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Poynt Review

Credit Card Machines

The Poynt credit card processing machine is getting some attention for its interesting design and claims of being “future proof.” The Android-based terminal has dual screens within a single device – one screen faces the cashier, and the other screen faces the customer.

The idea behind Poynt’s dual screens is that you won’t need to hand over a terminal or swivel around the screen for customers to sign or add a tip, and both people using the machine have some privacy. It looks nice, and can add convenience to your checkout process, but what about the other details, like features and pricing? This Poynt review and profile has the info you need if you’re considering the Poynt terminal.

What does “future proof” mean as far as the Poynt system?

Poynt talks on its website about how payment technologies change rapidly, meaning customers frequently access new ways of paying. The US is in the midst of a shift to EMV chip cards, Apple Pay and other NFC/digital wallet payment options are here, and who knows what other technologies will come up in the future.

The Poynt system claims to minimize the need to switch terminals every time new technology comes on the scene by offering ways to take all existing payment forms and providing open development channels and the ability to add apps for different functions.

While making a definitive claim that you would never need a new terminal would be a stretch, Poynt currently accepts all forms of payment, including the newer EMV and NFC (contactless) technologies, as well as QR code and barcode scanning. QR code scanning will allow the Poynt system to accept Chase Pay, a digital wallet that doesn’t utilize tap-to-pay/NFC technology. Between accepting EMV, contactless payments, and QR codes, it’s fairly likely that the Poynt terminal will be able to handle any new type of payment for awhile.

Is Poynt a point of sale system?

Not exactly. While it doesn’t look like the typical credit card machines that have PIN pads and small screens, the Poynt system is still a credit card machine, not a full-fledged POS system. It’s closer to a cash register replacement. Poynt does plan to offer additional POS system functions in the future, at which point the machine may become more of a point of sale system. Check out the video below to see Poynt in action.

 

Features

As mentioned above, Poynt is not a POS system, so if you need the wide range of features offered by a full point of sale solution, you’ll want to look elsewhere. (Check our POS system directory for other options.) However, if you’re looking for a cash register replacement with features like portability, store and forward capabilities, and basic reporting, Poynt is worth a look.

Mobility

The Poynt machine is portable, so you can move around with it for any number of reasons. Maybe you want to offer curbside pickup at your restaurant – your staff can carry the Poynt terminal outside to take payment. Hitting a fair to sell your goods? Bring your Poynt machine.

Store and Forward

Poynt offers an offline processing mode (also known as ”store and forward”) if a connection is not available. You can still accept payments in the offline mode to process at a later time, so you won’t miss sales just because of connection problems.

Reporting

The reporting app, Poynt HQ, offers information on transactions and trends as well as customer information. You can search sales data and export it for further analysis and business management. The reporting app offers information using smartphones or computers.

Credit Card Processing with Poynt

Poynt is not proprietary and can work with many existing processors. That’s good news if you’re trying to keep credit card processing costs down, as you have more opportunity to find the most competitive solution.

Poynt is compatible with major processors including Chase Paymentech, Vantiv, First Data, Elavon, TSYS, Global Payments, and more. Note that this doesn’t mean you need a direct account with those companies; there are many smaller processing companies (ISOs) that can support the Poynt machine. Get credit card processing quotes.

Security

Poynt is fully PCI compliant, utilizes end-to-end encryption, and meets EMV requirements. Additionally, Poynt comes with 24 hour fraud and tamper detection to help ensure maximum safety and security.

Specs

Poynt has a variety of features for customer and business convenience, and anticipates adding more features in the future.

Connectivity and Communication

The Poynt terminal connects to Wifi and 3G networks, and includes Bluetooth connectivity. Currently, Ethernet connectivity is not available, though a dock with Ethernet capability is in the works. A micro USB port allows connection for recharging the battery.

Display

The cashier-facing screen is an 800 x 1280 pixel 7” touchscreen tablet display and includes a cashier-facing camera. The customer-facing screen is an 800 x 480 pixel 4.3” touchscreen display with an NFC antenna surrounding the touchscreen for easy contactless payments.

Keypad

The Poynt terminal features a touchscreen display with an on-screen keypad. Optional external PIN pads may be supported if you prefer the feel of physical keys.

Printer

A built-in thermal printer is under the customer-facing screen, with the receipt slot facing the customer for quick access. Poynt recommends 2-1/4” x 16” printer rolls.

