What is a point of sale (POS)?
A point of sale (POS) is the place, software and hardware where a sale is rung up, paid for and recorded.
The point of sale is the moment a customer pays, and by extension everything used to make that moment happen: the counter, the till software, the screen, the receipt printer, the cash drawer and the card terminal. When people say POS today they usually mean the POS system, the software that replaced the old electronic cash register.
A cash register adds up prices and holds cash. A modern POS also knows what was sold. Each sale records the items, quantities, prices, modifiers, discounts, taxes, payment methods, the staff member, the time and, for restaurants, the table or type of service. That record feeds stock counts, kitchen tickets, the end-of-day report and the books.
In practice a POS has two halves. The till is what staff touch all day: a tablet, PC or phone running the POS app, with a printer, drawer and card terminal attached. The back office is where the owner sets up products, taxes, staff and locations and reads reports. Some systems run the till in a browser; others use an installed app that keeps working when the internet drops.
SeroPOS follows that split. The SeroPOS app runs the till on iPad, Android, Windows and Mac, with restaurant, quick-service and retail layouts. The web back office holds the catalogue, purchases, stock, customers, accounting tools and reports. Both plans start with a 14-day free trial and no card.
A cafe sells a large latte with oat milk for $5.75 plus 5% GST. The POS rings up the item and modifier, adds $0.29 tax for a total of $6.04, takes a tap on the card terminal, prints the receipt and the drink ticket, and adds the sale to the day's card total that will be checked against the batch at close.