PayPal Zettle POS offers ease of use, predictable pricing, and a card reader, making it a great choice for most merchants who want a simple way to accept payments.
WRITTEN & RESEARCHED BY
Expert Contributor
Last updated onUpdated
REVIEWED BY
Lead Staff Writer
| Total Rating | 4.5 |
|---|---|
| Pricing | Excellent |
| Features | Good |
| Customer Service | Fair |
| Reviews | Good |
Pricing
No monthly feeContract
NoneEquipment Cost
$29 for your first card readerTable of Contents
PayPal Here is no longer available for new merchants, having been superseded by PayPal Zettle. PayPal recommends that all PayPal Here users migrate to PayPal Zettle.
PayPal Zettle, PayPal’s mobile POS solution, combines a free mobile app with two mobile card reader options and several ready-made Store Kits complete with receipt printers, iPad stands, and other accessories. It’s part of PayPal’s comprehensive merchant services ecosystem, which encompasses PayPal’s online payment processing, business financing, POS partnerships, and much more.
PayPal Zettle offers well-designed and up-to-date card readers, an intuitive, capable app backed by the PayPal name, and a wide array of merchant services. PayPal is not without its drawbacks, though — its customer service is inconsistent, and it has less stability than you’d get with a dedicated merchant account. Despite these potential drawbacks, we’re giving PayPal Zettle a 4.5-star score and our recommendation as a capable and convenient mobile processing solution.
A wide variety of small- to mid-sized businesses stand to benefit from using PayPal Zettle to take payments and service customers. While large high-volume businesses will pay less for processing with a POS that connects to a dedicated merchant account with interchange-plus pricing, PayPal’s flat rates for in-person payment processing are actually lower than those of competitors like Square, making Zettle a solid choice for lower-volume merchants.
Occasional sellers who sell items at fairs or markets may find an easy mobile solution like PayPal Zettle particularly appealing, with its convenient card reader that fits easily in your hand and its competitive processing rates. We just wish the Zettle app had an offline mode for when wifi access is spotty or nonexistent.
Those who operate restaurants and other eateries may find PayPal Zettle to have some appeal, but in many cases, eateries may be better served by a more specialized POS system with more foodservice-specific functionality.
| PayPal Zettle Plans | Price | When To Use |
|---|---|---|
| Free Plan | $0/month | If you have basic retail or restaurant POS needs |
Here is what you can expect to pay when using PayPal Zettle:
High-volume merchants may be able to negotiate better rates — contact PayPal for a custom pricing plan.
With PayPal Zettle, you won’t pay any:
Note that if you process a lot of American Express transactions, you could potentially save money with PayPal because of its flat-rate pricing. You’ll pay less for Amex transactions with PayPal, but you might pay a little bit more for some kinds of Visa and Mastercard transactions than you would with a full merchant account.
PayPal Zettle’s in-person transaction rates are more competitive than PayPal’s online transaction rates, making PayPal a good choice for merchants who have an online presence but do the bulk of their sales in person. To learn more about pricing for credit card processing and how PayPal Zettle fees compare to other options, check out our guide to credit card processing rates and fees.
You should also be aware of the $20 chargeback fee. That’s pretty standard in the industry because dealing with chargebacks is a headache for any payment processor. Check out our article on how to avoid merchant account holds, freezes, and terminations to learn more about how to protect your account and minimize chargebacks.
Because PayPal Zettle offers low POS processing rates and doesn’t charge hidden fees, the company has earned an excellent score in this category.
We’ll discuss Zettle’s card readers further in the Features section, but here’s how much these readers will set you back:
| PayPal Zettle Extra Costs | Price |
|---|---|
| Additional Zettle Readers | $79 each |
| POS Store Kits | $249-$699 |
PayPal Zettle’s transaction limits are as follows.
Chip & Tap (Includes Contactless)
Manual Card Entry & QR Code Payments
The minimum amount for a single payment is $1 in all circumstances.
