Clover POS Review 2023

Pros

• Easy to set up
• Large app store and lots of integrations
• Aesthetic appeal
• Loyalty program

Cons

• Potential for scams and bad contracts
• High upfront costs
• Poor customer support

What Is Clover POS?

Clover POS is point of sale software that allows small to midsize retail, restaurant, and service-based businesses to take in-person payments and make online sales. Clover POS software is compatible only with Clover POS hardware.

Clover POS software is simple, customizable, and easy to set up.

Don’t know quite what type of point of sale system you need? Check out our best pos systems to find out our recommendations.

Clover POS Pricing

Clover pricing can get highly variable. That’s because you can purchase your Clover hardware and payment processing services from Clover or a Clover reseller. This is entirely different from a POS provider such as Square, which allows you to use only Square for payment processing but any hardware you like.

Note: The following Clover software plans apply to business owners who decide to purchase their Clover hardware/software from Clover itself.

Clover now offers two software plan structures: one for if you purchase your hardware in full through Clover, and one for if you pay month-to-month for your Clover hardware and software (i.e., if you lease your POS hardware.)

You can choose your software pricing plan, which dictates which Clover hardware you’ll get, or you can choose a piece of hardware and purchase an accompanying software plan. You’ll get different prices depending on whether you buy based on hardware or software plan features (yes, it is confusing and tedious).

In general, if you can purchase Clover POS hardware upfront or use equipment financing to cover the cost of your hardware, do not lease your hardware. The monthly costs will build up to more than the value of the devices, and you want to be able to own your hardware for the long run.

That said, let’s break down the two pricing plan structures.

Pay In Full Clover POS Pricing

If you pay for all the Clover POS hardware on a given software pricing plan upfront (you can find hardware pricing in the “extra costs” section), you’ll only need to pay a monthly fee to use Clover POS software.

Clover offers the following software plans:

• Payments: $0/month (payment processing only)
• Essentials: $14.95/month
• Register: $49.95/month or $64.90/month
• Counter Service Restaurant: $54.95/month or $69.90/month
• Table Service Restaurant: $84.95/month; $99.90/month; $144.85/month

The reason behind the different pricing in each plan is that Clover charges more or less depending on your business type. For example, the highest level plan for retail shops (Register Advanced) costs $64.90/month, while Clover users in the professional services industry only pay $49.95/month for a Register Advanced plan.

Different types of businesses need more or fewer features, which is why the pricing may vary so much.

Leasing Clover Hardware & Software

Clover now offers a hardware leasing option. You get both a software plan and leased hardware for one monthly price. Monthly prices vary depending on which Clover hardware devices are being leased. The devices included in each plan vary depending on the business type.

It is definitely confusing, so we’ll break it down by business type.

For retail shops, these pricing plans are available:

• Starter: $60/month; includes Essentials plan and lease on Clover Mini
• Standard: $130/month; includes Register plan and lease on Clover Station Duo
• Advanced: $175/month; includes Register plan and lease on Clover Station Duo plus Clover Flex

For personal services businesses, Clover offers these subscription plans:

• Starter: $50/month; includes Essentials plan and lease on Clover Flex
• Standard: $90/month; includes Register plan and lease on Clover Mini
• Advanced: $130/month; includes Register plan and lease on Clover Station Duo

For home and field service businesses, you may choose from the following plans:

• Starter: $14.95/month; includes Essentials plan and virtual payment terminal (read: no hardware)
• Standard: $14.95/month plus a one-time $49 fee; includes Essentials plan and Clover Go card reader
• Advanced: $50/month; includes Essentials plan and lease on Clover Station Duo

Note: The Starter and Standard plans for home and field services do not include any leasing. These two plans do not require leasing since there is no “high-expense” hardware to be purchased.

For quick-service dining businesses, these are the monthly leasing plans available:

• Starter: $90/month; includes Counter Service Restaurant plan and lease on Clover Mini
• Standard: $130/month; includes Counter Service Restaurant plan and lease on Clover Station Duo
• Advanced: $175/month; includes Counter Service Restaurant plan and lease on Clover Station Duo plus Clover Flex

For full-service dining businesses, these are monthly pricing plan options:

• Starter: $150/month; includes Table Service Restaurant plan and lease on Clover Station Solo
• Standard: $195/month; includes Table Service Restaurant plan and lease on Clover Station Solo plus Clover Flex
• Advanced: $290/month; includes Table Service Restaurant plan and lease on Clover Station Duo and Clover Flex

Clover POS Extra Costs & Fees

Clover Setup Fees

Clover charges a $150 application fee and a $50 debit card setup fee for new merchants, although this may be waived in some cases.

Clover Hardware

You are required to use Clover hardware if you want to use Clover POS software. You also have to buy Clover hardware upfront and in full to get a lower monthly cost (and own your POS hardware!).

