
Get Matched With POS Software
Take our short quiz to get matched with the best point-of-sale software for your unique business needs. Instant results, no phone number or email required.
Start QuizPayPal 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.
Total Rating | 4.4 |
---|---|
Pricing4.2 | |
Ease Of Use5.0 | |
Features4.3 | |
Customer Service4.4 | |
User Reviews3.9 |
Pricing
No monthly feeContract
NoneEquipment Cost
$29 for your first card readerTable of Contents
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.
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.
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:
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.
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 |
Note that the above pricing pertains to US merchants only. For UK pricing, see our Zettle By PayPal (UK Version) review.
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.
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 |
Let’s look at some Paypal Point of Sale features in detail.
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.
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:
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 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
PayPal Point of Sale Review Summary | |
---|---|
Pricing Range | $0/month |
Choose If You Need |
|
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.
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.
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 🏆
PayPal Point of Sale ![]()
|
---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see PayPal Point of Sale for yourself.
The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
PayPal Point of Sale ![]()
|
---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see PayPal Point of Sale for yourself.
Want to help shape the future of the Merchant Maverick website? Join our testing and survey community!
By providing feedback on how we can improve, you can earn gift cards and get early access to new features.
Help us to improve by providing some feedback on your experience today.
The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.