Rent, don't lease
Almost every business that changes payment provider ends up with new terminals. How you pay for them matters more than which model you pick. We recommend month to month rental, and we do not recommend third party leases. This page explains why.
- Newest hardware, no capital up front
- Swap or upgrade when your business changes
- Quoted in writing, no lease term, no buyout
Why we recommend month to month rental
Think of a payment terminal the way you think of a phone. After two to four years it is banged up, the software has moved on and there are better models. A delivery company does not keep running trucks that break down on the route, and your terminals are the same: they are the equipment that takes the money.
Month to month rental keeps you on the newest hardware with no capital up front. When a unit is tired, it is replaced. When a better model arrives, you can move to it.
It also leaves you free to change. Two years in, the business is different: a second location opens, the patio needs portables, a new point of sale wants different terminals. Five terminals on a four year lease do not change with you. Five rented terminals do. We swap them.
Why we do not recommend third party leases
A terminal lease is a finance agreement with a company you did not choose and will rarely speak to. The terms tend to follow a pattern. The total paid over the lease is often two to three times what the terminal is worth. The term, commonly 48 months, outlives the useful life of the device. Most leases carry a buyout at the end, often around ten percent of the lease total, and keep billing every month past the term until you return the device or complete the buyout.
Because the lessor is a third party finance company, it is hard to reach, so many merchants keep paying long after the term has ended. Leases also pay the selling agent a commission, which is why they get pushed.
For a $1,000 terminal, that is $2,400 paid over the term, before any buyout and before any month billed past the end date. If you truly want to own your terminals, buy them outright at the start.
Illustrative example. Read your own agreement for the actual figures.
What you get with Kubera
Month to month rental, quoted in writing. The rental for each terminal is set out before anything is ordered, alongside the merchant agreement it sits behind. No lease term, no buyout, no finance company in the middle.
Hardware programmed to your account. Terminals are programmed to deposit into your merchant account, and processors do not allow a terminal to be reprogrammed casually, for security. That is why new hardware is the normal case when you change provider, and why we treat it as the upgrade it is.
Upgrade or swap at any time. A tired unit is replaced. A new counter, a patio or a new point of sale is met with the right terminals, not the ones you are still paying off.
Support from the team that deployed it. The people who programmed and installed your terminals are the people who support them.
Common questions
Is renting more expensive than leasing?
Not always, month to month. A rental line can sit close to a lease line. What rental avoids is the term, the buyout and the lock in: you are not committed for 48 months, there is no buyout at the end, and billing stops when the terminal goes back. The rental is quoted in writing so you can put the two side by side.
Can we buy our terminals instead?
Yes. If you want to own your terminals, buy them outright at the start and we will quote that alongside the rental. Keep in mind that a terminal dates in two to four years, so ownership makes the most sense when your setup is stable and you are happy to replace the units yourself when the time comes.
What happens to our existing lease?
We cannot cancel a third party lease for you. The agreement is between your business and the leasing company. What we can do is read it with you, find the term, the buyout and the return conditions, and plan the timing of the new deployment around them.
Do rentals include support?
Yes. Support comes from the Kubera team that did the deployment, the people who programmed, installed and trained your staff on the terminals. Swaps and upgrades run through the same team.
A recommended payments partner of the BC Chamber of Commerce
Start with an exploratory call
Tell us what you run today, how many terminals you have and what the current agreement looks like. A short call is enough to tell whether month to month rental is the right fit, and what the timing should be if a lease is still running.
Prefer to start with numbers? Send us a recent statement.
Built for businesses that expect more from their payment systems.