What is Point of Sale Hardware?
Point of sale hardware (POS hardware) is equipment that accounts for a major portion of a point of sale system and may include card reading machines and printers, cash registers, servers and computer systems. This is different from point of sale software, which consists of the computer programs that operate the system and send information back and forth. Point of sale hardware can be very sophisticated or very cheap, depending on the need of the merchant and what that merchant can afford to spend. Although not usually considered point of sale hardware, one of the most integral components to a system is a part that is not even owned or leased by the merchant. This is the credit or debit card itself. It is this piece of hardware that sets into motion a chain of events that eventually leads to the transaction being approved or declined. However, because the card is not kept with the merchant, even if it is a credit card sponsored by the merchant, it is not usually listed among point of sa
