Recommend a till

[BusinessDeli]

I don't actually need one yet but am starting to look at certain set up costs. Has anyone got recommendations as to where to source a retail till from + any required back office set up?

 

[bovine]

You can get tills from about £100 to £3000, depending what you want to do. Best suggestion is talk to some local suppliers and get them to go through what they can do and prices.

Unless you are after something really basic, the internet is probably not the ideal place to buy tills/epos.

I speak as a till/epos reseller.

 

[BusinessDeli]

Than you're perfect for me! All I'm after right now is a ball park figure to work with; given the price range I'll use £1500.

When I have a defined need I'll follow your advice, many thanks

 

[kelvin1950]

I think you need to define what you want a bit more. A till is a box in which you place money temporarily, an EPOS system is a totally different kettle of fish.

 

[TreatGarden]

As Kelvin said, it really does depend on what you're looking for and what you need to do with it. If you just need something basic that does basic reports (by time, turnover, stock control etc), then I bought a simple Samsung from the internet for about £200 and added an integrated scanner for about the same again, and it served me very well. Added name, marketing message etc to the receipts, could specify whether to add tax etc.
But you can spend as much as you want, particularly if you get yourself in front of a sales person.....

 

[Josh_Farmer]

Well i think £1500 is quite high unless you need something fancy,

Best option is the following

-Cheap second hand pc £80
-LCD Screen £25 or Touchscreen £100
-Barcode Scanner - £25
- Thermal Printing - £80
- Cash Drawer - £50

That's the basic of what you need, then throw some decent free software on it, my personal favourite (what i use) is Unicenta

 

[LANIX]

Have you thought about all the peripherals you may need? Such as a thermal printer, bar code scanner, some form of screen (touch or otherwise).

In terms of back office equipment, you'll need some sort of database software/ system. You can get a software based program or a web based system each with their own advantages and disadvantages

Software Based

Advantages:
o Simple to edit and upload
o Cheap to set up (if you already have the Microsoft Office suite you have database software)
o No monthly fees
o Easier to train yourself and other employees on how to use the software
o Do not need an internet connection
Disadvantages:
• Does not scale very well and will slow down your EPOS system as it grows
• Cannot necessarily access data from any device with internet access
• Tech support is not instant
• Need to purchase more software to upgrade

Web Based:

Advantages:
o The service provider will back-up the data so it will remain safe
o Data accessible from anywhere with internet access
o Tech support can solve or diagnose problems instantly and some offer 24/7 coverage
o Can grow with your business easily
o Easy to upgrade
Disadvantages:
• Need a constant Internet connection
• You will be charged a monthly fee

Hope this helps!

 

[BusinessDeli]

Appreciate the responses chaps but really was just after a figure to work from. If 1500 is a bit high then that's fine and I know what to look for when I'm actually finding one; at the mo I'm just throwing some estimated costs together
(Maybe the thread title was erroneous!)

 

[airposjen]

We can also help advise on getting set up, AirPOS provide ePOS & eCommerce software for independent retailers and we have excellent links direct to hardware manufacturers.

Take a look at our website www.airpointofsale.com and drop me a line if you have any more questions.

There's no up front cost for our software, you pay for it as you need it.

 

[Josh_Farmer]

Appreciate the responses chaps but really was just after a figure to work from. If 1500 is a bit high then that's fine and I know what to look for when I'm actually finding one; at the mo I'm just throwing some estimated costs together
(Maybe the thread title was erroneous!)

I'd say £300-500 should get you something.

 

[LANIX]

Appreciate the responses chaps but really was just after a figure to work from. If 1500 is a bit high then that's fine and I know what to look for when I'm actually finding one; at the mo I'm just throwing some estimated costs together
(Maybe the thread title was erroneous!)

The hardware is the cheapest part, the expensive stuff is the software. There is a thread titled "setting up an EPOS system from scratch" that may be some use to you later down the line but doesn't contain any solid numbers

 

[bovine]

There are lots of different answers and many people will tell you many different things. Is hardware the cheapest part of the system? - not necessarily. Is it cheaper to do it yourself and put free software on? - not necessarily. And usually not if you factor in the time researching and getting the bits to all work together, and then support it all when it goes wrong.

Define what you think you want, or even let us know what type of business it is. Without that information its almost impossible to say what is a good price for you. We tend to match systems and specs to people and budgets. But if you want ball park, I would say allow £3k for a touchscreen system with back-office, but you could be happy with a £900 till with £600 back-office software - both would effectively give you access to the same reporting, the main change would be the interface with the user.

Something like Airpos is interesting, you pay for hardware outright and load their app, which has a monthly fee, so you never pay for the software (I believe they are still offering a free licence for the first store). Run that on a Casio VX100 android terminal and you have a system for less than £1000, but pay a monthly fee. Airpos is a bit light on the back-office reporting for my liking at the moment, but once they get that sorted out, its something we will be revisiting.