Note that the above pricing pertains to US merchants only. For pricing in other countries served by PayPal, check out PayPal’s full merchant fee schedule.
| PayPal Zettle Features | Availability |
|---|---|
| Multi-Store Support | |
| Contactless Payments | |
| Multi-Channel Selling | |
| Gift Cards | |
| Customer Loyalty | |
| Marketing Tools | |
| Online Ordering | |
| Inventory Management | |
| Reporting | |
| Menu Management | |
| Delivery Management | |
| EBT Acceptance | |
| Employee Management | |
| Text Messaging |
PayPal Zettle makes for quite an attractive mobile POS package. It’s easy to get started, and if you use PayPal for anything else, your information gets consolidated in one place. And along with the mobile card reader, you’ll get the option to have a full countertop register.
I can say from my experience with the PayPal Zettle app that it is intuitive and easy for non-techies to operate successfully. Functions are easy to access, and nothing threw me for a loop.
Let’s go through the features you’ll get with Paypal Zettle.
With PayPal Zettle, you can choose between two different card reading devices.
PayPal’s Zettle Reader 2 is a Bluetooth-enabled contactless + chip + PIN card reader that requires an internet connection. It connects to all Apple (iOS 10+ required) and Android (Android 5+ required) smartphones and tablets. Along with credit and debit cards, the Zettle Reader accepts Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay contactless payments.
PayPal states that its battery should last about eight hours or 100 transactions and that it takes one to two hours to charge via USB cable, but if you don’t want to worry about charging, you can order the Zettle Dock 2 for $49 to ensure that your reader stays charged throughout your sales day. The reader also supports register setups with tablet stands, receipt printers, and barcode scanners.
PayPal’s newly-introduced Zettle Terminal is an all-in-one device — it sports a touchscreen and does not need to be paired with your smartphone or tablet, as it runs the POS app natively. The terminal comes with an activated SIM card. The cost of the terminal covers mobile data usage.
You can get the terminal for $199, while a version with a built-in barcode scanner sells for $239. You can also get it packaged with a receipt printer and dock for an additional $70 — or an additional $60 if it’s the scanner-enabled terminal you’re ordering.
If it’s a full POS system you want, Zettle offers four different options (referred to as Store Kits). These Store Kits range in price from $249 to $699. Each Kit comes with a Zettle Reader and can include (depending on the Kit you get) a dock, an iPad stand, a Smart Printer, thermal rolls for the printer, and a barcode scanner. Each of these accessories is available separately as well, along with a cash drawer. See the Zettle Shop for details and pricing.
While there’s nothing particularly new or innovative about the PayPal Zettle app itself, its well-designed, easy-to-navigate features fit the bill for almost any need you’d encounter on the go. As a bonus, most of the features are also easily managed right from within the app, making it a truly mobile option. Plus, connecting to a PayPal POS device is a cinch. However, it’s missing a few key features that may be a deal-breaker for some merchants.
As I said before, I’d like to see PayPal add an offline mode. This would let you securely add all of your customer’s credit card information into the app without an internet connection. Whether you’re offline temporarily due to an outage or you’re offsite, you shouldn’t have to stop business due to a bad connection. While a Zettle reader can be a very handy tool for taking payments at farmer’s markets and conventions, wifi at such events can be spotty at best.
PayPal offers two great mobile readers, some handy accessories. and four all-in-one Store Kits, earning it a good rating from us in the products and services category. This could be bumped up to excellent if the readers had an offline mode, but other than that, there’s very little to complain about here.
| PayPal Zettle Customer Service | Availability |
|---|---|
| Phone Support | |
| Email Support | |
| Support Tickets | |
| Live Chat | |
| Dedicated Support Representative | |
| Knowledge Base or Help Center | |
| Videos & Tutorials | |
| Company Blog | |
| Social Media |
With PayPal Zettle, you’ll be using PayPal’s main support system. PayPal has several different customer service/support options, including:
The biggest mark against PayPal is the customer service via phone — numerous users have had a poorer phone experience than my own. When you need help, you probably don’t have time to worry about inconsistent phone service. While we love all of the ancillary support options, a company as large as PayPal could do better, so it gets a fair rating in this category.
