Start here — four ways to take a card
Before any brand name matters, one question does: how does money actually reach you? Pick that wrong and the best platform in the category is still the wrong purchase. Three of these four cost less than a full point of sale, and we will say so when one of them is the honest answer.
A full point of sale →
You have a counter, a menu or an inventory, staff with different permissions, and a rush. The POS is the operating system of the business, not a card reader with a screen.
- Menu and layout programmed before it ships
- On-site install and training before go-live
- Five platforms, nineteen devices
A smart terminal →
You take cards in person but you do not run a kitchen or an inventory. A terminal authorizes, prints and reports without the overhead — and without the training week.
- Dejavoo P1 and P3 wireless, PAX A920 Pro and A80
- PAX A35 PIN pad for the lane
- Dual pricing and surcharge supported
The gateway →
Your customers pay online, from an invoice, or inside your own product. Payco Secure is the gateway layer: tokenization, a documented v2 developer API, and a merchant portal.
- E-commerce, invoicing and card on file
- One integration for a SaaS or mobile product
- Transactions, refunds and settlement outside the POS
A virtual terminal →
You key cards by phone or bill the same customers every month, and there is no counter at all. This is what the boarding engine returns for an accounting or professional-services business that needs recurring billing — and the rule says explicitly that it is not a POS.
- Keyed and card-on-file transactions
- Memberships, retainers and payment plans
- No hardware to install or train on
Point of Sale — the honest ladder.
This list is ordered by the economics behind it, best for us first. We are telling you that because the order of a vendor's product list is never neutral and almost nobody says so out loud — and because the recommendation you get is allowed to disagree with it. Every card below names what it is for and, more usefully, when we would move you off it.
Genius · Restaurant, Retail & Enterprise
Our flagship line on our own rails. Full-feature restaurant and retail platforms with enterprise depth — the best economics in the house go back into your pricing.
- 4 devices: Restaurant Station, Retail Station, Handheld, Countertop
- All four flagged for free placement in the catalog
- Quoted by sales against your volume
OrderCounter
The workhorse for demanding restaurant and multi-station operations. Deep kitchen workflows, strong reporting, proven in the field.
- 2 devices: Station and Handheld
- Advanced coursing and kitchen routing
- Quoted by sales
Clover
Familiar, polished, and the natural step up from Square. Great for retail and light restaurant — and we will tell you honestly when it is not the fit.
- 6 devices: Go, Flex, Mini, Station Solo, Station Duo, Kiosk
- Every one list-priced, $49 to $2,399
- Large third-party app marketplace
Square
For the easiest small-merchant setups where familiar-and-fast wins. We carry it, install it, and will point you to Clover the moment your needs outgrow it.
- 5 devices: Reader, Stand, Terminal, Register, Kiosk
- Every one list-priced, $59 to $799
- Minimal training overhead
SpotOn
A reserved lane for operators coming off Toast who want a like-for-like move. Fully supported — after we show you the alternatives, and after you have seen where it sits on this list.
- 2 devices: Station and Handheld
- The platform forces its own processing
- Quoted by sales
Which one is you
| Platform | Best fit | Devices & pricing | When it stops being the answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Genius | Full-service restaurants and retail that want depth without leaving our own rails | 4 devices · quoted · free placement if you qualify | You need a specific third-party app that only lives in another marketplace |
| OrderCounter | Multi-station kitchens that have outgrown a tablet | 2 devices · quoted | You are a single counter — the depth is overhead you will pay for and not use |
| Clover | Retail and light restaurant, and the standard step up from Square | 6 devices · $49–$2,399 list | Your kitchen needs real coursing and routing — that is OrderCounter or Genius |
| Square | Pop-ups, low-complexity counters, staff who already know it | 5 devices · $59–$799 list | Inventory depth, staff permissions or a second location — we move you to Clover |
| SpotOn | Restaurants coming off Toast that want like-for-like | 2 devices · quoted | You are not migrating from Toast. Then it is a lane you have no reason to be in |
| Smart terminal | Card-present businesses with no menu and no inventory | 5 devices · quoted · Dejavoo and PAX | You start needing staff-level reporting, modifiers or table management |
| Gateway only | E-commerce, invoicing, recurring billing, ISVs embedding payments | No hardware · v2 developer API | You open a physical counter — then the gateway becomes one surface, not the whole thing |
Beyond the counter
Smart terminals
Modern countertop and handheld devices for card-present businesses that do not need a full POS. Programmed, shipped, and installed by us.
- Dejavoo P1 and P3 wireless
- PAX A920 Pro, A80 and the A35 PIN pad
- Quoted by sales, not list-priced
Payco Secure Gateway
E-commerce, invoicing, and virtual-terminal payments on our own gateway — one integration, wallets and card-on-file included. A card number is replaced by a token your systems can store, so the card itself never has to live there.
- Documented v2 developer API
- Merchant portal at paycosecure.com
- Recurring billing and card on file
Restricted verticals, checked first
Debt consolidation, collections and similar verticals are tested before any other routing rule runs, and directed to a dedicated lane where one application fronts several sponsor banks rather than being shopped around.