Accessories

Poynt supports optional accessories if you need more from your machine. You can add cash registers, produce scales, check readers, and more.  

Pricing

Poynt itself doesn’t charge per transaction fees. Your costs to use Poynt will be the purchase of the machine itself, and the credit card processing charges from the processor you choose.

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 Q&A

Dharma Merchant Services answer:

Yes!


Heartland Payment Systems answer:

Please refer to POYNT support in order to get this question answered. We don't resell this product. 

Thanks
Team TSYS


Heartland Payment Systems answer:

To enable tip through Poynt the merchant will want to log onto their Poynt HQ (www.poynt.net) and go to the ?Business? tab. There will be a button on the bottom left that says ?Manage Store?. Click that button and then go to the ?Payment Settings? tab where there should be a toggle switch to enable/disable tip. Screenshots below. If you are still having trouble then whoever set up your account should be able to change it for you.?

Thanks,?

TSYS Team


Dharma Merchant Services answer:

Assuming tips are enabled, the customer will have an option to tip during the sale, on the customer-facing screen. You can edit tip acceptance by following these instructions: https://dharmamerchantservices.com/faq/customizing-tips-with-poynt/


Heartland Payment Systems answer:

Please refer to Poynt's website and customer support for these questions.

Thanks
Team TSYS

Heartland Payment Systems answer:

It's actually recommended that you don't use a stylus.?

Thanks,

TSYS Team?


Dharma Merchant Services answer:

It's a standard touchscreen, so most styluses should work - that being said, it's designed to function best with your fingers.


Heartland Payment Systems answer:

https://www.cardfellow.com/product-directory/credit-card-machines/poynt/poynt/

Thanks,

TSYS Team

Heartland Payment Systems answer:

This is not a device that we internally support. Please refer to the reseller of this device for specific questions on functionality.?

Thanks
Team TSYS

Heartland Payment Systems answer:

Plastic back, glass front, very similar to an Andriod device.

Thanks,

TSYS Team

Heartland Payment Systems answer:

Please call your Poynt reseller for this information, this is a device we don't support internally. 

Thanks
Team TSYS


Poynt Reviews ( 62)

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from Na Nguyen, on Jan 07, 2020

Scam company. Very bad service and liars. They've owed my business around $300 for 2 years. I've since closed the business and they still haven't refunded the money, and they keep charging me $125. For what? I've called them, but they can't answer any questions and still won't refund the money. I'll never use US Bank and Poynt merchant services for my business again.

from Cassandra R, on Jan 07, 2020

I’ve never hated (and I don’t use that word lightly) anything more in my life than these worthless Poynt terminals. They don’t calculate our taxes correctly, and there is no fix for it. They say the credit card was successfully processed, but later you find out it wasn’t, and now the customer is gone and you are out of hundreds of dollars. I just cant believe this is a real company making these horrible products. How is it possible? How are they not bankrupt or out of business by now? I looked up Poynt’s BBB rating. FAILING! No surprise. It’s our fault for not researching this more before getting suckered into Poynt. If you read this don’t gamble with your sanity and business’s profits. RUN away from Poynt and find any of the better and cheaper options that are out there.

from Ted Sanders, on Jan 06, 2020

I think we were conned into buying Poynt because of their low processing fees. It’s all a lie. Fees are variable, read the fine print. Their product is so poorly designed and developed that it’s impossible to imagine anyone being proud of making and selling this POS. We bought 4 devices and 2 broke in the first two weeks. Their native apps and software look like they were built in India by amateurs. It’s unusable. The malfunctioning Poynt devices were replaced, but then a week later one of the other two devices stopped working. Who has time to waste days upon days with their horrible support instead of running their business? Nobody. Who is going to cover our lost time and revenue while troubleshooting their crappy software? Nobody.

from Olivia , on Dec 30, 2019

We have this system for our nail salon. Honestly, I wish there was an option for negative reviews. 1) it doesn’t even work? Every time (yes 9/10 times) it doesn’t read the card. When it does, then we have to print a receipt or we don’t get the tip the customer selects on the machine. It takes about 3-5 mins to go through (says there’s an error), and even when it does the pay screen won’t go away for up to 10 mins. 2) customer service sucks. They’re rude and “mansplain." My coworkers don’t speak good English, so their employees think they can’t work the machine right. I’m an American in my late twenties so you know technology isn’t a problem for me. I can tell you now it’s the machine, not my coworkers . It’s extremely unprofessional how they treated my boss. Sent us about 5 different machines in the mail including an old school card reader. 3) the ONLY good thing about this system is how nice it looks. The terminal is sleek and the program is easy to use (when it wants to work-rarely). We love that it works with Mangomint, unfortunately their own terminal won’t be here for awhile. Poynt if you’re reading this, I suggest you apologize to everyone using your system. Spending their hard earned money on something you promise to work, then having the audacity to blame the customer? I don’t think so. Thanks for reading my ted talk on “pointless” poynt system.