You can get your Clover hardware from a number of Clover resellers, but if you get your hardware directly from Clover, you have the following options:

• Clover Go: $49; card reader to accept mobile payments
• Clover Flex: $499; Wi-Fi-enabled handheld POS device for restaurants
• Clover Mini: $799; compact countertop POS system with a built-in receipt printer
• Clover Station: $1,349; fully integrated POS hardware setup
• Clover Station Duo: $1,799; fully integrated POS hardware plus customer-facing display
• Cash Drawer: $69
• Kitchen Printer: $359
• Barcode Scanner: $199
• Weight Scale: $499

Clover software plans only come with one POS device subscription. If you want to add more POS devices (e.g., add a Clover Flex to your restaurant that already has a Clover Station), you’ll pay an extra $9.95/device/month if your devices are all in one location.

If, for example, you want to put a Clover Mini in one location and a Clover Flex in another smaller location, you’ll pay the full software fee for both devices.

Payment Processing

You also can’t talk about Clover POS pricing without discussing payment processing rates and fees. Unlike POS providers such as Square, which restricts you to only using Square to take payments and gives you flat-rate payment processing, you can purchase proprietary Clover hardware from Clover or one of several Clover resellers and get a custom payment processing rate.

If you use Clover (and parent company Fiserv, a less-than-ideal merchant services provider) as your Clover hardware provider, Clover advertises the following payment processing fees:

• In-Person Transactions: 2.3%-2.6% plus $0.10
• Card-Not-Present Transactions: 3.5% plus $0.10 (includes online orders, phone orders, manually keyed-in orders, and orders from most third-party apps)

If you decide not to use Fiserv as your merchant services provider, you will need to get a merchant account and sign a merchant agreement with a reputable Clover reseller.

Read our post on the complete guide to Clover POS costs for a full breakdown of Clover software, hardware, and payment processing costs associated with this POS provider.

Clover Apps

Finally, the last major cost you may run into is monthly subscription fees for apps on Clover’s app market. While some third-party software apps on the app market are free, others require a paid subscription.

Most Clover users download at least a few apps to give their basic Clover setup more functionality. Keep this in mind when choosing your POS provider and deciding which apps to download.

Clover POS Features

Clover POS software has some solid built-in features, such as:

• Payments: With Clover, you can accept credit/debit cards, mobile wallets such as Google Pay and Apple Pay, PayPal, Venmo, invoice/recurring payments, cash, and check.
• Online Ordering: All Clover merchants can create an online ordering page hosted by Clover for free. Merchants can also list their page on their Google My Business profile. You also have the option to connect Clover to an existing website if you have one.
• Inventory Management: Clover’s web dashboard has a basic built-in inventory management system with modifiers, variants, and categories. You can also choose whether you’d like to hide certain items from different sales channels. Clover will track your inventory automatically and switch items to “out of stock” when you run out of the retail item or (if you’re managing restaurant inventory) a menu item ingredient.
• Restaurant Features: Clover’s quick service and full-service software offer restaurant-specific features, such as floor planning, QR code ordering, menu management, remote order firing, open tabs, third-party delivery integrations, online ordering for pickup/delivery, and order/item-level discounts.
• EBT Acceptance: With Clover’s EBT app, you can accept EBT payments. It’s important to note that only the Clover Mini can take EBT payments since only the Clover Mini can accept PINs.
• Employee Management: Employees can get their own POS login and permissions. You can also manage shifts using Clover.
• Customer Loyalty Program: Clover allows you to create a loyalty rewards program based on the purchase amount or qualified items. Customers can earn points automatically and redeem them when they choose to.
• Gift Cards: Sell digital and/or physical gift cards through Clover.
• App Market: Clover’s App Market has over 450 apps to help you improve your Clover POS system, with everything from accounting integrations to table reservation management and appointment schedulers.

Is Clover POS User-Friendly?

The Clover POS is extremely easy to set up and use. Clover hardware is simple to put together, and the Clover POS software interface acts just like a smartphone.

If you can download an app on an iPhone/Android device, you can add apps to your initial Clover setup. If you can navigate Facebook (or any other social media app), you can navigate Clover’s web dashboard.

It should be noted that the Clover system itself is easy to use, but the system does have small quirks that are hard/not possible to change.

Also, we cannot speak for the user-friendliness of third-party apps from its App Market. Each app has its own user interface, installation instructions, and support contact information.

Customer Service & Support

Support for your entire POS setup will come from three different areas: your merchant services provider, Clover itself, and any third-party app developers for apps you installed in the App Market.

Clover customer support is meant to assist mainly with hardware/software issues and offers the following support resources:

• Phone Support: Clover offers 24/7 phone support, but many merchants have reported long wait times.
• Email: You may email [email protected] for any issues before or during your time as a Clover merchant.
• Knowledgebase: Clover now offers tailored knowledgebases for each merchant in their merchant portal based on their plan and hardware. These articles are no longer available to the public, which makes it hard to get an in-depth sense of Clover’s features and setup.
• Blog: Clover has a blog that’s more about how to start and grow a small business than about the system’s usage or benefits.
• Social Media: Clover has active social media accounts on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

Customer service for payments and merchant account issues will likely come from whichever merchant services provider you use (unless you sign up directly with Fiserv, Clover’s parent company).

For this reason, it’s important to be careful about the bank/provider you choose to buy from. Many merchant service providers will attempt to dodge calls, confuse you, or delay sending you information just to keep you stuck in a contract.

