How to choose a POS system: 7 things to check.

The short answer

Choosing a POS system isn't about finding the one with the most features. It's about matching a small handful of things to how your business actually runs — and avoiding the two traps that catch most buyers: comparing the till price without the card fees, and signing a contract that's hard to leave.

Work through the seven checks below in order. They're arranged from the decision that shapes everything else — whether payment is built into the till or bolted on beside it — down to the terms that decide how easily you can change your mind later.

1. Integrated payment or a bolt-on terminal

This is the first fork, because everything downstream depends on it. You can buy a POS system and arrange card payment separately — a terminal from one provider, an acquiring agreement from another — or you can pick a till with card payment built in, from a single provider.

Bolting a terminal on the side can look cheaper line by line. In practice it means two subscriptions, two support numbers, and two data streams you have to reconcile by hand at the end of the day. When the card total doesn't match the till total, no one owns the problem.

Integrated payment closes that gap: one agreement, one support line, and a settlement that already matches your sales. The customer taps once, the amount is sent from the till to the terminal automatically, and the payout lands the next banking day. That's the model behind our POS system with built-in payment, and for most smaller businesses it's both simpler and cheaper once you count the whole picture. Check that the setup accepts the cards your customers actually use — Dankort, Visa, Mastercard and MobilePay (now Vipps MobilePay) in the terminal.

2. Hardware that fits your business

The right hardware follows from how you take a sale, not from a spec sheet. There are four common shapes:

• Counter / all-in-one. A stationary screen with a receipt printer, drawer and often a scanner. Best for a fixed till point in a shop with a queue.
• Tablet. A screen on a stand you can lift and carry. Flexible and cheap to add a second one — a good fit for a café that sometimes serves at the table.
• Handheld. An all-in-one you hold in one hand that takes the order, charges the card and prints the receipt. This is what makes table service work in a restaurant or a busy takeaway.
• Self-service. A customer-facing kiosk or unattended terminal for high-volume, low-touch settings.

Don't over-buy. A stationary all-in-one behind a counter that could be served by a single handheld is money spent on furniture. Map your busiest 20 minutes of the week and buy for that, not for an imagined future. Browse the setups by industry if you want to see what a comparable business tends to run.

3. Inventory and reporting

A till records sales; a good POS system tells you what they mean. Before you choose, decide how much of that you actually need — because inventory and reporting are where the subscription price climbs.

• Inventory. Barcodes, stock deductions and low-stock alerts are essential for a shop with hundreds of SKUs, and dead weight for a café selling twelve things. Pay for the depth you'll use, not the depth on the brochure.
• Reporting. At a minimum you want daily Z-reports, sales by product and by hour, and a clean export for your accountant. Anything beyond that — margins, staff performance, multi-shop views — is a bonus, not a baseline.
• Legal requirement. The till must be ready for digital sales registration (SAF-T), so the tax authorities can pull data in the required format. Confirm it's SAF-T ready in writing; many older cash registers are not.

A quick test: ask the vendor to show you the report you'll open every Monday morning. If it takes them five clicks and a spreadsheet export, you'll never use it.

4. The pricing model (watch the minimums)

Two honest offers for "a POS system" can be far apart because they're built differently. The market runs on three models: rental / subscription (a few hundred kroner a month per till, indicative), purchase plus a software subscription (from around 3.000 kr. for the hardware, indicative), and the "free" till where the cost has been moved into the card fees rather than removed.

The trap to watch is the monthly minimum fee. Some payment agreements charge you a floor — say, a set amount every month regardless of turnover — which quietly punishes quiet months and seasonal businesses. A rate that looks sharp on paper can cost you real money in January if there's a minimum underneath it. Always ask: is there a monthly minimum, and what is it?

All the figures above are indicative market levels for 2026, not a price list. For the full breakdown — rent versus buy, what drives the price, and the cost most people overlook — read what a POS system costs, and see what sets your specific rate on our pricing page. Our own price is tailored: it depends on your turnover and card mix, so you get one combined quote rather than a list price.

5. Integrations: webshop and accounting

A POS system doesn't stand alone. The two integrations that save the most hours are the ones to your webshop and your accounting software — and they're worth checking before you sign, not after.

