Entered CNET Catalog: 05/07/2002
SKU: 260777
Manufacturer: Intuit Inc.
Manufacturer description
QuickBooks Point of Sale software makes it faster and easier to track sales, inventory and customer information. It is a superior alternative to your electronic cash register. QuickBooks Point of Sale software allows you to ring up sales like a cash register, track inventory, record customer information and it integrates with QuickBooks Pro 2002 and Premier 2002. QuickBooks Point of Sale rings up sales like a cash register. It stores sales, inventory and customer information for better reporting and decision-making. Improve customer service with easy access to customer purchase history. QuickBooks Point of Sale records the purchase history for each customer, including name, contact information and items purchased. Easily transfer sales transactions and inventory data into QuickBooks Pro 2002 and Premier 2002. Never enter sales data into QuickBooks Financial Software again!CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 07/01/2002
Hardware included
Although QuickBooks POS ships with a box full of hardware peripherals, attaching them to your PC and installing the program itself is a breeze. We connected the cash drawer, receipt printer, credit card swiper, and bar code scanner to our PC and got the program ready to rock in less than an hour. The resulting setup is compact and intuitive: the cash drawer makes a nifty monitor stand.
Easy initiation
Setting up the software is just as easy. A wizard walks you through the setup and start-up configuration process, and the simple interface resembles a slick Web site: you navigate by clicking buttons--no traditional menus--and there's even a Back button that returns you to previous screens. Although you can start using POS immediately, you should spend some time setting up customer, supplier, and inventory lists. Depending on the extent of your inventory, this up-front setup can take just a few minutes or many hours.
Hidden treasures galore
More integration, please
At the end of the day, or, if you wish, more frequently, POS exchanges data, such as customer and vendor information, sales receipts, and receiving data (for instance, purchases you made to stock low inventory), with QuickBooks 2002. However, although POS automatically updates your inventory in its program, it won't do the same with QuickBooks, a major flaw. So, if you sell some items and decrease your inventory, the changes won't show up in QuickBooks. In effect, you must do all inventory-related work, including adding new items and receiving inventory, in POS. If you use QuickBooks in the back office, for example, you'll have to step up to a POS terminal to check inventory. Ugh.
High-priced support
POS's ability to let cash register-equipped shops automate and link sales and accounting wins it a hearty thumbs-up. But if your inventory changes rapidly, wait until a fully integrated version comes along.
Once it's installed, you'll use POS primarily to ring up retail sales. Even a rookie can select purchased items from a list or scan the products' bar codes (UPCs) and choose a payment method: cash, check, or credit card. When the transaction is done, a receipt prints and the cash drawer opens automatically. Processing credit card purchases requires a merchant account, available through most banks. Fortunately, if you don't have a such an account, you can sign up for QuickBooks POS Merchant Service on the Intuit Web site. This service is aggressively competitive: there are no monthly fees or setup charges, and each transaction costs 23 cents, plus 1.69 percent of the total charged to the card.
But POS is more than just a $1,500 cash register. Its back-end features provide complete customer histories, which is a great marketing tool, and real-time inventory; as items are rung up at the register, they're deducted from the stock on hand. And you'll get an even greater return on your investment if you integrate your QuickBooks 2002 inventory, customer, and vendor data with POS. However, after the one-time-only import process, you can enter inventory options only from within POS. You can't reimport from QuickBooks, which we think would be a nifty option.
POS offers solid if expensive tech support. In addition to the extensive online FAQ file, you get two free calls to the help desk after you register POS. An annual support plan ($979) gives you unlimited toll-free access to the help desk, which is available 16 hours each weekday, 9 hours on weekends. The only alternative is a per-incident fee of $60 for each 10 minutes on the phone with a tech rep. When we called for assistance, a rep came on the line within two minutes and answered our questions quickly and concisely.
User opinions
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User Rating: 
3/10
OK if you're an accountant, not if you are a cashier
Pros: You can ring up a sale, count how much is in drawer. It's got smooth credit card transactions. it interfaces with qb accounting
Cons: You are forced to use QB own merchant service so they have no incentive to give u lower rate. its hard to use. my cashiers who weren't computer whizzes couldn't figure it out. I had to constantly monitor them which is not the point with a pos system
User Rating: 
1/10
POS Multi Store is Useless!
Pros: An only Ok interface for the person ringing up the sale-
Cons: Will Not Sync up with the other locations without issues, Very Very Glitchy I have invested Hours into just fixing stupid licence errors- I will not be moving forward with this product- and if you are shoping for a POS I would avoid QB.
User Rating: 1/10
Worthless. POS is right.
Pros: I bought brand new Vista computers and QB POS 7.0. It won't run. I've spent hours on the phone with their tech support and they know it's a problem but have no idea how to fix it. They're randomly trying things. STAY AWAY!
Cons: If I ever get it to run, I'll let you know.
User Rating: 1/10
Terrible and incexcusable - I feel robbed
Pros: None really???!!
Cons: UN-intuitive, coplicated, bloated, limited functionality
There are soooooo many shortcomings to this I don't know where to start. Rather I'll summarize it by saying there's nothing at all good or easy to use about it.
Save you money and your LIFE - don't buy Quickbooks Piece Of Sh&*
User Rating: 
4/10
There is a much better POS
Pros: Good if you do not need inventory handling
Cons: Not good in handling inventory
User Rating: 
2/10
You have to pay for this?????
Pros: None. Not a ONE.
Cons: Never in my life have I seen a prodcut so inept. If you are even THINKING about buying this software, let me give you some advice: Take your money and throw it out your window as you drive down the street. At least this way someone might get some use ou
User Rating: 2/10
Crash prone POS
Pros: lots of features, clean easy to use interface, charting features, register screen easy to navigate
Cons: Crashes! needs alot of RAM, poor exporting, inventory entry terribly time consuming and redudant, and did i metion it crashes...alot?
User Rating: 1/10
Are you Kidding ?
Pros: Best thing about the product was the box cover!
Cons: Seriously, this is not inventory control nor POS.
User Rating: 
5/10
Wait to purchase
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User Rating: 
7/10
Got What I Wanted
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User Rating: 7/10
Speed issues cleared up
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User Rating: 5/10
High price, hard to use
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User Rating: 3/10
Terrible flexibility
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User Rating: 2/10
POS - Piece Of Sh*t
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User Rating: 2/10
Intuit buys and markets a bad program under their brand
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10/10
It's changed my life!
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User Rating: 2/10
You Get what you pay for!
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User Rating: 1/10
Logic is a mess
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User Rating: 
6/10
Like it for POS
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User Rating: 1/10
WASTED MY EFFORTS FOR NOTHING
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User Rating: 1/10
Quickbooks P.O.S. = Piece . of . $%##.
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User Rating: 6/10
I found it easy to use!
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User Rating: 7/10
Have had success using
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User Rating: 1/10
Intuit misfired and hit me! ouch!
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User Rating: 1/10
XML interface is very slow
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User Rating: 5/10
Easy to use, needs more report options.
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User Rating: 1/10
Would Not recommend to worst enemy
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User Rating: 1/10
Bad, I have 2 licenses and would not recommend!
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User Rating: 1/10
QBPOS IS SLOW!!!
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User Rating: 2/10
DO NOT BUY Quickbooks POS
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User Rating: 3/10
DO NOT BUY-TERRIBLE PRODUCT
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