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Poynt 5 Review

Credit Card Machines

New from POS equipment company Poynt is the Poynt 5, a light, portable card acceptance machine for businesses. Just like the original terminal, the Poynt 5 system takes all kinds of payments, including EMV chip cards, magnetic stripe cards, contactless payments, EBT cards, gift cards, and PIN on glass payments.

Poynt seeks to offer “future-proof” terminals, ensuring that once you purchase a Poynt device, you won’t need a new machine for many years.

Here’s what you need to know to determine if the Poynt 5 will be a good solution for your business.
 

Go here if you’re looking for information on the original Poynt Smart Terminal.

Poynt 5 homepage

What You’ll Need

To take payments with the Poynt 5 terminal, you’ll need a merchant account with a compatible credit card processor, the terminal itself, and a secure Wifi or 3G connection.

When you purchase your Poynt 5, it will come with the system, a power cord and power adapter, and the Quick Start guide.

Poynt doesn’t limit your choice of processors, promising that the system can be supported by almost any processing company. That’s great news for finding the most competitive rates on credit card processing. You can see pricing from credit card processors right now using CardFellow’s free, no obligation price comparison tool.

Features

The Poynt 5 is a portable terminal, which makes it ideal for situations where you don’t want to be tied to a checkout counter. You can use it for line-busting in a retail store, to accept payments right at the table in your restaurant, or outside at festivals. The portability increases convenience for your customers, as you can come to them.

As mentioned above, the Poynt terminal lets you accept a variety of card payments, including chip cards, gift cards, and contactless payments. You can also accept and record cash payments, with the option of connecting a cash drawer.

The new Poynt 5 also connects with printers but customers can opt for email receipts, text receipts, or skip the receipt entirely.

The terminal works with Wifi or 3G connections, and can connect to many existing POS systems.

Additionally, the Poynt terminal includes access to the Poynt Apps Marketplace to allow you to customize your terminal to your exact needs. As with the main Poynt system, the Poynt 5 handheld terminal offers Poynt HQ to provide access to reports, real-time sales information, and more. You can even access the terminal through a mobile app on your Android or iPhone wen you’re away from the business.

Credit Card Processing with the Poynt 5

The Poynt terminal is not limited to one particular credit card processor. The company’s website states that it will work with any acquirer, and later references specific processing companies, including TSYS, First Data, Elavon, and more. Smaller processing companies that operate on the TSYS, First Data, and Elavon systems may also be able to offer the Poynt 5, opening up your choices.

Accepting Payment

Taking payments with the Poynt 5 is a simple process. You’ll enter the amount of the transaction and select cash or charge. If you select “charge,” you’ll see a second screen prompting you to insert the chip card (or swipe it if it’s a magstripe card) or enable NFC contactless tap-to-pay.

Poynt 5 payment

You’ll also have the option to manually key in card details, but remember that keying in cards may cost you more than swiping or accepting contactless payments.

You can choose to enable a gratuities screen to allow customers to add a tip to their transaction. You can include suggested tip amounts that customers can choose, or they can enter their own. Customers will also have the option to select no tip.

Poynt 5 tip screen

Costs

Poynt 5 doesn’t set pricing for accepting credit cards. The costs you pay will be determined by the processor that you work with. The cost for the terminal itself will also depend on where you purchase it, but you can expect to pay a few hundred dollars to purchase the system outright.

Some companies will Poynt machines, but we don’t recommend leasing a terminal. Leases are typically expensive and lock you into ironclad multi-year contracts. The Poynt terminals are not as cost prohibitive as some full POS system, so it’s in your best interest to purchase outright if possible.

Hardware and Accessories

The Poynt terminal works with optional accessories including printers, cash drawers or cash registers, and barcode scanners. You’ll be able to choose the accessories that you want to create the ideal setup for your business.

Poynt is compatible with major brands including Star and Epson printers, APG Vasario cash drawers, Inatech barcode scanners, and more.
 

Ready to get started? Get pricing for credit card processing now.

 

Product Features

Universal

Credit Card Machines

  • Dial-Up
  • Dual/Comm
  • Wireless
  • Wifi
  • Contactless
  • EMV/ Smartcard
  • Built in Contactless Reader
  • NFC Capable
  • Internal PIN Pad
  • Store & Forward
  • Multiple merchant support
  • Multi application support
  • Encrypted

Poynt 5 Q&A

Heartland Payment Systems answer:

We don't sell this product, so we are not able to answer this question. Please refer to Poynt's customer service department to get these questions answered.

Thanks
Team TSYS


Poynt 5 Reviews ( 3)

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from Robert, on Aug 04, 2020

First I should say that I really like this terminal. I enjoy the Poynt ecosystem overall and this is a nice portable option with a chip reader in an attractive form factor. So why one star? Because It will not work for more than about two months at a time. It seems like if you breathe on it wrong, it gets a "Tamper detected" error which renders it inoperable. There is no resolution, and the device needs to be returned and replaced. This has happened to me four times now and I am tired of having them replaced!

from Randall, on Dec 02, 2019

I was hoping this device would be a real problem solver, instead its a real difficult device to work with. First it decides to update without asking, so in the middle of a transaction with the customer by your side you have to wait for it to download, then reboot (which takes FOREVER, sometimes I’m not even sure when i turn it on if it actually is turned on, it can take a minute for it to come to life). But the real issues i had with the device is its unreliability, connecting thru data is problematic as often it was unable to, i also had issues with the SIM card (we tried 5 devices, one i had to change the card 2 times so i think its the unit not the card) many sales people HATED using it, 1 out of 5 times the item doesn’t scan, the scanner is a camera, I would prefer it to have the traditional scanning mechanism. We had other issues with the device, all in all it really was not reliable for us. The idea of the unit is GREAT just wish it would work right out of the box, and be reliable.

from CardFellow, on Mar 20, 2019

The Poynt 5 is a newer option that allows you to easily accept payments with a sleek "future-proof" payment terminal. You'll also be able to use it with multiple processors for flexibility.

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