What to actually check before choosing a POS system

Most point of sale comparisons focus on the feature list: does it print receipts, take cards, track stock. Nearly every system on the market can do that. The things that actually cause pain six months in are usually somewhere else entirely.

Can you get your own data out?

Ask, before you sign anything, exactly how you export your sales history, customer list and stock data if you ever switch systems. If the honest answer is "you can't" or "only as a PDF," that is a real cost you are agreeing to pay later, even if it is not on the price sheet now.

What happens when the internet drops?

Malaysian shops lose connectivity more often than most POS demos let on. A system that simply stops taking payment when the line drops is a system that costs you sales on a busy night. Ask specifically what the terminal does offline, not just whether it has an "offline mode" on a feature list.

Who do you actually call when something breaks?

At 8pm on a Friday, "submit a support ticket" is not an answer. Find out, concretely, who picks up and how fast, before you need to know.

Does the reporting match how you actually think about the business?

A dashboard full of charts is not the same as reporting you will use. Before buying, ask to see the exact report you would pull to answer a question you actually ask yourself weekly, like which hours are busiest or which items barely sell. If that report does not exist or takes five clicks to reconstruct, it will not get used.

None of this shows up on a comparison chart. It only shows up after the system is already running your counter. Worth asking before, not after.