Bring your own hardware.
Many point of sale systems sell or lease their own tablet and card reader, and that reader only takes payments through them. Muster POS runs on hardware the shop chooses, and takes cards on the shop's own bank EFTPOS terminal.
How it compares
| Bundled POS | Muster POS | |
|---|---|---|
| Till screen | Their tablet or stand, bought or leased from them. | An iPad, a laptop or a touchscreen monitor, bought anywhere or already owned. |
| Card terminal | Their own reader. | The bank's EFTPOS terminal through Linkly, or a Square Terminal. |
| Card fees | Set by the POS company, since the reader only works with its payment processing. | Agreed between the shop and its bank. |
| Changing POS later | The card reader and the payments setup usually go with it. | The iPad, printers and bank terminal stay where they are. |
| When something breaks | One company to call, and it swaps its own device. Where bundling wins. | The bank looks after its terminal. The rest is standard hardware from any local store. |
What a shop needs
- A shop PC
- A small Windows PC that runs Muster. It can sit out of sight, or drive a touchscreen and be the till as well.
- A till screen
- An iPad, a laptop running the full screen till app, or a touchscreen on the shop PC. Mix them, and add a second till when it gets busy.
- Printers
- Network thermal printers for receipts and kitchen dockets.
- Card terminal
- An EFTPOS terminal from the shop's bank that works with Linkly, or a Square Terminal.
- Cash drawer
- Plugs into the receipt printer, which opens it.
- Internet
- For online orders, updates, alerts and off site backups. Sales at the counter carry on without it.
Running at Ichi Cafe today
- Till screen
- An iPad at the counter, with the till installed from the browser like an app.
- Shop PC
- An HP mini PC, out of sight.
- Printers
- Two Epson TM-T82II on wired Ethernet: receipts at the counter and dockets in the kitchen.
- Card terminal
- A CommBank EFTPOS terminal, through Linkly.
When a printer stops
The till says so
Every till screen shows a red notice when a printer stops responding, so nobody finds out from a customer asking where their order is.
No docket is lost
A docket that could not print waits in a reprint queue until the printer is back.
A warning before the paper runs out
On printers that report it, the till warns when the roll is nearly finished.