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Comment by password11 | Hacker News Reader

I would assume all POS systems have to take a percent cut, given that they clear credit card transactions. They have to at least take 2-3% to cover the cc transaction fee.

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The CC transaction fee is generally about half of that. A normal sized restaurant will have their own merchant accounts for CC transactions and not pay the POS provider any percentage.

According to https://www.clover.com/pricing/quick-service-restaurant

Clover's fees are:

Card-present transactions 2.3% + 10¢

Keyed‑in transactions 3.5% + 10¢

So if you have a merchant acct, you'd have to negotiate rates with Clover et al. directly?

That's just one POS system, with a very unfavorable price. Most restaurants of medium size and up will not pay high rates like that on their transactions. If you have a merchant account you negotiate rates with your bank (or other account provider). The POS just connects with that. And yes, these POS systems are an expensive one-time purchase, with some yearly or monthly fees. However much more economical than paying on transactions.

If you're a smaller actor, there are POS systems that make their money on your transactions, but even among those Clover is a really bad deal. Compare to Zettle for example, that comes with a POS system, has no monthly costs and a flat 1.75% fee: https://www.zettle.com/gb/pricing

Oh sure, I figured they pass that charge through. But even that charge is not a straight percentage, is it? I always thought it was a percentage plus a constant.

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