A point of sale system is used to track and manage your inventory and ring up sales. A payment processor handles the actual transaction during sales.

Payment processors transmit payment information between relevant parties to complete transactions—information will be sent between your business' bank account and the paying customer’s bank, for example, or between your acquiring bank and the customer’s credit card issuer.

A point of sale system facilitates the transaction in question—if a payment processor connects to your bank, your POS system powers your till. POS systems like Lightspeed can integrate with payment processors to automatically transit information between your inventory system and card reader. In addition, Lightspeed includes tools for inventory management, CRM and data analysis, and we have even developed our own payment processing system: Lightspeed Payments.

Lightspeed Payments users receive one free payments terminal to use in their retail store. No other plans include hardware. Lightspeed Payments is currently only available for Lightspeed Retail users in the US.

Lightspeed's POS system works with many platforms. While the apps are built exclusively for Apple iPads, the POS system can be run in a web browser on any device, including Mac, PC, Apple or Android. You may be able to use all or most of your existing hardware when you add Lightspeed to your business—speak to your sales rep for more information.

Lightspeed does not lease hardware. However, you can buy hardware directly from Lightspeed.

All new Lightspeed users are entitled to a free one-on-one onboarding session. A product expert will walk you through the POS system's major features and answer any and all of your business questions relevant to your business. After you've completed your onboarding session, we offer free phone support, available 24/7 in English.

Lightspeed users also have access to chat support in English, and phone support in Dutch and French, during specific business hours. You can find more information on how to contact Lightspeed support here.

Lightspeed also maintains a database of Help Center articles to aid POS system users. Lightspeed users can also consult the Lightspeed Community to discuss their POS system with other retailers, restaurateurs and Lightspeed experts.

Lightspeed Payments is now included in all POS system subscription options for Lightspeed Retail users in the US and Canada. However, you are not required to use Lightspeed Payments as your payments processor. Credit card processing rates through Lightspeed Payments are set at a predictable fee for all card types, including American Express: 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction (2.6% + $0.30 card not present).

Lightspeed Retail POS system users outside of the US, as well as Lightspeed Restaurant POS users around the world, do not currently have access to Lightspeed Payments. While we work hard to make our payments solution available to users around the world, Lightspeed users currently have access to a number of payment processing partners through the POS system.