Seven clauses in a POS contract that cost you later

The demo is about features. The contract is about what happens when things go wrong. Here are seven clauses worth reading carefully, and what to ask for instead.

This is general commercial guidance, not legal advice. Have a lawyer review anything you are about to sign.

1. Automatic renewal with a long notice period

What it looks like: "This agreement renews automatically for successive twelve-month terms unless either party gives ninety days' written notice."

Why it costs you: you decide in month 11 to leave, and discover you are locked into another year.

Ask for: a 30-day notice period, and a calendar reminder set the day you sign.

2. Data export as a paid service

What it looks like: silence. The contract says nothing about export, which means it is not an obligation.

Why it costs you: at the point where you most want to leave, your products, customers and sales history are a quote away.

Ask for: an explicit clause stating the export formats, that export is included at no charge, and that it is available on request during the term and for a defined period afterwards.

3. Price escalation

What it looks like: "Fees may be adjusted annually with thirty days' notice."

Why it costs you: the number you compared against competitors is only the year-one number.

Ask for: a cap — "increases limited to X% annually" — or a fixed price for the initial term. Any vendor confident in their pricing can offer one.

4. Hardware buy-out on early termination

What it looks like: "Devices supplied at no upfront cost remain the property of the supplier and must be returned in good condition, or the residual value becomes payable."

Why it costs you: free hardware is financed hardware. Leaving in month 14 of a 24-month term can mean an unexpected invoice.

Ask for: the residual value schedule in writing, month by month, before you sign. And compare it to the device's retail price.

5. Payment processing exclusivity

What it looks like: "Customer shall use Supplier's payment processing services for all card transactions during the term."

Why it costs you: it ties two decisions together. If a better processing rate appears, you cannot take it without leaving your POS.

Ask for: the right to use another processor, even if the software price changes as a result. Wameed's EdfaPay integration settles to your own store account and the POS does not require it.

6. Support defined by tier, not by outcome

What it looks like: "Standard support: response within two business days."

Why it costs you: "response" is an acknowledgement, not a fix. And "business days" may exclude the days you trade hardest.

Ask for: support hours that cover your trading hours including Friday and Saturday, a definition of severity levels, and what happens when a terminal is completely down — that case deserves a phone number, not a ticket.

7. Uptime measured in a way that excludes your outages

What it looks like: "99.9% uptime, excluding scheduled maintenance, third-party failures and force majeure."

Why it costs you: 99.9% is about nine hours a year. Whether that matters depends entirely onwhen. Nine hours spread across Tuesday mornings is nothing; nine hours across Thursday evenings is significant revenue.

Ask for: a maintenance window that falls outside your trading hours, and — more useful than any SLA — a system that keeps selling when the cloud does not. See theoffline comparison.

Three things to add rather than remove

A pilot period. Thirty days on one branch, cancellable, before the full term starts.

A named contact. Not a ticket queue — a person, with their manager named as escalation.

A migration assistance clause. What the vendor will do to help you leave: export format, timeline, and a commitment that it will be provided within a stated number of days.

The test

Ask the salesperson to explain clause by clause what happens if you want to leave in month 14. If the answer is vague, get it in writing. If they will not put it in writing, you have learned the most useful thing available from the whole process.

Our own terms are on theterms page, and our pricing is published on thepricing page rather than quoted.