WAPPoint Card Machine Review (2026): Rent, or Buy?

WAPPoint suits a business that doesn't want to pay for a card machine before it knows cards will work. You can rent a machine for R200 upfront and stop paying the rental in months your card sales pass a set amount, buy one, or take one for a single event. And after 25 years in card payments, it still does something most card machine companies have moved away from. It gives you real people to talk to.

In this review I'll help you work out which of WAPPoint's four machines fits your business, and whether to rent it or buy it. For most of you, that comes down to how much you take on card each month.

Who WAPPoint are, and what they offer

WAPPoint is a South African card machine company, and it signs you up the way a smaller company can. You email your documents, a person does the onboarding for you, and the machine arrives within 24 to 72 hours. It pays into any bank account, so you don't have to move banks to use it.

The support is the best part. There's no call centre. You get real people and a dedicated account manager, whatever the size of your business, and 24/7 technical support on 021 3000 121. So if your machine stops working on a busy Saturday morning, an agent can log into it remotely and fix it while you carry on serving.

You're also not stuck with your first choice. You can rent, let the rental fall away once your sales are high enough, or buy the machine instead. You can change machines as the business grows, and if the one you chose doesn't work for you, you can return it within 30 days for a full refund or a swap.

Every machine comes with POS Lite at R0 a month, WAPPoint's till software. When you need more, its full point of sale handles invoices, recipes, several branches, loyalty rewards and Xero, quoted for your business, along with till screens, scanners, cash drawers and printers.

The PrintPOS and TabletPOS can also sell airtime, data, electricity, water and bill payments through the R50 a month VAS app. You earn a commission on each of those sales, and it brings more people to your counter, because parents will always send the kids to the nearest shop that has it.

The verdict, and what it rests on

My verdict is on the SquarePOS RX, because it's the cheapest to rent and the first to go rental-free, so it's where most of you will start.

The 4.9 for getting started comes straight from the prices. For R200 you have a card machine on your counter without buying one, and a person handles your onboarding.

The 4.6 for support is earned. A dedicated account manager, a 24/7 phone line and a technician who can fix your machine remotely are what a small business needs on the day something stops working, and a one-person shop gets the same as a business many times its size.

The hardware score rests on the insurance. At R50 a month it covers theft, loss and accidental damage, so if your machine is stolen or damaged, you get a replacement instead of paying for a new one.

Payout is where it scores lowest, at 3.4. WAPPoint pays out within 1-2 business days, five days a week, so if Saturday's your busiest day, that money reaches you on Monday or Tuesday. The six-day plan adds Saturday payouts for 0.2% of what you take.

Buying a machine comes with no fixed contract at all. A rental does have a term. WAPPoint says it doesn't lock you into anything long or rigid, but the length is in your agreement rather than on the pricing page, so the checklist further down includes it.

The four machines, and where each rental stops

Four machines take you from a tap-only reader to a full tablet point of sale, so you can move up without changing company. They all charge the same transaction fees. What changes is the monthly rental, the turnover at which it stops, and whether the machine prints.

Would you rather own it? WAPPoint sells its machines too, with no fixed contract and no minimum turnover. The SquarePOS RX is R3 199 with a one-year warranty, and the range goes up to R7 999 for the TabletPOS T2. A SIM is optional at R50 a month, or you can run it on your Wi-Fi.

Switching? WAPPoint will match or beat your fees

If you already take cards with another company, WAPPoint will look at your latest merchant statement and match or beat the fees you pay now, with no obligation. It puts the average saving at R5 000 a year.

What it looks at is your merchant discount rateMerchant discount rateThe full percentage your provider keeps from each card sale, interchange and scheme fees included. It's the number on your statement, and the one to bring when you ask a company to beat it.On a R500 saleAt 2.75% excluding VAT the provider keeps R13.75. Part of that is the card scheme's and the bank's, and the rest is what a company like WAPPoint can lower to win your business.Read the full definition, the full percentage your current provider keeps.

So when you ask, send the statement itself rather than the fee you remember from signing up. Then get the matched fee in writing before you move, so it's part of your agreement.

What a year costs

The monthly rental only tells you part of the story, so the table below totals twelve months on the SquarePOS RX at R10 000, R20 000 and R40 000 a month, from WAPPoint's own prices. Look at the middle column. At R20 000 a month you're past the threshold, so the R2 268 a year in rental you'd pay at R10 000 simply isn't there.

At R20 000 a month, the whole year comes to about R7 400, and R6 600 of that is the transaction fee you'd pay on any card machine. Renting adds R800, which is the R200 setup and R600 of insurance, and that insurance means a stolen or damaged machine is replaced.

In a month under R15 000 you pay the R189 rental as well. That's what it costs to start without buying a machine, and again, it stops in any month you pass the threshold. Renting stays the cheaper option for about the first year. If you expect to stay under R15 000 for longer than that, buying the SquarePOS RX at R3 199 works out cheaper: from about 13 months on Wi-Fi, or about 16 months if you add WAPPoint's R50-a-month SIM.

Which businesses WAPPoint suits best

WAPPoint sorts its own machines by type of business, and its labels are a fair guide, so start with the one that sounds like yours.

Anyone who hasn't taken a card payment yet. For R200 and a few weeks of trading, you'll know whether cards are worth it for your business. And if the machine doesn't suit you, you've got 30 days to send it back for a refund or a swap.

Market traders, mobile retailers and service businesses. WAPPoint aims the SquarePOS RX and MiniPOS at you. They're small, run on Vodacom or MTN as well as Wi-Fi, have a battery that lasts a trading day, and go rental-free sooner than the bigger machines.

Events and short-term trading. You can rent a machine for a single event, a festival or an exhibition, and hand it back when it ends.

Restaurants, bottle stores and high-volume retail. The PrintPOS prints receipts, takes chip, swipe and tap, runs about 36 hours on a charge, and stops charging rental at R45 000 a month. It can also run the R50 VAS app, so you can sell airtime and electricity as well.

WAPPoint PrintPOS

The machine for a counter where customers expect a printed slip. Its battery gets you through a long trading day without a charge.

R299/mo

See the PrintPOS

Businesses switching from another provider. With your fees matched or beaten, you'd pay no more in fees than you do now and gain the support, the insurance and the flexibility on top.

A growing business with more than one site. The TabletPOS gives you a full point of sale, and WAPPoint's merchant portal lets you reconcile payouts and manage several businesses from one login.

So should you rent from WAPPoint?

If what's held you back is spending R3 199 on a machine before you know cards will work for you, WAPPoint lets you start with R200 upfront, and there's someone to call if anything goes wrong.

Rent it if you want to start without paying for a machine, or if your business already takes more than R15 000 a month on card, because then you're paying R50 a month for an insured machine.

Rent it if you're switching. Send WAPPoint your latest statement before you decide. The offer comes with no obligation, and it puts a real number in front of you.

And if you'd rather own a machine from day one, you can buy the SquarePOS RX for R3 199, or compare every buying option in our list of the best card machines.

Our pick

Businesses that want to start taking cards without paying for a machine upfront, and anyone switching who'd like their current fees matched or beaten.

WAPPoint SquarePOS RX

R189/month rental

R200 setup, from R189/mo rental and R50 insurance, rental free above R15 000/mo (checked 26 September 2026)

See WAPPoint's pricing Price checked 24 Sep 2026

Questions people ask about WAPPoint