What should POS software cost in Pakistan?

Try to find out what POS software costs in Pakistan and you will mostly find forms. "Request a demo." "Contact for pricing." Almost nobody prints a number.

There is a reason for that, and it is not always a sinister one — but it leaves a shopkeeper with no way to judge whether he is being quoted fairly. So here is how the pricing actually works, and what to check before you pay anybody.

The two shapes, and the sum nobody does¶

Monthly — you pay every month, forever. Often a few thousand rupees, sometimes per counter.

One-time — you pay once and the software is yours on that computer.

Monthly always looks cheaper, because it is compared against a single payment instead of against itself. Do the sum over the life of a shop: at Rs 3,000 a month, five years is Rs 180,000. At Rs 5,000 a month it is Rs 300,000.

Neither shape is dishonest. Monthly makes sense when there is a real service behind it — a server running your data, support staff, continuous development. What matters is knowing which you are signing up to, and for how long. Ask for the five-year figure. A vendor who will not do that arithmetic with you has told you something.

Six questions to ask before you pay¶

• "Does it work if the internet goes?" If billing stops when the connection drops, that is a decision about your shop, not a technical detail. Ask them to describe exactly what happens at the counter during an outage.
• "Where does my data sit?" On your computer, or on their server? Both are legitimate. You should know which.
• "If I stop paying, what do I keep?" The most important question with monthly software. Can you still open yesterday's sales? Can you export your customer list? Get the answer before you need it.
• "Can I get my data out?" Excel export, a backup file, something. Software you cannot leave is software that can raise its price.
• "What is not included?" Training, installation, data entry, the second computer, support after the first month — these are where a cheap quote becomes an expensive one.
• "Can I try it with my own stock first?" A demo on their data proves nothing. Your articles, your rates, your customers — that is the only test that counts.

Cheap is sometimes genuinely cheap¶

There are people offering shop software for five or seven thousand rupees. Sometimes that is a student's good work at a fair price. Sometimes it is a copy of something else with no support behind it.

Two things to check, and they cost nothing: does it get updated — ask when the last fix was and what it was — and what happens when it breaks on a Friday evening. Software is not a thing you buy once; it is a thing someone keeps alive. A price with nobody behind it is not a bargain.

The same applies at the top end. An expensive quote is not automatically a serious one.

What you should expect for the money¶

Whatever you pay, a shop system should do these without an argument: bill at the counter and print a receipt with your shop's name, hold inventory with your real purchase rates, keep the udhaar khata properly, show you actual profit against real cost, take a backup you can hold, and let a second person use it without seeing your margins.

If something on that list is an extra, that is not a cheaper product. It is the same product quoted in pieces.

What we charge, since this article would be hypocritical otherwise¶

POSPlus is Rs 35,000, one time, per computer. No monthly fee. The software and the data sit on your machine and keep working with the internet off — it is needed once, to activate. There is a free 15-day trial with your own stock in it, not a demo with ours.

What is not included, so it is not a surprise later: it runs on one Windows computer, so a second counter needs a second licence. There is no mobile app. It does not share stock between two shops. FBR digital invoicing is available on request for registered businesses, set up with you — it is not built into the standard product.

Judge that against the six questions above the same way you would judge anyone else's.