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Clover is a good point of sale system for retail and food-service businesses. It offers a suite of hardware options and a large App Marketplace to fit the unique needs of a large number of business owners. Clover manufactures their own hardware which works nicely with their software and add on Apps. Though Clover has been in the market for a few years, it is still missing functionality that other systems offer. Most of the times, the functionality can be added via purchasing apps but it can get very costly. Also, Clover does not offers support for third party apps which can leave business owners stranded if they are unable to get in touch with the app developer.
WHO IS CLOVER A GOOD FIT FOR?
PRICE
There are a few factors that determine the price of the Clover system. Most important ones are: the hardware needed, merchant processing agreement and whether the system is bought or leased.
Each Clover device is linked to a merchant processing account. Often times, resellers will consider the processing rate and monthly volume before quoting a price. There’s also the option to buy or lease all the equipment which can lead to a big difference in price.
For the Clover Station, buying the equipment up front will cost between $600-$1000 and leasing will be in the $29-$99/month range.
FRONT OF THE HOUSE
Clover’s home screen is different from all other tablet point of sale systems, it resembles the home screen of an Android smartphone/tablet since it is built on the Android OS. Like Android tablets, Clover relies heavily on their App Marketplace to offer their customers expanded functionality. Clover treats each set of features (orders, employees, inventory, etc.) as a separate app.
The Orders app makes it easy to ring up guests and offers all the functionality that most businesses will need. Items can be selected on screen, searched for or scanned using the wireless barcode scanner. Clover offers support for categories and modifiers so wait staff can quickly ring up customers . Since Clover is used by many different business types, the order screen is simple and more advanced features (splitting, merging, transferring checks, etc.) is not easily accessible. Retail businesses can use a barcode scanner or the search feature to ring up items.
The checkout process is seamless and intuitive. If a customer pays with a credit card, the stand can quickly be swiveled to face the customer so they can sign and enter a tip (optional) to complete the transaction. The receipt can be printed, emailed or texted to the customer right from the Clover Station.
Clover’s customer tracking allows you to store customer data right from the Clover Station. Customer details including name, address, phone and birthday can be entered in and orders can be linked to that customer. Customer profiles include all the information entered as well as their past order history.
Clover offers expanded functionality through their App Marketplace. For example, Full service restaurants can download an app that gives them access to a table layout screen. Retailers have many apps available to them as well and are served better by using one of the advanced inventory tracking apps instead of relying on the native inventory tracker.
MANAGEMENT
Most of Clover’s management features are accessible from the station as well as the online portal, allowing managers and owners to stay in control of their point of sale no matter where they are.
Clover offers great employee controls with built in permissions control and a time clock feature for payroll. We found the permission settings will satisfy most business owners as it lets them lock down individual settings on most screens. The default time clock serves its purpose but other options are available if integration with a scheduling software is needed.
Clover’s default inventory management allows business owners to keep track of what they have and reorder supplies as needed. Each item can have variants, attributes and options and modifiers. All these features combined give business owners various ways to enter their inventory and make it easy for staff to ring up orders. As mentioned earlier, additional inventory apps are available for unique needs.
Clover offers basic reports on the Station which are sufficient for the day to day operations. Business owners can quickly pull up daily totals, the number of payments received, tip totals and other reporting from the Station. The Clover Insights™ web portal offers a more comprehensive set of reporting that can be used to analyze trends and grow the business.
HARDWARE
Clover manufactures all their own hardware and have a variety of devices to fit pretty much every need. The flagship device, Clover Station, combines a swivel touch screen, NFC and magstripe reader, printer and cash drawer.
Clover also offers the Clover Mini, Clover Mobile, Clover Flex and Glover Go. Each device fulfills a unique need and they all work together to provide the user a seamless point of sale experience. Though Clover Mini’s can be used as a standalone point of sale system, they are commonly used as a customer facing display for the Clover Station. The Clover Mobile is used as a mobile ordering device at brick and mortar businesses while the Clover Flex is a standalone device for service based businesses.
SETUP
Due to Clover’s business model, the level of support provided during the setup process varies widely. All customers have access to the online support center but the level of phone and email support depends on who the system is purchased from.
Some of the larger re-sellers will completely set up the system and provide hands on support during the launch phase. While others expect the business owner to configure everything on their own.
We recommend business owners clarify the level of support you expect when buying a Clover system.
SUPPORT
As mentioned earlier, support and setup varies from re-sellers to re-sellers. All Clover users have access to the online support portal which has helpful articles on most topics but is not comprehensive support documentation.
Most large re-sellers provide 24/7 phone and email support directly or through a partnership with Clover. The proprietary nature of the hardware and software makes great support even more of a necessity.