PayPal is a third-party payment processor, which means it aggregates accounts instead of creating individual merchant accounts for each business. This model makes signing up more accessible since approval is also a simpler process with fewer hoops to jump through. Most merchants can sign up and start processing on the same day. As far as additional fees, you won’t face any added monthly costs or early termination fees with PayPal Zettle.
If you already have a PayPal business account, it’s fairly easy to start using PayPal Zettle — though you’re not automatically guaranteed access. You’ll have to apply and wait for approval.
While you won’t need to sign a three-year contract, you will be signing a contract, so take the time to understand what you’re signing. All in all, we’re happy to give PayPal an excellent rating in this category because of the freedom it gives you to change your mind or scale when needed.
As a POS, PayPal Zettle, beyond the aforementioned lack of an offline mode, there really isn’t much to warrant concern. The card reader and touchscreen terminal are both capable and reasonably-priced devices for taking payments, and the POS software is solid and versatile.
The real concern regarding PayPal Zettle is on the payment processing side of things; in particular, it’s the frequency with which user experience withheld funds and account freezes/terminations.
As a third-party processor, PayPal aggregates all its merchants into one single merchant account, which means there’s an inherent amount of account instability. You can get set up almost right away, but PayPal analyzes your individual transactions that much more closely to make sure you’re not conducting prohibited business activities or processing fraudulent transactions.
Upticks in processing volume — common for seasonal merchants — may also trigger an account review, followed by a hold/reserve, a freeze, or even an account termination. However, that’s the risk of using an aggregator; you’ll find these issues with Square and Stripe as well. I should note that a majority of PayPal business users experience no such issues.
PayPal Zettle-specific reviews can be hard to find amidst the avalanche of PayPal reviews posted by both consumers and merchants. However, PayPal Zettle currently gets an average rating of 3.0 out of 5 at the Apple store based on 644 ratings and an average rating of 3.8 out of 5 at the Google Play store based on over 42,400 reviews.
There aren’t too many PayPal Zettle reviews, as the service doesn’t typically get specific attention from review sites. PayPal doesn’t have a separate BBB account for PayPal Zettle. However, Zettle’s Apple and Android app stores reveal some Zettle-specific complaints:
You’ll also see complaints surrounding funding holds and account freezes/terminations as well.
Other consistent complaints about PayPal include the following:
Zettle receives praise from users regarding the following:
Overall, PayPal Zettle earns a good rating in the user review category.
PayPal Zettle is a strong contender in the mobile POS and processing fields, but how does it stack up against its competitors? We decided to compare PayPal Zettle to two competitors whose products are targeted to a similar audience in the mobile processing/mPOS space: Square and Helcim.
With a free POS app, mobile card readers, an all-in-one touchscreen terminal, and flat-rate pricing for credit card processing, Square POS looks extremely similar to PayPal Zettle on the surface. Dig deeper, and while you’ll still see lots of similarities, key differences emerge.
Unlike PayPal Zettle, Square offers a free card reader to new subscribers. However, this reader is magstripe-only, so it’s only appropriate for very occasional/light sales. For most business activity, you’ll at least want the $59 Square Reader for contactless and chip. While this device takes chip and contactless/NFC payments just like the Zettle Reader 2, it doesn’t have a display or PIN pad like the cheaper Zettle reader, so PayPal Zettle has the edge here.
Square also offers an all-in-one touchscreen terminal — Square Terminal — that offers very similar functionality to the Zettle Terminal. Both devices are impressive, modern credit card machines, but the Zettle Terminal starts at $199 while the Square Terminal starts at $299 — a $100 difference. Advantage: PayPal Zettle.
As for the POS software, Square’s basic POS stacks up well against the PayPal Zettle POS while having one big advantage: an offline mode. This alone will make Square’s POS a more attractive proposition than Zettle for some merchants. But if you don’t particularly need that, PayPal Zettle’s main point of advantage here is that its processing rates (2.29% + $0.09 per chip/contactless card transaction) are cheaper than Square’s in-person rates (2.6% + $0.10 per card transaction).