• Webshop. If you sell both in the shop and online, one system that sees both keeps stock in sync and stops you selling the last item twice. Ask which webshop platforms are supported out of the box, and whether online and in-store payment sit in the same agreement.
• Accounting. A clean link to your bookkeeping software means the day's sales, VAT and card settlement flow straight in — no re-keying, no month-end guesswork. Ask specifically which accounting packages are supported, and whether it's a live integration or a manual export.

Integrations often cost extra, so only pay for the ones you'll switch on. But check they exist now: retrofitting an integration onto a system that never had one is the kind of surprise that arrives in year two.

6. Support in Danish and uptime

A till that's down is a shop that can't take money. When something goes wrong on a Friday evening, two things decide how bad it gets: whether you can reach a person who speaks your language, and how reliably the system stays up in the first place.

• Support in Danish. Ask where support sits and what hours it covers. A local team that answers in Danish, understands Danish card rails and can talk to your accountant is worth far more than a cheaper offer routed to an overseas queue. This is one of the real reasons to choose a Danish provider — SEJR's support is Danish.
• Uptime and fallback. Ask what happens when the internet drops. Can the terminal still take a payment offline? Is there a backup path? A serious provider will answer plainly rather than promise it never happens.
• Who picks up. Get the actual support number and hours in writing. "24/7 support" that means an email form is not the same as a phone that a human answers.

Test it before you buy: call the support line as a prospective customer and see how long it takes to reach a person. You've just previewed year one.

7. Contract terms and how hard it is to switch

The best time to think about leaving a provider is before you join one. The terms below decide whether you're a customer by choice or by lock-in:

• Lock-in period. 12 or 24 months is common; after it, agreements typically run month to month. Longer isn't automatically worse — but it should buy you something in return.
• Notice period. Often three months to the end of a calendar month. Know it now, so a future switch doesn't cost you an extra quarter.
• Rented or bought hardware. If the terminal is leased, check who owns it at the end and whether you can keep using it. Bought hardware you can carry to a new provider is worth more than it looks.
• Data and settlement. Can you export your sales history if you leave? A system that holds your data hostage is a switching cost in disguise.

Switching later is rarely as scary as it sounds — a well-run move takes only a few days, and we walk through the whole thing in how to switch acquirer without losing a day. But you'll thank yourself for reading the terms up front. One agreement covering POS and payment, with clear terms and money in your account the next banking day, is the shape you're aiming for.

• 1 Is card payment built into the till, or bolted on beside it?
• 2 Does the hardware match how I actually take a sale?
• 3 Is the system SAF-T ready, with the reports I'll use weekly?
• 4 What's the combined price per year — and is there a monthly minimum?
• 5 Do the webshop and accounting integrations I need exist today?
• 6 Is support Danish, and what happens when the connection drops?
• 7 What are the lock-in, notice period and hardware ownership terms?

Frequently asked questions

What matters most when choosing a POS system?

Treating the till and card payment as one combined price. Most people compare the POS subscription and forget the card fees, which add up on every single transaction across the year. If payment is built into the till, you have one agreement, one support line and one fee to keep track of.

Should I choose a POS system with built-in card payment?

For most smaller businesses, yes. A till with built-in payment means one provider, one agreement and settlement that matches your sales automatically. A terminal you bolt on the side can look cheaper on paper, but it gives you two subscriptions, two support numbers and manual reconciliation.

What does a POS system cost?

As a guideline, a simple setup in the Danish market starts from a few hundred kroner a month in rental per till, or from around 3.000 kr. as a one-off purchase plus a software subscription. Over a year, though, the real cost is usually the card fees — always calculate the combined price. Our own price is tailored to your turnover and card mix.

How long a lock-in is normal on a POS system?

12 or 24 months of lock-in is common with many providers, after which the agreement usually runs month to month. Always read the notice period and check whether the hardware is rented or bought before you sign — that decides how easily you can switch later.

Can I accept MobilePay at the till?

Yes. MobilePay is now called Vipps MobilePay after the merger; in-store it runs through the terminal, and online it runs through checkout. SEJR accepts MobilePay both in the terminal and online.