Payments Set Up for How Your Business Actually Works
A taco shop, a liquor store and an HVAC company all take cards. They should not get the same terminal, the same software or the same pricing. Pick your business type.
The question is not which POS is best. It is where the customer stands when they pay you. A counter, a table, a truck and an emailed invoice each want different hardware.
Your industry sets the interchange your transactions qualify for, which is the wholesale cost under every pricing model. Card present beats keyed in, every time.
Most vertical software keeps working after a switch. It takes payments through a gateway, so the gateway credentials change underneath and your staff notice nothing.
What We Put In, By Business Type
These are the setups we install most often. Yours may differ once we see how you actually take payments, but this is the starting point.
| Business type | Typical setup | Why that one |
|---|---|---|
| Full service restaurant | Clover Station Duo plus Flex handhelds | Table map, coursing and bar tabs on the station; servers close out at the table on the Flex instead of walking to a terminal. |
| Quick service and fast casual | Clover Station Solo, Kiosk when lines form | Order-ahead and self-order cut the counter line. Kitchen display replaces paper tickets so orders stop getting lost. |
| Bar and nightclub | Clover Station Duo plus Flex | Pre-authorized tabs, fast re-fire of the last round, and tip adjustment after close. |
| Coffee shop and cafe | Clover Mini, second Mini at peak | One small footprint register, modifiers for milk and syrups, loyalty built in rather than bolted on. |
| Retail and convenience | Clover Station Duo with scanner and scale | Barcode inventory, age verification prompts, and cash drawer accountability per shift. |
| Salon, barber and spa | Clover Mini with appointment app | Booking, per-stylist commission splits and tip reporting in one place. |
| Contractor and field service | Clover Flex or Hyfin with QuickBooks | Take a deposit on site, invoice the balance, and have it post to QuickBooks without rekeying. |
| Medical, dental and veterinary | Dejavoo terminal or Clover Compact | Card on file for balances after insurance, text-to-pay for statements, no tip screen. |
| Auto repair and tire | Clover Flex plus a counter station | Approve the estimate, take payment at the bay, and keep the ticket attached to the vehicle. |
| Ecommerce and B2B invoicing | accept.blue gateway, ACH enabled | Hosted checkout or your existing cart, recurring billing, and ACH for large invoices where cards are too expensive. |
Industry Setup Guides
Full walkthroughs of the hardware, the software configuration and the pricing that fits each of these.
Get Paid the Same Day: Text-to-Pay, ACH and QuickBooks Sync for Contractors and Service Businesses
Invoicing and payments for HVAC, plumbing, landscaping, auto repair and professional services: text-to-pay, ACH, recurring billing, QuickBooks sync, dual-priced invoices.
Restaurant Payment Processing and POS Without the 3% Tax on Every Ticket
POS and processing for restaurants, quick service, bars and cafes. Clover and TableTurn setups, pay at table, online ordering, tips, and dual pricing at $0 processing.
Retail and Convenience Store POS: Inventory, Age Verification, Scan Data and $0 Processing
Exatouch and Clover for liquor stores, smoke shops and convenience stores: inventory, ID scanning, tobacco scan data rebates, employee controls and $0 processing.
Three Questions Before We Recommend Anything
Where does the customer stand when they pay? At a counter facing you, at a table, in their driveway, or nowhere at all because you emailed them an invoice. That answer picks the hardware before anything else does.
What has to happen after the sale? If inventory has to come down, a commission has to split, or the sale has to land in QuickBooks, that is a point of sale build. If none of that applies, a terminal is the cheaper and faster answer.
What are you paying now? Send a recent processing statement. We calculate your effective rate, show you what the same volume costs under dual pricing or interchange-plus, and tell you plainly if switching is not worth it for you.
We have set up salons, auto shops, non-cannabis retail, law offices, churches, gyms, food trucks, veterinary clinics and B2B distributors. If your industry is not listed above, it is almost certainly one we have configured before.
Questions We Get by Industry
Does my business type change what I pay to process?
Do I need a full POS or just a terminal?
Can I run dual pricing in my industry?
What if I use industry-specific software already?
How long does a switch take for my business?
Do not see your industry?
Call and describe how you take payments today. We will tell you what we would put in and what it would cost, before you commit to anything.