You can find information about third-party app developers’ support options in the Clover App Market and within the apps themselves.

Payment Processing With Clover POS

Clover is always sold in conjunction with a Fiserv merchant account, but these merchant accounts are sold by numerous different merchant services companies and banks. That’s why there are hundreds of places where you can purchase the Clover system and an accompanying credit card processing account.

However, since Fiserv and many other Clover providers are not highly rated, we strongly recommend using only one of these best Clover resellers rather than getting your Clover account directly through Fiserv or another low-quality provider.

If you do decide to purchase your Clover hardware and accompanying merchant account directly from Clover, the company advertises the following payment processing fees with its available software plans:

• In-Person Transactions: 2.3%-2.6% plus $0.10
• Card-Not-Present Transactions: 3.5% plus $0.10 (includes online orders, phone orders, manually keyed-in orders, and orders from most third-party apps)

While the in-person transaction fees are competitive, the card-not-present fees, including sales from online ordering platforms, are pretty steep.

Contract Length & Early Termination Fees

Contract lengths and early termination fees for Clover accounts can vary dramatically since many merchant service providers offer Clover hardware and merchant accounts.

Contract lengths can span months or years, renew automatically, and be very difficult to get out of, so you really need to know how to choose a merchant service provider.

If you sign a bad contract, your business could suffer huge financial burdens without you even realizing it, and you could be financially ruined when trying to get out of that contract.

Clover Integrations & Add-Ons

Clover’s App Market, filled with over 450 apps, is one of the system’s biggest draws. It allows you to pick and choose the features and/or tools your business requires, such as QuickBooks for accounting, Gusto for payroll, SeatOn for reservations, Loyalzoo for membership and subscription management, and more.

Many apps in the App Market are free or have a free tier, while others are an added monthly subscription fee.

Keep this in mind when adding apps to your Clover system.

Clover POS Reviews

Clover POS reviews are very mixed. The negative Clover reviews can be concerning since many of them allege a lack of transparency from the company and Clover merchant services in particular.

These are Clover’s ratings on software review sites:

• G2: 3.8/5 stars, with most of the 61 reviews being incentivized by Clover
• Trustpilot: 1.1/5 stars based on 535 reviews
• Capterra: 3.9/5 based on 409 reviews

Clover is not listed on the Better Business Bureau, but its parent company, Fiserv, has a 1/5 star rating on BBB based on 52 reviews. The company has had 132 complaints in the last 12 months and 216 complaints in the last three years.

Negative Clover POS Reviews & Complaints

Clover merchant reviews bring up a few major red flags, including:

• Poor Customer Service: Reviewers report Clover’s poor, non-transparent, and frankly rude customer service.
• Lack Of Transparency: Feedback about non-negotiable contracts, hidden fees, and other surprises is also extremely common. One reviewer even called the number of hidden fees “disturbing.” The pricing, in general, is also confusing, as you must pay monthly for Clover, a merchant service provider, and any paid third-party apps.
• Cost: The upfront costs and ongoing costs of maintaining a subscription are pretty steep for many businesses just starting out. The company has also steeply increased its subscription pricing twice in the past year, which users are not happy with.
• Proprietary Hardware: Since Clover software only works with Clover hardware, you can’t take that hardware with you if you decide to switch POS providers. You also can’t test the hardware/software setup out before buying. If you’re leaning toward Clover, it’s best not to be on the fence about your decision.
• Inventory Management: Many Clover reviewers note that the built-in inventory management system is too basic to meet their needs and doesn’t properly sync between the web dashboard and POS devices.

Positive Clover POS Reviews & Testimonials

We found several positive themes in Clover POS reviews, including:

• Ease Of Use: The interface is exceptionally intuitive and modern. Users appreciated that it doesn’t bog you down with too many buttons, and the back end is accessible and well laid out.
• Fast Setup: Along the same line, multiple users liked that they could get their system up and running in minutes, and the time it takes to train new employees is minimal.
• Wide Variety Of Apps: While a few users complained about having to download apps to get certain functions, the majority appreciated how many options there were and how easily they synced to the POS software.
• All-In-One Design: Many users were happy that they could purchase all of the necessary hardware in one place and liked that Clover came with everything they needed for their business included.

Final Verdict Of Clover POS System

The Clover POS system is an easy-to-use POS system with a lot of potential in terms of customization. While the system is mostly geared toward retail shops and restaurant owners, grocery store owners may appreciate the easy EBT payment functions, home service business owners may appreciate the invoicing features, and all business owners can appreciate the variety of hardware choices Clover offers.

However, there are quite a few complaints about the Clover system, including high costs, shady contracts, awful customer service, and lots of hidden fees. These are huge red flags, but you just have to be careful about which merchant service provider you sign a merchant agreement with.

If you want to risk the biscuit and get a Clover POS system, here’s how to avoid Clover POS scams. If you decide that Clover is not for you, read our post on the best Clover POS alternatives.

Clover POS FAQs

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

Clover POS	Visit Site

After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Clover POS for yourself.

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

Clover POS	Visit Site

After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Clover POS for yourself.

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