On the subject of electronic payments, Italy is always one step behind compared to the countries of Northern Europe or the United States and the gap in the diffusion of electronic money is still present. This is also confirmed in the field of POS (Point of Sale, i.e. the device that allows the customer to pay by debit card or other card) which, despite the obligation introduced in 2015, have increased by 2016% since 12 (Confesercenti estimate).
One of the reasons could be linked to the lack of clarity on the costs of the POS, but above all to the costs for installing and using the device, which is certainly not free for the merchant.
Between fixed costs, monthly and one-off fees for terminals, commissions for credit and debit cards, mobile payment becomes a veritable jungle that can often discourage those who would like to provide a complete service to the customer. All this contributes to not having the immediate perception of how much the POS actually costs for a business: allowing customers to pay electronically can become a very important expense not to be overlooked, especially in the first year of business.
How much does the POS actually cost for a business and how have these costs changed since the introduction of the obligation to activate the POS? SosTariffe.it has tried to understand it by identifying all the average costs incurred to offer electronic payment to its customers and calculating how much they affect the average annual proceeds for three different and widespread economic activities.
Costs to install and use a POS: from 2015 up to 19,5%
As soon as you enter the variegated world of offers to activate a POS, you immediately understand that getting lost is very easy. The proposals are very different and therefore the first thing to do is to quantify the expected user flow to understand which tariff is the most suitable for your needs.
A first important differentiation is in the choice of the type of POS: the fixed one (connected to an ADSL fixed line) or the mobile one (manageable via smartphone).
The first cost analyzed is the one-off expense to purchase the terminal. According to the study, on average almost 61,7 euros are spent for a mobile POS, while about 77 euros for a traditional one. Compared to 2017, on average, 13,7% less is spent to purchase the POS device than in 2015, but this is, as we will see, the only decrease found in this study.
The monthly fee for the service must be added to this cost. On average, this cost is around 24,1 euros for a fixed-line POS and 13,7 euros for a mobile one. Compared to 2015, therefore, the average fees for using the POS increased by 10,7% and this increase mainly concerns mobile POS. This increase in costs on wireless devices may have been a strategy implemented by the institutes after the entry into force of the compulsory POS in 2015: given the probable increase in activations and the lower costs of mobile POS, it was decided to counterbalance with a lower convenience of economic conditions.
However, the merchant bears the major expense to activate electronic payment in his establishment with the percentage due on each electronic transaction carried out. In this case the costs vary according to the type of card chosen by the buyer.
In fact, if the customer pays by credit card for each transaction, the merchant will have to pay around 2,5% of the amount transacted (2,44% with mobile POS and 2,72% with fixed device). If, on the other hand, the chosen card is an ATM, the charge varies from 1,88% for a traditional POS to 1,95% with a mobile POS.
Comparing the data between the two years, it can be seen that the commissions charged for each transaction increased by 18,5% for purchases with debit cards and by 19,5% for those made with another card.
How much does the POS cost in one year for commercial establishments
Many consumers, who are particularly fond of the convenience offered by electronic payments, often wonder: why doesn't this store accept POS? The answer is to be found in the costs that the business incurs in offering this service. To understand this, SosTariffe.it calculated the total expenditure by carrying out three simulations relating to three of the most common types of public establishments: the freelancer, the shopkeeper and the restaurateur.
As can be seen, for a POS you can spend over 6.298 euros per year. For all the types of businesses analysed, credit cards are on average the most expensive, while accepting payments with debit cards is up to 29% cheaper based on the business and the POS chosen (convenience which was 2015% in 41).
As regards the change in costs compared to 2015, today the POS costs from 6,5% to over 40% more than in 2015. The greatest increases are recorded for those who accept ATM payments with a fixed POS ranging from 33,5 % to 40,4% more. The greatest increases are recorded for retailers who, compared to 2015, pay the installation and maintenance of the POS from 12,4% to 40,4% more.
In general, it remains more convenient to install and accept payments with ATMs from mobile POS (even if the difference with the landline is in some cases negligible).
