Your point-of-sale system is the till, the payments terminal, the roster of what sells, and — more than ever — the thing that quietly decides how much you pay on every card tap. Choose the wrong one and you're locked into higher payment costs, a contract you can't leave, and a switching bill that lands exactly when cash is tightest. This is a buying decision you live with for years, so it pays to judge it on the right criteria rather than the monthly sticker price.
And the calendar just raised the stakes. From 1 October 2026, you can no longer add a card surcharge as a separate line on the bill, which means your POS and payments setup — not the customer's receipt — now carries the cost of accepting cards. Below are the criteria that actually matter for an Australian venue, starting with the one that deadline made urgent.
Key takeaways
- Payments are now the heart of the decision. From 1 October 2026 the Reserve Bank is "removing surcharging on debit, prepaid and credit cards on the designated eftpos, Mastercard and Visa card networks" (RBA, 2026). Once you can't pass the cost on, the cheapest-to-run POS and payments setup is the one that protects your margin.
- Least-cost routing is the single biggest lever. It lets you "send the transaction via the debit network that costs them the least to accept" (RBA) — confirm any POS supports it before you sign.
- Watch for payment lock-in. The most expensive trap is a system that forces you onto its own integrated payments, or penalises you for using anyone else's.
- Judge total cost of ownership, not the headline plan. Software, hardware, payment margin, add-on modules and exit fees together are the real price.
- The contract matters as much as the software. Check the term, what happens to your data, and how hard it is to leave before you're three years in.
Why your POS choice matters more from 1 October 2026
For years, many Australian venues treated card costs as the customer's problem — a surcharge added at the terminal. That option is closing. The RBA has confirmed that "most of these changes will come into effect on 1 October 2026, including the removal of surcharging and reductions in the interchange caps for domestic card transactions" (RBA, 2026).
The upside is real money. Treasury estimates that under the reforms "Australians will no longer pay $1.6 billion a year in surcharges," while "small businesses will save $910 million" through lower fees (Treasury, 2026). The RBA expects the smallest operators to gain most, because "small businesses should benefit the most because they tend to pay fees closer to the existing caps" (RBA, 2026).
But here's the catch for buyers: once the surcharge line disappears, the difference between a cheap payments setup and an expensive one comes straight off your bottom line. A POS that quietly routes every debit tap through the dearest network, or locks you into a payments product you can't shop around, costs you on every order — and you can no longer hand that cost to the customer. That makes payment flexibility the first thing to check, not the last. If you haven't yet worked through the change, our 1 October 2026 card surcharge ban checklist covers the absorb-versus-reprice decision in detail.
The criteria for choosing a restaurant POS in Australia
Score every system you shortlist against these seven, in roughly this order. The first two are where most of the money is won or lost.
1. Payments: least-cost routing and no lock-in
This is the criterion the surcharge ban made non-negotiable. Ask two blunt questions of any vendor.
First: does it support least-cost routing (LCR)? The RBA describes LCR simply — "when a customer makes a payment with their dual-network debit card, the merchant may choose to send the transaction via the debit network that costs them the least to accept" (RBA). Because a large share of cafe and takeaway payments are contactless debit taps, routing them through the cheapest network shaves your cost of acceptance before you change anything else. If a POS or its bundled terminal won't do LCR, that's a recurring tax on every debit sale.
Second: does the POS force you onto its own integrated payments? Some vendors bundle the software and the merchant facility so tightly that you either can't bring your own acquirer or you pay a higher software rate (or a per-transaction penalty) if you don't use theirs. That's the lock-in to watch. Integrated payments can be genuinely convenient — one reconciliation, fewer errors — but only if the rate is competitive and you can leave. Get the effective percentage in writing and compare it against an independent acquirer quote.
2. Total cost of ownership, not the sticker price
The advertised monthly plan is rarely the real cost. Add up every line before you compare systems:
- Software — the monthly subscription, per terminal or per venue.
- Hardware — terminals, screens, printers, a cash drawer, and whether you buy or rent.
- Payment margin — the effective percentage on card turnover, after LCR. For most venues this dwarfs the software fee.
- Add-on modules — online ordering, loyalty, rostering, stock control are often charged separately.
- Exit and contract fees — early termination, and the cost of the next migration.
A plan that looks cheap can carry an expensive payment margin; a dearer plan with sharp payments and free modules can work out lower. Anchor the comparison in dollars per year across all five lines, not the headline price. It's the same discipline as our Australian restaurant running-cost breakdown — the visible number is rarely the whole bill.
3. GST, BAS and reporting built for Australia
Your POS is where the tax trail starts. Make sure it handles GST correctly on mixed baskets (GST-free and taxable items in the one sale), produces reports that map cleanly to your Business Activity Statement, and exports in a format your bookkeeper or accountant can actually use. Good end-of-day, item-level and category reporting is what lets you spot a dish that's quietly losing money — so treat reporting as a buying criterion, not a nice-to-have.
4. Integrations: delivery, online ordering and accounting
A POS that doesn't talk to the rest of your stack creates double entry and errors. Check it connects to the tools you already run:
- Delivery platforms — Uber Eats and DoorDash orders flowing into the same screen, rather than a wall of separate tablets.
- Accounting — a clean feed to Xero or MYOB so takings reconcile without manual re-keying.