CONCLUSION
Being one of the largest providers of point of sale systems, Clover offerings a compelling solution. The company develops their hardware and software in-house which leads to a great customer experience. The App Marketplace is great for growing businesses with unique needs and is one of Clover’s strong points. We recommend Clover for most retail and restaurant businesses that need a starter point of sale with expandable functionality.
I took on the whole package from clover, mobile credit card machine & printer and when I opened my shop then the clovers station and mini for processing card paymemts! The biggest mistake I ever made, £60.00 set up charge which I wasn’t told about £69.99 per + 25% VAT as they are Ireland based, no support, nothing, paid this for 2 years and now out of contract and they want £250.00+ VAT for me to come out of it for restocking and formatting their equipment! Not happy at all with this, if I could crack the system some how I would put on a different pos and keep the equipment.
Thanks to the terrific guide
My business partner and I decided to go with Clover and it was the BIGGEST MISTAKE!!! Every time we call customer support they tell us they can not help us we need to go to our iAccess account and submit the problem, and then they will send you an email explaining the process or who you need to contact. Be aware that the iAccess account is also a HIDDEN FEE that they do not tell you about BUT you are paying for it. We were so unhappy with all the HIDDEN FEES that we wanted to cancel. Here we are two weeks later, and still waiting for them to cancel our account. The number they gave us was the same number we had called FOUR times, and they are not the people that cancel your subscription. FINALLY, today on attempt number 5 the lady was finally able to contact me to the right department, and she admitted that she gets the same complaint all the time. So, beware they will keep sending you to the merchant number that has NOTHING to do with the Clover apps. Heads up when you are trying to cancel make sure you are well aware of who you speak to. They will keep charging your account until you FINALLY get directed to the correct department, and trust me you will be transferred at least 5 times each time you call.
The best advice I can tell you is DON”T go with Clover!!!
It works very well for me
Thank you for the excellent post
Here it is June of 2018 and I am commenting on an article from the past. Why? Because Clover is still out there pushing their hardware and people like me are still looking at old post to get an idea of what to expect from Clover and the Clover Mini.
The Mini is a great idea in concept and for me, someone who wanted just an integrated credit card terminal it seemed right.
My need was 3 credit card terminals that could link together so anyone of my wait staff could use any of the machines. Then have one batch out and one report that we could pull from the Cloud.
The issue is the Mini is more of a Point of Sale (POS) machine and a credit card terminal (CCT) second. If you try to use it just for a CCT then you have to download a time card app that will allow you to print check out credit card balances for the waitstaff. Clover Mini does not offer this. A bit of a pain but still a viable work around.
My main complaint is Clover customer service and the unstable platform it is based on. In the one week I have used the Clover Mini I have had to reboot the units twice and they have been off line numerous times. Reboot is not a big deal, but for a brand new machine which cost $425 each I expected reliability of the FD130 or a Verifine unit (both of which I have used. )
The offline problem is in Clover’s end and fortunately you can still take charges but when you need the servers to add their tips it cannot be done in the offline mode. Also in the offline mode if a credit card is run and is declined or is short of funds in debit account or in anyway odd the transaction is flagged to be resubmitted. You must wait 24 hours after the batch to contact your merchant services provider to obtain the number to resubmit the charge. I rarely get a decline in my customer’s cards but we had two last night while Clover was in offline mode. The charges were over $150 total. Also, last night was a busy Friday night in a seasonal restaurant so we were moving fast and didn’t notice we were in offline mode considering all other internet machines were working fine.
Contacting customer service was slow and painful. At 11:30 at night my job other than finishing with the waitstaff and their banks was done. The phone call to customer service took 18 mins to answer then the service person’s accent was very thick and I had to ask for him to speak slower and more clearly (I am assuming he was in India which is not a problem as long as I get clear concise answers.)
After 30 mins of stretching my phone cord from each of the three Minis we found the two missing transactions and concluded they were flagged for re-entry. I asked if they would be doing that considering it was their fault the Minis were offline. He said no they couldn’t do that. I explained my time is valuable and calling them back to get the credit card numbers to resubmit when they caused this problem is not acceptable and I expected a call from the Customer Retention department. They should have to work for my business as hard as I work for my customers.
He assured me “that their technicians, software designers as well as engineers are working on a fix to this constant offline issue they are experiencing.”
I have a month to month contract with my service provider and can stop using Clover with zero penalties, AND I ENCOURAGE EVERY BUSINESS TO NEGOTIATE THIS FOR THEIR CONTRACT. Granted I will never get my $1275 back for the Minis, I can’t even sell them on EBay because they are attached to my merchant service provider. But I can tell my story of why you may not want a Clover system.
