POS System Companies & Dealers in Georgia (GA)

How to choose POS system companies in Georgia

Where to find POS system companies in Georgia

A sandwich sold in downtown Atlanta and the same sandwich sold in Newnan ring up with different sales tax, because counties here vote on their own add-on taxes. That detail shapes much of what a POS provider has to get right in Georgia, and it is a quick test of whether a vendor knows the state.

Most of the choice sits in metro Atlanta, home to more than six million people. Atlanta itself has the deepest bench, including resellers who focus on restaurants, bars or multi-location retail. The suburbs have their own firms too. Cobb County buyers can start in Marietta, Kennesaw and Acworth. North Fulton has Alpharetta and Roswell. Gwinnett has Lawrenceville, Norcross, Duluth, Lilburn and Buford, and DeKalb has Decatur, Tucker and Stone Mountain. Further out, Canton and Conyers serve their own corners of the metro. A provider one county over can show up when a kitchen printer dies on a Friday night.

Outside the metro, choice thins out. The next largest cities, Columbus, Augusta, Macon, Savannah and Athens, support smaller local markets. Regional hubs such as Gainesville, Rome, Calhoun, Carrollton and Albany have firms that usually cover several surrounding counties, and Athens-area buyers can look to Bogart. In much of South Georgia, expect a provider who installs in person and supports remotely after that. Ask how far they will actually drive.

Sales tax rules a Georgia POS system has to handle

The state rate is 4 percent. Counties then add voter-approved local taxes on top: LOST, SPLOST, education SPLOST and transportation taxes. Combined rates generally run from about 6 to 9 percent, with the highest in parts of metro Atlanta, Columbus and Savannah. Local pieces change when a referendum passes or a SPLOST expires, so a rate entered at installation can go stale. Confirm current rates with the Georgia Department of Revenue before you approve a setup.

  • Rate updates. Ask who updates the tax tables when local rates change, and whether that is included or billed.
  • Delivery and multiple locations. Delivered goods are taxed at the rate where they are delivered. If you deliver, or run stores in more than one county, the system needs rates by location, not one rate for the whole business.
  • Hardware on the quote. Terminals and printers are taxable goods. Ask for hardware to be itemized apart from software and service fees.

There is no back-to-school sales tax holiday right now; the old summer holiday ended several years ago. Lawmakers keep proposing new ones, including a firearms holiday, so a system that can schedule a temporary exemption by product category is a sensible feature to have.

Card fees, tips and customer data under Georgia law

Georgia's convenience fee law (O.C.G.A. § 13-1-15) allows a merchant to charge extra for paying electronically only if customers can also pay by cash, check or money order with no fee. The fee is tied to the merchant's actual processing cost, and it has to be disclosed before it is charged, including the dollar amount, that it is nonrefundable and that it applies to electronic payment. Card networks add their own rules. When a provider pitches surcharging or a cash discount program, ask to see exactly what the customer sees on the screen and the receipt, and how the fee is kept at or below cost.

For restaurants, Georgia follows the federal tip rules: a cash wage as low as $2.13 an hour, a tip credit of up to $5.12, and a total of at least $7.25 once tips are counted. The POS should record card tips and declared cash tips by shift, handle tip pools that include only tipped staff, and export clean numbers to payroll.

Under O.C.G.A. § 10-1-912, a business whose system leaks unencrypted personal information, such as card numbers or driver's license data, must notify affected Georgia residents without unreasonable delay. A breach touching more than 10,000 residents also triggers notice to the consumer reporting agencies. Ask whether card data is encrypted at the reader, what help you get with PCI compliance, and who handles notice if the provider's own servers are hit. If you scan IDs for alcohol or tobacco sales, find out whether license data is stored, and for how long.

How to compare POS providers in Georgia

Local resellers usually sell one or two platforms they know well and can often be on site within the hour. National providers often cost less up front but route support through a call center. A single coffee shop in Decatur has different needs than a five-location chain spread across Gwinnett and Cobb.

  • Why this platform for my type of business?
  • Is on-site support included, what are your hours, and do you cover nights and weekends?
  • Is processing bundled with the hardware or software, and can I switch processors later?
  • What are the term length, auto-renewal terms and early termination fees?
  • Who owns the hardware if I cancel, and can I export my sales and customer data?

Ask for two references in your own industry and, ideally, your own county, then call them. Ask what happened the last time something broke. Long equipment leases and processing contracts that renew automatically are where most POS regrets start, and a provider who explains those terms plainly up front is usually the one worth hiring.