taking less than five minutes. You then have the option of taking an initial trial payment.

Installing the receipt paper is also simple, with a compartment popping open on the back of the terminal and the slip easily threading through the top. And that’s it!

If you want to set up additional equipment, such as a cash drawer, through a USB cord, you can purchase a Hub for Square Terminal, which comes with three USB ports. Our guide to Square’s POS hardware goes into further detail.

Square Terminal Features

Square Terminal runs the standard free Square POS app app. It is also compatible with Square For Restaurants POS, Square for Retail, and Square Appointments.

As far as standard Square point of sale features go, many carry over to the Terminal. You can’t mark items for sale online, track sales by employee, or keep a cash drawer history, but Terminal does support item creation, custom tipping, and receipt management.

Square Terminal has its own built-in thermal receipt printer, but you can set up a third-party receipt printer if you prefer.

Since Square Terminal isn’t a full, standalone POS system, it has some limitations while running Square for Retail and Square for Restaurants. Some of that software’s more advanced employee and customer management features aren’t available, but if you mainly need tableside ordering or a mobile payment tracker in a busy retail store or salon, Square Terminal has you covered.

There are a couple of additional limitations that I need to make clear. First, Square Terminal doesn’t work with Bluetooth peripherals, including barcode scanners. Instead, you can connect USB-based devices. Certainly, this isn’t ideal for everyone, especially if you don’t like wires. Square Terminal does offer a cleverly designed power cable and USB hub to help contain the chaos and slim down the look. But, with its ability to run all of Square’s major POS software, Square Terminal scores well for overall features.

Customer Service & Support

To me, this is one of the bigger advantages Square Terminal has over just its free app. Access to customer service has been a point of contention with me for a while, as Square always claims it has 24/7 customer support, but this simply isn’t the case for many of its users.

People using the free app have access Monday through Friday from 6 AM to 6 PM Pacific Time with a customer code and some 24/7 access in the case of certain emergencies. However, customers with Square Terminal have access to 24/7 phone support. That’s a big deal, if even just for peace of mind, especially for food service establishments and retailers with weekend hours, and it helps boost its score in this category.

Square’s products are generally so user-friendly that not much customer support is needed. Plus, Square’s website has an extensive FAQ section and a wealth of information and instructional videos online. If you need to talk to Square directly, its representatives have a solid reputation for being friendly and knowledgeable.

User Reviews

Positive Square Terminal Reviews & Testimonials

Here are a few things that came up multiple times in the limited number of customer reviews I could find online.

• Ease Of Use: As you might imagine, many of the positive reviews brought up how simple Square is to operate and how quick and easy it is to set up. Multiple reviews appreciated the simplicity of the interface and how quickly it walked customers through the payment process.
• Syncs With Other Square Software: While not everything transfers over to Square Terminal, a handful of users appreciated that they could still use some of the basics from Square for Restaurants and Square’s built-in customer management.
• Customer Service: Despite some of its limitations, Square has always had a solid reputation for its customer service. Users appreciated how knowledgeable the representatives are and the expanded access Square Terminal offers.

Negative Square Terminal Reviews & Complaints

• Software Glitches: A couple of customers complained that the software would occasionally stop working for a brief period or that they couldn’t get a strong internet connection.
• Design: More than one user thought that the design as a mobile device made it difficult to hold for a long time and wasn’t practical.

Square Terminal Vs. Clover Flex

Perhaps Square Terminal’s biggest rival in the world of mobile credit card processors is Clover Flex. Flex is built similarly, and I personally like its design a bit better as it is easier to carry and use in a restaurant setting.

Flex syncs up with Clover products and has basic inventory and reporting features but, like Square Terminal, it’s not as robust as Clover POS.

The biggest difference between the Flex and the Terminal is that Flex is $200 more, retailing at $499, which can be a tough upfront cost to stomach. Its processing fees are cheaper if you go through a certified Clover retail, but you also have to worry about Clover scams. Both products are excellent mobile solutions, well-built, and extremely easy to use, and, if you can afford the initial cost, Flex is a very convenient option for tableside ordering.

Square Terminal Vs. Toast Go

Toast is restaurant-specific POS software and, as such, it has a restaurant-specific handheld processor in Toast Go. This product is loaded with a surprisingly deep feature set and is highly portable and easy for servers to use. It integrates with Toast’s marketing and loyalty programs along with Toast’s KDS, allowing restaurant workers to take and send orders to the kitchen seamlessly.

Toast offers its handheld devices as part of its bundles, and there are options to pay no money down and receive your kit. However, you will get lower credit card processing rates if you pay something upfront. If you’re a fast-moving restaurant or looking to use multiple handheld devices, Toast is an excellent option. Square Terminal is ultimately cheaper on its own and probably a better option for retailers or establishments that plan on using it as a hybrid countertop and mobile device.

Final Verdict: Is Square Terminal Worth It?

While I’m not convinced that Square Terminal will revolutionize the point of sale or mobile ordering game, Square has added another impressive option for its customers to its already strong team. It makes sense for small or even mid-sized businesses that like having portability with their credit card machine or those already using Square that would like a bit of an upgrade but don’t want to commit fully to Square Register.

In addition to restaurants of all kinds, Terminal targets service businesses with physical locations and small shop owners who want a professional-looking credit card machine. So, for example, hair and nail salons can bring the Square Terminal right to the customer rather than bringing them to the front of the salon to pay. Kiosks at a mall can save space by switching to Terminal, which has a much smaller footprint than a traditional POS.

It’s less suitable for mobile businesses because Terminal doesn’t work on cellular networks, but if you have a dedicated Wi-Fi connection or a mobile device with tethering, you can take Terminal on the go.

Considering that a decently reliable smartphone will run you a couple of hundred dollars plus the cost of card readers, Terminal offers a pretty good value. It’s lightweight, portable, and guaranteed to work with the Square Point of Sale app, with no need to worry about OS updates or a data plan.

Let’s not forget that Square Terminal also comes with 24/7 phone support. Existing Square merchants should certainly consider upgrading, especially if they’ve had trouble using Square on their mobile devices in the past. For new merchants, Terminal makes the transition from a traditional merchant services provider to Square much easier.

Square Terminal FAQs

POS Hardware & Mobile Credit Card Reader Rating Methodology

We spend hours researching and evaluating each POS hardware and mobile payments device that we review at Merchant Maverick, placing special emphasis on key characteristics to generate our product ratings.

When rating POS hardware (which might include registers, mobile card readers, and other similar devices), we use a 38-point rubric that looks at pricing, ease of use, features, customer service, and user reviews. We weigh each section differently to calculate the total star rating.

• Pricing: 40% of the total star rating
• Ease of Use: 20% of the total star rating
• Features: 25% of the total star rating
• Customer Service: 10% of the total star rating
• User Reviews: 5% of the total star rating

Each section is further broken down into granular, weighted subsections, in which we look at specific attributes, like whether reduced fees are available for multiple terminals, which payment processing options are available, and how well the hardware integrates with POS or payment processing software apps. We’re also paying careful attention to hardware’s relative cost, any associated fees, and whether financing is available, among other things.

Learn more about how we rate POS hardware.

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

Square Terminal	Visit Site

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

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

Square Terminal	Visit Site

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