- Your own online ordering — so direct orders land in the kitchen the same way third-party ones do.
That last point matters to your margin. Every order you take through your own ordering page instead of an aggregator keeps the commission you'd otherwise lose — and those commissions are steep, as our breakdown of Uber Eats and DoorDash commissions shows. A POS that makes direct ordering as easy as delivery-app ordering pays for itself. (This is the one place a tool like DineHere fits — a simple ordering page that feeds the same POS without an aggregator's commission.)
5. Contract terms, data portability and exit
Read the contract as carefully as the feature list. The questions that save you later:
- Term length — is it month-to-month or a multi-year lock?
- Your data — can you export your sales history, menu and customer list if you leave, and in what format?
- Exit cost — are there early-termination fees, and who owns the hardware at the end?
A system you can leave keeps the vendor honest on price and service. One you can't becomes leverage against you at renewal.
6. Offline mode, uptime and support
Service doesn't stop because the internet does. Confirm the POS keeps taking orders and payments offline and syncs when the connection returns — a dead till during a Friday dinner rush is lost revenue you never recover. Check what support actually looks like, too: real local hours, phone or chat, and how fast a terminal gets replaced if one dies. POS downtime and slow support are a genuine operational risk, not a footnote.
7. Hardware and room to grow
Finally, match the hardware to how you actually work — counter terminals, handheld devices for table-side ordering, kitchen display screens instead of paper dockets. And buy for the venue you'll be in two years from now: if a second location or a busier service is plausible, check the system scales without a forced re-platform.
Red flags that signal a bad fit
A few warning signs should make you slow down:
- Vague answers on payment rates. If a vendor won't put the effective card percentage and LCR support in writing, assume the worst.
- "All-in-one" that can't be unbundled. Convenience is good; being unable to swap any single part is lock-in.
- Long contracts with stiff exit fees. The harder it is to leave, the less incentive they have to keep your rate sharp.
- No clear data export. If you can't get your own sales and customer data out, you don't really own your business's history.
- Pressure to sign today. A genuine fit survives a week of comparison; a hard close rarely does.
How to switch POS without losing a weekend
If you're replacing a system, the switch is the risky part. Reduce the pain:
- Migrate the menu and data first, and check item-level GST is right before go-live.
- Run a quiet shift in parallel — a slow Tuesday lunch beats a Saturday night for your first real service.
- Train every shift, not just the manager, on refunds, voids and the end-of-day routine.
- Confirm payments end-to-end — LCR enabled, surcharge settings removed for 1 October 2026, reconciliation matching your bank.
- Keep the old system on standby for a week so a glitch never stops service.
Choose on the criteria above and the switch is a one-week project, not a six-month regret.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most important thing to look for in a restaurant POS in Australia?
Payment flexibility. From 1 October 2026 you can't surcharge cards, so the cheapest-to-run payments setup protects your margin. Confirm the POS supports least-cost routing and doesn't lock you into a single payments product before you weigh anything else.
What is least-cost routing and why does my POS need it?
Least-cost routing lets you "send the transaction via the debit network that costs them the least to accept" (RBA). Because most cafe and takeaway taps are debit, LCR lowers your cost of acceptance on a big share of sales. A POS or terminal that won't do it costs you on every debit transaction.
How does the 1 October 2026 surcharge ban change which POS I should pick?
It moves the card-acceptance cost from the customer to you. The RBA is "removing surcharging on debit, prepaid and credit cards on the designated eftpos, Mastercard and Visa card networks" from that date (RBA, 2026). So a POS with sharp, flexible payments and LCR is worth more to you now than one without.
What is payment lock-in?
It's when a POS forces you to use its own integrated payments — or charges you a higher software rate or a penalty if you don't. It removes your ability to shop around for a better card rate, which matters most now that you can't pass card costs to customers.
How much does a restaurant POS cost in Australia?
It varies by vendor and setup, so judge total cost of ownership rather than the advertised plan: software, hardware, the effective payment margin on card turnover, paid add-on modules, and any exit fees. For most venues the payment margin is the largest line — get it in writing before comparing.
Should I use my POS provider's integrated payments?
Only if the effective rate is competitive and you can leave. Integrated payments save reconciliation time and reduce errors, but bundle them with lock-in and a poor rate and you'll pay for that convenience on every sale. Compare the bundled rate against an independent acquirer quote.
Will a new POS handle GST and my BAS correctly?
A good one will handle GST on mixed taxable and GST-free baskets and produce reports that map to your Business Activity Statement. Confirm it exports in a format your accountant or Xero/MYOB can use, and test a few sales before go-live.
Can a POS connect to Uber Eats and DoorDash?
Many do, routing third-party orders into the same screen instead of a row of tablets. Better still is a POS that also takes your own direct online orders the same way, so you keep the commission an aggregator would take.
What contract terms should I check before signing?
Term length, data portability (can you export sales, menu and customer data if you leave), early-termination fees, and who owns the hardware at the end. A system you can exit keeps the vendor honest on price and support.
What happens to my POS if the internet goes down?
The right system keeps taking orders and card payments offline and syncs when the connection returns. Ask the vendor to confirm offline mode explicitly — a till that dies mid-service is revenue you can't get back.