- Checked at the top of the rule order, not at the end
- One application, not one per sponsor
- Payco reserves discretion to decline or to refer the account out — and tells you which before you sign
How the recommendation is actually made.
The engine that reads your answers holds a small, fixed set of rules evaluated in this order. Every rule that matches you comes back; the first one to match becomes the primary recommendation. This is that list. If the recommendation you get does not follow from a row below, ask us which rule produced it.
| Fires | If this is true of you | What comes back |
|---|---|---|
| First | Your vertical is a restricted one — debt consolidation, collections and similar | The dedicated multi-sponsor lane, ahead of any question about hardware |
| Second | You run a restaurant and you are on Toast today | SpotOn, for a like-for-like move — unless you have asked for Clover, which overrides it |
| Third | You need technology that only exists on the Fiserv rails, and the direct sponsor has declined | The same rails through an alternate sponsor, because a decline does not delete the requirement |
| Fourth | You are an accounting or professional-services business and what you need is recurring billing | A virtual terminal — and explicitly not a point of sale |
| Fifth | You are on Square today and you want an in-store POS | Clover, as the closest thing to what your staff already know |
| Last | Standard risk, no platform you are locked to, nothing exotic | Our own rails — the default, and the best economics of the set |
Answer the questions once → — the same rules, run against your own answers.
What it costs to get on the counter
What carries a published price
Every Clover and Square device is list-priced on the hardware page, promotions stripped out — $49 for a Clover Go up to $2,399 for a Clover Kiosk, $59 for a Square Reader up to $799 for a Square Register.
What is quoted instead
Genius, OrderCounter, SpotOn, Dejavoo and PAX are quoted by sales against your volume. Not because the number is secret, but because the number depends on facts we do not have until we have read your statement — which is exactly how teaser rates happen when a vendor guesses anyway.
Free placement, stated honestly
Qualifying merchants can place a system at no hardware cost, and all four Genius devices are flagged for it in the catalog. Eligibility is a function of processing volume and time in business; the platform-as-a-service threshold is broadly three or more years operating and $250K+ a month. Terms are confirmed on your quote rather than promised here.
The equipment does not rot on you
Free replacements and upgrades every 36 months, up to two terminals per merchant ID, because a device that has fallen out of certification is a business risk you did not agree to take on. Larger footprints are configured per location rather than squeezed into one account.
Common questions
How do I know which point of sale is right for my business?
By answering the discovery questions once. The boarding engine holds a set of routing rules that fire in a fixed order against your vertical, the system you are on today, and what you actually need to do at the counter. The rules are published on this page, so the recommendation can be checked rather than trusted. A terminal or a virtual terminal instead of a POS is one of the answers the rules can return.
Which devices have a published price?
Eleven of the twenty-four devices in the catalog carry a list price on the hardware page — the six Clover devices from the $49 Clover Go to the $2,399 Clover Kiosk, and the five Square devices from the $59 Reader to the $799 Register. The other thirteen, including the whole Genius line, OrderCounter, SpotOn, Dejavoo and PAX, are quoted by sales against your volume.
Can I get a point of sale at no hardware cost?
Qualifying merchants can place a system at no hardware cost through a free-placement program, and all four Genius devices are flagged for it in the catalog. Eligibility is a function of processing volume and time in business and is confirmed on your quote rather than promised in advance. The platform-as-a-service threshold is broadly three or more years operating and $250K+ per month in volume.
Do I need a point of sale at all?
Often not. A smart terminal takes cards, prints and reports without the overhead of a full POS, and a business that bills recurring customers with no counter is better served by a virtual terminal on the gateway. One of the boarding engine's own rules routes an accounting or professional-services business that needs recurring billing to a virtual terminal, and says explicitly that it is not a POS.
Why is the product list in this order?
Because the economics behind it run in that order, and the order of any vendor's product list is never neutral. Genius runs on Payco's own rails and carries the best economics in the house; SpotOn sits last because its platform forces its own processing and returns the worst. It is stated here so you can weigh the recommendation knowing what sits behind it.
What happens if my business is in a restricted vertical?
Restricted verticals such as debt consolidation and collections are checked first, before every other routing rule, and are directed to a dedicated multi-sponsor lane where one application fronts several sponsor banks. Payco generally supports low-risk and standard-risk merchant categories and reserves discretion to decline an account or refer it to a third-party provider — and you are told which before you sign, rather than after a decline.
Not sure which product fits?
Answer a few questions once and the engine recommends the right acceptance method — including no POS at all, when a terminal is the honest answer.
Setup is minutes awayDevice availability and list prices are the 24 rows of the published hardware catalog and are confirmed on your quote. Free-placement and platform-as-a-service eligibility depend on processing volume and time in business. Equipment allocation is up to two terminals per MID, with free replacements and upgrades every 36 months. Payco generally supports low-risk and standard-risk merchant categories and reserves discretion to decline accounts or refer high-risk merchants to third-party providers. Payco is a registered MSP/ISO of Elavon Inc., Georgia, a wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp, Minneapolis, MN, and a registered Independent Sales Organization of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Concord, CA. Sales 1-888-908-2638 · 24/7 support 1-424-230-7212 · Support@mypayco.com.