CLOVER VS. SQUARE
COMPARE CLOVER STATION POS™ AND SQUARE STAND POS™
Let's look at the similarities and differences between the Clover Station and Square Stand Functions and processing costs
We did some research on both Clover Station POS and Square POS and here is a summary of what business types each product is best suited for.
Square Stand is more geared towards new businesses who want to take advantage of technology, but who don’t need the extra capabilities and shouldn’t have to pay for features they won’t use.
At first glance, everyone is drawn in by Square’s seemingly low price of $99, but for the whole set up (tablet w/card swiper, cash drawer, and receipt printer) Clover is actually no cost (free) when you meet processing requirements with American Merchant Brokers. Besides, what businesses can get by without the cash drawer and receipt printer?
PRICE
SQUARE
$1,100 – $1,350 (depending on the iPad and memory purchased)
Sold Separately:
Stand: $99
Cash Drawer: $229
Receipt Printer: $299
iPad: $499-699
CLOVER
Free ($1,299.00 if your company doesn’t qualify for free Clover POS Station) here
Included is:
Cash Drawer
Clover Unit
Receipt Printer*
Clover Mobile or Go
Both POS systems offer additional accessories, like bar code scanners or cables, as well as, additional units and pin pads for debit transactions.
FEATURES
SQUARE
Square Stand only has around 24 apps to customize your register system with so the advantage here goes to Clover.
Clover Station is geared toward small to medium businesses looking to update their POS system and take advantage of new technology, while expanding what their current POS can do.
CLOVER
Clover has over 150 apps to customize your Clover Station, Mobile, Mini or Go to suite each business type and their needs. But the biggest feature in our opinion is Clover has a Davos Tax app that for a dollar a day Clover pays both cash and credit card transaction taxes to all entities for you! practically eliminating the need for an accountant.
PAYMENT PROCESSING
Both the Clover Station and the Square Stand are payment solutions for businesses, but they differ in flexibility. With Square stand you’re going to process payments with Square, but with Clover you can process payments with any company associated with First Data. American Merchant Brokers offers all Clover POS equipment with free options along with the lowest rates GUARANTEED!
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RATES
SQUARE
With this POS you would process directly with Square, who charges 2.75% per swipe and 3.5% + $0.15 for keyed in transactions.
CLOVER
Clover is sold as a standalone POS system, which means it can be used with a large variety of credit card processing companies but used with American Merchant Brokers Processors. This is good for merchants because it gives them the ability to shop for credit card processing companies and get a lower cost (i.e. less than 2.75% per swipe – average for Square 2.95). Merchants switching to American Merchant Brokers have the extra security of knowing their rates are locked for life with never an increase from American Merchant Brokers.
Monthly Fees and Rates Example Comparison at $50,000 in Processing and 1000 transactions**:
Square: Average rate of 2.95% (all card types) and .15 per transaction = $1,775.00
Clover POS: Average rate of 1.80% + .08 per transaction = $980.00
The difference is approximately $795.00 per month using American Merchant Brokers and Clover. Over a 12 month time period you’d spend an additional $9,540.00 using Square vs. American Merchant Brokers and Clover POS. If your company qualifies for the free Clover POS Station that’s an additional $1,299.00 in cost reduction so overall that your saving (cost reduction to your business) could be $10,839.00 over the first year alone***
MANAGE YOUR BUSINESS
Both Clover POS and Square Dash POS systems offer merchants different tools to manage everything from inventory to reporting, but each goes about offering these tools differently.
SQUARE
With Square Stand, merchants download the Square Register app, which is the all in one POS. Within the app, users are able to manage payments, reporting, etc. One downfall of this type of system is that merchants only have the business management tools Square builds into the app.
CLOVER
With Clover Station, merchants are able to access the Clover App Market, which allows merchants to download the specific business management apps they need. This app market is the same idea as the Apple App Store, where Apple and third party developers can build apps, which allows for more app diversity, as well as some that are free and some that must be paid for.
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
Merchants using Square Stand will deal directly with Square’s customer service department while Clover Station users will deal with the credit card processing company they choose to work with. Unfortunately, Square’s customer service has gotten a pretty bad reputation because of lack of availability. With Clover, merchants are at the mercy of the customer service of the processing company they choose, so it could either be good or bad. If someone goes with Clover, he or she should make sure the processing company has good service in addition to good rates. Something to consider.
DESIGN/AESTHETICS
Clearly, both of these machines have been built with design aesthetics in mind. However, in my opinion, Clover seems to have created a more cohesive design including the cash drawer and receipt printer into the main concept, where with Square I feel like those two elements were after thoughts. None the less, these two POS systems are built for the modern business.
ACCESSORIES
Clover and Square both offer similar additional accessories to accompany their systems. From bar code scanners, pin pads to additional printers, both of these POS systems allow users to expand the system to meet the demands of their business.
STILL NOT SURE WHICH IS RIGHT FOR YOU?
Watch our videos below to see Clover POS in action and evaluate its benefits for your business.
Disclaimer:
* Additional Clover printer(s) and wireless kitchen printers available at additional cost plus shipping/handling.
** Rates and fee dollars charged per month using the example are based on averages and by no means expresses an exact amount. Each location charges are dependent on the types of card(s) accepted and the rates each card bank charges for reward cards etc. Rates directly from https://squareup.com/pricing and are accurate as of 2/2017. AMB rates accurate as of 2/2017 as listed.
*** Processing cost reduction example shown is for example purposes only and do not express nor imply you will see the same results shown.
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