We looked at five POS systems commonly used by US vape retailers: Square, Lightspeed Retail, Cova, Shopify POS, and Clover. We judged them on the following criteria:

• Age verification: Built-in ID scanning or easy integration with third-party age check tools.
• Inventory management: Handling of variants (flavors, nicotine strengths), real-time stock levels, and low-stock alerts.
• Compliance features: Reporting for age-restricted sales, tax calculation, and audit logs.
• Ease of use: How quickly your staff can learn and use it during peak hours.
• Pricing: Monthly fees, transaction rates, and hardware costs.

We didn't just read the marketing pages—we dug into user reviews, forum discussions, and talked to shop owners to see what actually works.