I have this Equipment. Highly do not recommend. Today i spoke to Kristopher #26812. I lease this equipment. Even, they make a lot of money on me than they charge $30 for shipping fee for replacement. Problem is that it keep breaking every 6 months. Last time i have got main station with cracks on main leg. Probably refurbished. It will brake soon. They will charge me $30 again… I can’t leave it like that. I need to share with my experience with other potential customers.
I spoke several times about printer for clover mobile. Has to be separate printer for receipt and separate for orders. The same printer can not print both, you have to purchase another printer.
These comments are not accurate and I suspect they are competing services trying to discredit Clover. Weve never had a problem whatsoever!
We own a boutique where we also offer screen printing and embroidery. The clover system was sold to us as full POS system. Not the case at all. We were all excited to get started with it. It looked modern, cool, and expectations were high. When we tried to ring up our first printing order of more than 100 pieces we found our first issue. The system will not allow sales of items with a quantity of more than 100. Not a good thing when we routinely sale t-shirt orders of more than 100 shirts. We either had to make up multiple skus, which made a receipt look terribly unprofessional or make an invoice on word. Then I wanted to run a report on inventory value. Not possible. You can export a report to excel but good luck with that. My wife and I have both called customer support. We were both told that when enough people complained about the same issue, they may look into a fix. Until then, nothing would change. This was after going through multiple customer service reps who didn’t even understand what I was asking for help with. When asked if we could return the 2 POS systems we bought we were literally told “they’re yours, you bought them, do what you want with them, you could try selling them on ebay”. Needless to say, at this point, POS and Clover have a whole new meaning for us. Definitely not “Point of Sale” or “Lucky Clover”. We’re currently looking for another option, over $2000 and a lot of frustration later.
I have used clover for 2 1/2 years. Do not buy or use clover, it sucks! I have experienced 4 system upgrades that appear with out warning, functionality and payment processing changed significantly to the point that it disrupted business. Last year Clover, that is really First Data, changed credit card processing internally resulting in credit card amounts not matching the Clover system amounts.. I should also mention that Clover Customer service representatives denied for a week that any changes occurred. I had to supply proof that the credit card errors actually existed.
The Clover POS and the company running it really needs to stop doing upgrades without warning. They need to test the upgrades prior to releasing them, there have been numerous errors with every new release. The way Clover chooses to do business is irresponsible, disorganized and very disruptive for the customers that use the Clover POS system.
I give Clover a -F.
I will be going to another POS system., UP YOURS CLOVER!
Leased Clover for my retail business last June and have to say that it’s been a largely positive experience… The customers find it easy to use (most important of all) and the staff have taken to it very easily (next most important group!). Still some small glitches on the reporting side insofar as ‘tap & go’ is hard to reconcile with bank statements but otherwise I would certainly recommend for a small retailer such as myself.
Clover programmers are not familiar with restaurant business. I can tell because I’m a software developer and since I got my restaurant and got Clover, I have experienced many issues with the way they configured the processes. I haven’t switched yet because of the very tight contract. PLEASE DO YOURSELF A FAVOR, DO NOT GET ANY POS SYSTEM WITH LEASE CONTRACT. PAY IT IN FULL IF POSSIBLE AND DO NOT LET THEM NAIL YOU WITH THEIR LEASE CONTRACT.
Beware of the Clover scam. If you have the option to use a different service do so before you regret it. I was singed up for them as a complementary (obligatory) package of my checking account. Their service is unreliable. My business had to start using PayPal (I’m not getting paid to mention them). Clover services was masked underneath the bank’s “Merchant Service”. Once their service proved useless I tried closing the account to find out there is a $500 early termination fee or a monthly fee that I need to pay until the 3 year contract ended. The contract went on as the back account forced me to maintain it. Two month before the 3 year contract ended they charge the $500 early termination fee. Now I’m stuck in their collection department which is efficient unlike their customer service.
I’d suggest taking a look at any software that’s built specifically – and only – for restaurants instead. Disclosure: I work for a POS reseller in the SE. MobileBytes out of AZ is a great one for tight budgets (which we carry), but I know there are other reliable ones as well. Just make sure to find one with some kind of support, preferably local!
All in all, clover does more than any other POS nowadays and breaks down the least. also you can choose your own merchant processor so not to be controlled. I think its going to get better with more apps and as the world becomes more virtual cloud based, its the next future.. most POS are still behind in ingenuity and creativity and ease of use
Not sure about the negative comments that I am reading. My experience is totally different
I got Clover Mini a month a go (NOTE : This is only credit card processing so far ) – The delivery was excellent – the installation was a piece of cake – Technical support is excellent – The RATES are good. The account representative Armani was way more then helpful. Five stars and I strongly recommend a switch to Clover.