Strictly comparing Square’s free POS to PayPal Zettle, Square’s main advantage is that it has an offline mode, while PayPal Zettle offers less expensive equipment and processing, so the best choice for you depends on which of these attributes you value most.
Beyond this comparison, I should note that Square also offers specialty paid POS packages: Square For Restaurants, Square For Restaurants, and Square Appointments. If your business has complex, specialized needs, these POS packages will be a better fit for you than PayPal Zettle, but keep in mind that to get the most out of these specialty POS offerings, you’ll have to pay between $29 and $69 per month per location.
Check out our full Square VS PayPal comparison piece for a full rundown of how these two processing giants stack up.
Helcim is a month-by-month pay-as-you-go processor with no monthly fee, and it offers a handy free POS with card reader options, all of which give it a very close resemblance to PayPal Zettle — on the surface, at least. Let’s dig deeper.
With its PIN pad, display, and chip + contactless functionality, the Helcim Card Reader is extremely similar to the Zettle Reader 2. The difference is the cost — the Helcim reader sells for $109, while your first Zettle Reader 2 is just $29, giving PayPal Zettle the advantage here. Helcim is also set to release the all-in-one touchscreen Helcim Terminal sometime in the summer of 2023. It will offer very similar functionality to the Zettle Terminal, but again, it will be more expensive, selling for $349 compared to the Zettle Terminal’s $199. And again, the Zettle Terminal is not yet available as I write this.
Feature-wise, Helcim’s POS and PayPal Zettle offer very similar functionality — neither has an offline mode, but both capably cover the basic POS functions most small businesses will need. The big difference here lies in the fact that while PayPal Zettle offers third-party processing with flat-rate pricing, Helcim offers full merchant accounts with interchange-plus pricing.
What does this mean? It means that while it may take a bit longer for you to sign up for Helcim, if and when you’re approved, you’ll enjoy more account stability, which can be particularly important for merchants with significant sales volumes but who sell seasonally and therefore see big revenue spikes and valleys throughout the year.
And with interchange-plus pricing, businesses earning upwards of $5K-10K/month will see significant savings on payment processing. Businesses processing under $5K/month, on the other hand, will likely save money with PayPal Zettle’s flat-rate pricing. That, combined with the cheaper Zettle equipment, make PayPal Zettle a better choice for most smaller merchants. But again, whether Helcim or PayPal Zettle is best for your business depends on your individual business needs.
| PayPal Zettle Review Summary | |
|---|---|
| Pricing Range | $0/month |
| Choose If You Need |
|
PayPal Zettle has everything most new and mid-sized businesses need to take payments, whether on the go or as part of a full retail setup. We can wholeheartedly recommend PayPal Zettle to anyone interested in standalone, pay-as-you-go processing. PayPal Zettle gets a robust 4.5 stars for its ease of use, great hardware, transparency, and overall dependability. It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s among the top mPOS apps on the market today.
If you already have an online store or want to start one, PayPal has a lot to offer in this area. Check out our full PayPal review for a thorough rundown of the company’s online credit card processing and the other myriad tools in PayPal’s payments arsenal.
Before making a final decision, however, check out some of your other options to compare features and decide what’s best for your particular business type. To that end, our payment processing reviews are a great place to start. You may also want to check out our list of top-rated merchant account providers and mobile processors. And if you prefer to avoid PayPal, look at the top PayPal alternatives for businesses.
The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
|
PayPal Zettle
|
|---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see PayPal Zettle for yourself.
The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆
|
PayPal Zettle
|
|---|
After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see PayPal Zettle for yourself.
Let us know how well the content on this page solved your problem today. All feedback, positive or negative, helps us to improve the way we help small businesses.
Give Feedback
Want to help shape the future of the Merchant Maverick website? Join our testing and survey community!
By providing feedback on how we can improve, you can earn gift cards and get early access to new features.
Our team of experts spends hours on every review so that we can find the best companies to recommend to our readers. PayPal Zettle made the cut.
Learn More
Help us to improve by providing some feedback on your experience today.
The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
Our team of experts spends hours on every review so that we can find the best companies to recommend to our readers. PayPal Zettle made the cut.
Learn More
"*" indicates required fields