from Zack Brooks, on Dec 03, 2019

We purchased 2 Poynt terminals with high hopes from Poynt. The terminals look nice and slick but they feel like they are 10 years behind in terms of the actual hardware tech that is in them. They are super slow. They crash. The software is useless and crashes all the time and you get billed an outrageous amount for it. Nothing really works 100% of the time. My advice is to look at Square or any of the real payment companies that are out there. But if you have very low volume transactions, don't mind losing a few sales due to your terminal not charging cards, duplicating charges when you are trying to make one transaction, or don't mind having dead terminals in the morning, then go for Poynt. It is also impossible to use the scanner they claim is built into the device, so plan on spending more than what the sales person will tell you that you're getting. We had to fight like crazy to get out of our contract so be wary of whatever you sign or agree to with this company.

from Cynthia , on Nov 14, 2019

I wish I had read reviews before we took this system which was recommended by our bank. This Poynt system does not function more often than it does. We have only been able to run a few transactions since we got it 5 months ago - and our clients have had to go get cash, paypal or Venmo when our system is not working. We cannot get out of the Ladco Lease either - total rip off. Beware!

from Hilleary Chandler, on Sep 24, 2019

Their online system has been down now for 5 days and the only answer I have received ever since has continued to be "we have no idea when it will be back up". We have constant problems with the terminal itself taking payments and accepting the credit card. It is constantly declining cards. We are changing services immediately. I will not use a product that goes down for 5 days and still have no answers. This is extremely unreliable for a product that is so important.

from Marta, on Aug 12, 2019

We own a bakery and were introduced to Poynt device. The only nice thing about it - it looks good and kind of a fancy way to process payment but nothing else. We have issues with it at least once a week, we exchanged at least 4 devices since we opened (August 2018) and each time they promise to overnight the new replacement. That actually never was the case. We had to wait at least a few days before they even bothered to ship it. Customer service is less than helpful, they put you on hold and then hangup or transfer to each other with no solution to the problem. Overall: nice interface, bad performance, a lot of software, firmware and hardware issues. One star is for the interface.

from Matt, on Jul 26, 2019

Garbage! If we did not have a backup system for our credit card processing, we would be out of business. This thing crashes constantly!

from Tony , on Jun 04, 2019

Looks nice, but product is fragile. We are a hotel and have gone through 6-7 poynt terminals in the last 1-2 years due to product failure. Definitely not suited for the hospitality world. Stick with verifone/ingenico. Support is terrible to nonexistent.

from Marcia Quinn , on May 05, 2019

Our pub/grill has been using the POYNT system since Aug 2018. We have had really good service from it. The only thing we don't like is the paper roll is so small. If that could somehow last longer, it would be really good. We have had a glitch or two, but we haven't had any trouble with the help line. The fees they charge are reasonable, too.

from Bo, on May 05, 2019

BEAUTIFUL terminal with so many problems I don't know where to start. Some of this is surely caused by the terrible MindBody app. I used to use MindBody on a couple iPads, but after MindBody started pushing the POYNT the iPad app's seems to work worse than before, Im "sure" thats a complete coincidence. BIG daily issues, half the times POYNT don't print when the customer click "print receipt" so we end up printing on the PC and spending tons of extra time completing the take-in task. WORSE.. my POYNT simply won't process AmEX. Any other card you can push in, but the new AmEX cards is blocked out of the reader... Don't ask why, I'm not the engineer.. But for a massage business its bad business having to manually enter AmEX cards all day long.. thanks POYNT and MindBody. Bottom line - my iPads are superior in that they accept all cards, and print flawlessly via bluetooth.

