Zettle By PayPal POS Review: Pros & Cons, Features, Ratings, Pricing and more

Zettle is a Swedish payment technology. It was founded in 2010 as iZettle by two entrepreneurs; Jacob de Geer and Magnus Nilsson. The company launched its app and a chip card reader in 2011 to enable businesses to do payment processing simply and easily. The original name, "iZettle", comes from the expression of "settling a debt". 

iZettle launched to fanfare in 2011 and its chip card reader was adopted by many European businesses. It grew rapidly and added many POS products and services over the years, including a mobile app, QR code payments, point-of-sale, small business loans, etc.

In 2018, PayPal, the American fintech giant, acquired iZettle for $2.2 billion. In February 2021, the company changed its formal name to "Zettle By PayPal". 

In this review, we'll see if Zettle really is one of the best POS systems.

Zettle POS: Plans and pricing

The first thing to consider for any point-of-sale system is the hardware cost. Zettle offers two main hardware; Terminal and Card Reader. The Terminal is an all-in-one system that lets you manage your inventory, charge customers' cards, and print their receipts. It costs $199 one-time or $239 if you want the version with an in-built scanner.

The Card Reader is significantly cheaper, as it’s a less sophisticated device. You need to connect it to your mobile device to start selling, unlike the Terminal which needs no external hardware. Zettle offers the first card reader for $29 and every additional card reader for $79. You can also buy a charging dock for the device for $49; this dock locks the card reader into place and charges it all day long even as you use it to collect payments.

Zettle also takes a commission on every transaction facilitated by its software. The company charges 2.29% + $0.09 for every in-person card transaction. If you enter the card details manually, the fee rises to 3.49% + $0.09. QR code transactions cost 2.29% + $0.09.

Zettle also offers hardware bundles that provide all you need to accept payments. They include:

Store Kit Mini: This bundle includes a card reader, a charging dock, a stand, and an optional iPad. It costs $249 normally or an extra $459 if you include the iPad.

Store Kit Standard: This bundle includes a card reader, charging dock, device stand, smart printer, and thermal rolls for the smart printer. It costs $499 normally or an extra $459 if you include the iPad.

Store Kit Plus: This includes everything in the Standard bundle plus a barcode scanner. It costs $699 normally or an extra $459 with the iPad.

Store Kit Portable: This bundle includes a card reader, portable printer, and thermal rolls for the portable printer. It costs $339.

Zettle POS: Features

Hardware

Zettle offers hardware that makes it easy to accept payments from customers and run your business, including:

Zettle Terminal: This is a handheld device that point-of-sale and payments. You can use the POS software to manage your inventory and automatically calculate the price when a customer orders multiple items. Customers can pay by swiping, tapping, or inserting their cards. The money will be collated at the end of each business day and wired to your bank account in 2 to 3 days.

Zettle Reader 2: This is the card reader that Zettle offers. Customers can pay you by swiping, tapping, or inserting their cards just as they’d do with the terminal. But, this device does not come with its built-in POS software. Instead, you’ll download the Zettle mobile app and link it with the card reader to manage your payments.

Barcode Scanner: You can add products to your product library and scan them directly with the barcode scanner when it's time for payment. This way, you'll get the accurate prices of each item and sum them up for customers to pay. Note that this barcode scanner only works with the Zettle iOS mobile app and not the Android app.

Software

The PayPal Zettle mobile app makes it easy to accept payments and run your business. You can easily add products, set prices, and check stock levels from one app. When it's time to pay, just select the products the customer has chosen, and the total price will be calculated automatically. Then, the customer will pay with their card, and you'll confirm the payment in the app.

You can also track business metrics with the Zettle mobile app. For instance, you can identify the best-selling products in your store, manage staff schedules, and monitor sales activities.

Zettle POS: Interface and use

Zettle has the kind of interface you’d expect in a modern app. It’s intuitive, minimal, and uncluttered, which makes the platform easy to navigate. If you check through customer reviews, user-friendliness is a common highlight that you’d see.   

Zettle POS: Support

Zettle offers many support resources at your disposal. If you’re having an issue with the platform, you can visit the official help center which contains a collection of guides, user manuals, and answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs). If you’re not satisfied, then you can contact PayPal’s support staff directly via live chat or telephone. There’s also an online community where you can ask other experienced users for help. 

Zettle POS: The competition

Stripe and Wix POS are good point-of-sale alternatives to Zettle. Both of them offer a very user-friendly interface, with features that make it easy to accept payments and run your business. Zettle charges higher fees than Wix but lower fees than Stripe.   

Zettle POS: Final Verdict

Zettle is a suitable point-of-sale system for businesses across Europe and the U.S. It makes collecting payments from customers as seamless as possible and provides other features to help you run your business. We’d recommend this point-of-sale system to every interested business.   

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