This is honestly the worst POS system I’ve ever worked on. If you have a table service place that’s busy, it can’t even keep up. I take longer editing and entering food. Every feature that comes with Aloha or Micros or any other system costs extra monthly for this system and it makes no sense. The printer is constantly going out, there’s really no rhyme or reason to any of it. If I change a name on a ticket, there’s no changing it when I print it out. If someone wants to tab out of a group, the entire ticket needs to be tabbed out or you have to create a new table and move the guest there. So much of it makes no sense if anyone who developed the app had even asked for a restaurant to beta it.
Don’t Go with Clover… We got roped into a 3 year contract thru Suntrust, First Data and Clover… We lived in Arizona starting a business in Hawaii we wanted to get our equipment as soon as we could so we would be proficient with the units. We got our clover equipment in December 2015 moved to Hawaii in Febuary. The first time it was used for a sale was June 2016, I called suntrust and told them the equipment was not for us. He said sorry it’s to late to send it back we have since used the equipment maybe a handful of times more. Which all transactions are very visible to them. We called to send the equipment back they wanted $1829.13 to do that. Stay as far away from Clover, First Data and Sun Trust as you can. As a small business owner wish I knew then what I do now. Beware.!!!!
Clover isn’t the best pos system at all. My friend use one of these in his cafe and it seems to work well but it really lacks flexibility and some special functions. When I was opening my restaurant I’ve chosen the Smart POS system. This company isn’t really famous but their system is quite decent. Here’s my set posvt.com It’s definitely better than clover.
I have 5 clover stations. The devices do not properly sinc with each other either.
Example: You may close out to cash transaction on one device but it stays open on another device then doesn’t show paid in the orders section.
So now you gonna have take to servers word that the check was paid out.
Then you can also move items from one table to another table even if it’s another servers table. Problem is that the customer end up having extra items on their ticket from another table. Now what?? No one knows where the items belong so all you can do is delete those items.
What happens then???? The server who originally moved the items keeps the money and the restaurant looses money. The food is gone.
I’ve been trying to get this resolved for over year
[…] Clover POS Review
I will be up-front. We’ve moved a lot of Clover-POS- systems to the side when we started production of our StoreCore store management service. StoreCore does not require contracts or merchants with “per system” mess. StoreCore is small business friendly. Utilizes reports that show you total tax, non-tax, total sales, cash/checks/card transctions listing how much tax/subtotal and total was made on those transactions and of course a grand total with a summary/journal of items.
You can itemize or scan your barcode, create barcodes, invoice! with auto sending, ready to roll out of the box. The service only if you want touse your own system is only $32.99 with a $45 setup. Complete systems run at the HIGHEST of only $848 and that’s with a 19.5 touchscreen and computer system with StoreCore service at only $29.99 a month.
We keep trying to tell these small businesses that you don’t have to jam yourself into a contract and fall for the tablet hype, you will not get what you need and there’s a reason why big businesses use a computer system for professional use rather than a skinny little tablet from a company slapping the word small business int the mix.
Save yourself the money, cancel anytime you want. Do much more and even customize YOUR storecore to work to YOUR liking, not proprietary. Demo is available to show you but call us first, demo is by appointment. No additional in between fees unless you want us to customize of course that’s programming so it’s obvious there will be cost there but no hidden fees and so forth. $32.99/month $45.00 setup and your in. Cancel anytime for $0.00
This system is fine for a small retail business or even a single transaction business. DO NOT buy this system for a busy alacarte restaurant. It contains program gliches which are problematic for restaurants which have to access a check multiple times during service or which may have multiple checks for a table. Managerial access to make corrections is limited and the programmers at tech support are not interested in making simple changes which will simplify the system. Also, telephone only tech support is often untrained and uninformed when faced with problem solving. Spend the extra money for a better system.
did u get rid of the clovers
We are considering the switch?! And im a little nervous to say the least. We have a busy Italian & Pizza Restaurant with Dine In, Take-Out Delivery and Full Bar. Would you email me privately about your experiences?
a.marsh315@gmail.com
Do NOT use this system if you can help it. There charges are absurd and the lengthy contract requires more of you than most. But you need a system so you overlook the charges and the contracts and get the Clover because of the ease of getting set up…..just know…..customer service is going to be a terrible experience that will warrant you looking online for a forum in which you can let the world know of your terrible experience. Thus leads me here today. In final, as an operating system, I suppose it is ok. The pain of needing customer service and the crazy charges should be enough to keep you away 🙂
We have a busy restaurant and bar with full table service…….do not I repeat, DO NOT purchase a clover system if you have a similiar operation. programming and customer suppor are inadequate.
not worth the money. Company purchased these, we are unable to print out the reports we need, the clover was a bit misleading as to what it can actually do. we took a step down when we purchased these guys. Their tech support is not so helpful the calls are always very muffled, and they seem to not know very much. While it is easy to use for a sale, I would not count on the advanced features as any training features just does not cut it.