Point-of-sale is a commonly known and understood term: It’s a way for businesses to conduct retail sales. But there’s much more to a point-of-sale system, also called a POS system, than just ringing up prices and processing charges. There are options for businesses big and small, as well as technological integration that’s an important consideration of any system.

Take, for example, the hardware. Some POS systems need their own dedicated peripherals, while others are more of a plug-and-play variety. Some hardware systems you can buy, others you can lease. And you can also choose how to pay for the POS system transaction costs — either by a subscription-based agreement or a percentage of the sale.

The point of all these variations and opportunities is that you can choose what works for the nature of your business, be it seasonal and more cash flush at some times than others. This graphic helps explain it all.