Products
The plainest option, and usually the cheapest per terminal. If the customer comes to a fixed serving point, this is the default and the others need a reason.
A counter, a till, a queue that forms in one place. Mains power and a fixed connection mean there is no battery to manage and no device to lose, which is why it is still the most common setup in Australian retail and takeaway.
Where it stops suiting you is the moment the customer stops coming to the counter — table service, a trade van, a market stall. At that point the question is portable, not countertop.
Not the device. Terminal rental is the number merchants fixate on, and it is usually the smallest line on the statement. What moves the total is your effective rate — every fee counted, divided by what you turned over.
The second thing is whether least cost routing is switched on. For a business with a high count of small debit taps, that single setting is frequently worth more than the entire terminal rental.
The contract term and what happens at the end of it. Terminal rental that quietly outlives the terminal is one of the most common things we find on a statement.
Then: is the rate blended or interchange-plus, what does the monthly minimum do if you have a quiet month, and who is responsible when the terminal stops working on a Saturday.
Tell us what you trade as and roughly what you turn over on cards. We quote it across the panel and are straight with you about whether it is worth moving.