from Alan, on Mar 26, 2019

So I got this terminal right at Halloween, so it's fitting that within a month it stopped printing. Tech support was awesome on that deal after I actually got to the right person. It has been having charging problems and the battery doesn't last long at all for the last couple months until yesterday I came in and it was dead. I looked at the charging base and one of the 6 prongs popped out, tiny spring and all, with another looking like it's next. They are very flimsy. I called the company and they say great news its only 55 dollars and we can replace the whole thing under warranty?? 60 dollars just for the base if you did not have a warranty. I haven't even had the unit 5 months and this looks like a design issue. Look forward to replacing charging docks or keeping it plugged in because the battery doesn't last and I don't want the the cord to break next. I'll shell out the 55 dollars now but when the warranty runs out this thing's nothing but a fancy corded model after that.

from Sinic, on Feb 18, 2019

We run an small flower shop and use Poynt as a credit card processor. Had issues in the beginning but we manage to work through. Had it 2 years.

from Sean R., on Feb 05, 2019

Unfortunately, I have discovered the same problem with both the Poynt reader and a Clover reader. The credit card industry has released metal credit cards without assessing the current readers, or their ability to deal with them. Somehow, some corporate genius (denote my sarcasm) came up with a metal credit card to replace plastic and expected readers that work with magnetic chips and stripes not to have problems. With that said, this is the problem with all readers today. I have posted a sign at my store that says "no metal credit cards are allowed near my magnetic card reading machine". This may seem obvious to anyone with a 4th grade education, but it is not so obvious to Poynt, Clover, American Express, Visa, Discover, or Master Card. I hope this helps everyone understand what is happening and where incompetence can be officially assessed.

from Rachel Smith, on Jan 11, 2019

Many functional problems, no service, just all around a big mistake that causes problems.

from Ara Zacmed, on Jan 07, 2019

We got this device after a salesperson came into my small business and brainwashed into getting it because of the super mega low fees and how we would be saving hundreds of dollars compared to Square which is what we had been using. The company who set up the machine for us said we would pay $75 a month to rent the machine but it was a really low price compared to how much we would be saving in credit/debit card fees and that it could do the same if not more than Square, plus the hardware was much sleeker, nicer and attractive (it really is). Upon receiving the device we were super excited to try it out and soon noticed there was absolutely no way to track our inventory on the device. When I asked the sales representative she told us we could get the Hopper app to do that and it turns out the app was a ridiculousl $50 a month subscription (ha ha). She tried to convince us that even with the $50 app and $75 monthly fee from them we would still be saving money compared to Square. We immediately went back to Square and cancelled our Poynt terminal literally 2 days after realizing the huge mistake we had made. We returned the device and went back to awesome Square (such good software) and to our price we were billed $95 from the Poynt company, so the $75 a month that they guaranteed was a lie because they don't mention that it's plus tax. Overall this machine is useless if you need to keep track of inventory.

from suzie, on Dec 03, 2018

This machine is FRAUD! I'm a small business owner and this machine for the past months has not deposited my tips! I call every month and put on hold for more than 2 hours. Deposit statements do not match the Poynt system, then I find out months later tips were not generating. Now I have to manually type every card one by one and charge my clients for the tips. This week alone we had over 50 clients. Not to mention over draft fees due to this. What do they say "I'm sorry." !! THAT'S IT! Business owners please be careful with this machine!!!!!

from Casey, on Dec 03, 2018

This is the worst terminal in the world. It shuts off when you print receipts; it won't even take payments sometimes; its printer acts up; the help line is not very accessible; its the worst. Not to mention that we are on our THIRD replacement in a year because of these issues. AVOID.

from R. Peterson, on Nov 12, 2018

DO NOT BUY POYNT. BUY SQUARE, BUY CAKE POS, BUY VERIFONE, BUY ANYTHING EXCEPT POYNT. My Poynt devices crash every day. Every. Single. Day. They don't just crash once a day either. My Poynt devices crash or freeze on average 3-4 times per day! I have lost holiday sales because of this stupid terminal and it has even affected my customers opinion towards my business because they have seen me fighting and screaming at these Poynt machines while they are trying to quickly pay and leave my store! I have called Poynt for support. I'm on hold forever or they never call back. I am pissed at Elevon for duping me into this contract but I am even more pissed at the Poynt CEO. He seems very full of himself and never admits his product has these problems. I spoke with the Poynt CEO briefly on the phone and I could tell he avoids angry customers often. He arrogantly said, "Poynt is the best, it's a billion dollar company," and he said not to worry a support specialist will contact me the same day. They never called me. This company is a disgrace and they should fire everyone who works there starting from the top down.

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