Digital Dining Training and Technology Show

Coming soon we will release the date for our upcoming FREE Digital Dining training. This will be the largest FREE training event we have ever held. Also at the event we will be showcasing new technology for the restaurant industry! Details following soon check at National Business Systems Inc

Credit Card Security With POS and Cash Registers

Interfacing Cash Registers and Point of Sale systems with Credit Card payments is very popular in today's stores and restaurants. There are various reasons for interfacing that I think outweigh not interfacing because so much is gained. However it also opens up some areas of concern that must be addressed by the business owner. Those areas of concern are Credit Card Data Theft due to hacking from outside, and data theft from inside your business. Some theft is just about impossible to stop, however most of those cases are going to be isolated and have nothing to due with integrated or non-integrated Cash Register and POS systems. Those cases include servers or cashiers using skimmers to collect and sell credit card information. Skimming happens all the time in every State and every type of business although restaurants are the primary target of this crime. check out this article about a recent skimming arrest in the Nations Capital

The biggest concern that should be addressed is the possibility of someone hacking into your system and stealing credit card data through your connection to the Internet. Often times the theft can be taking place over months right under your nose! Sometime the theft was initiated from someone on the inside sometimes from a hacker from the outside.

Take steps now to protect yourself. First use only a PCI compliant POS system or Cash Register, second have a firewall installed, third become familiar with the PCI rules and strive to make your business compliant. One large breech of credit card data could cost your your entire business! Please check out this video of a real life restaurant owner who became a victim

Contact us today to see how we can enable your business to become PCI compliant! We offer a managed firewall service combined with PCI Compliance help service called Vendor Safe.

New Sales Tax Rates for Seattle Tacoma Area

So please be aware that as of April 1, 2009 most of if not all of Washington State increased the sales tax amount. Our sales tax here in Kent on retail goods went to 9.5%

The State does not care that your cash register or POS system is not collecting enough sales tax as they compute the sales tax owed to the state on sales, not how much your POS or Cash Register reports that it collected.

Many users can change the tax rate themselves however if you are not one of those you can contact us for help. There is a fee for the service unless you have a full maintenance agreement with us. We can help with Sharp Cash Registers, SAM4s Cash Registers, Digital Dining POS , Keystroke POS, Microsoft POS, Microsoft RMS, some Casio Cash Registers and some TEC cash registers.

To find your rate check with the Revenue Dept. of the State of Washington

POS and Credit Card Security

So here in Seattle just like everywhere in the country Credit Card Security is becoming more of a burden because of the increasing theft of credit card data. In national stats that I have seen 70% of the card theft that occurs in the retail sector comes from the restaurant industry. Most of this appears to come from the inside but also from computer hackers getting into POS systems. So you must take steps today to protect yourself. Why you may ask? The credit card companies take care of that right? NO THEY DON'T. They way they take care of that is making business owners who do not take enough steps to protect card holder information to pay for the damages resulting in the theft of cards from your business. So lets say a hacker or rouge employee steals 100 card numbers from your business, those 100 cards are used to buy $500.00 each of merchandise you just got on the hook for 50K plus the replacement fee of the cards at $25.00 each so another $2500.00 the Visa MasterCard is going to fine you! Yes that is right, you are responsible for this, you agreed when you signed your merchant agreement!

So National Business Systems is offering protection for our customers through the services of The VendorSafe System. The VendorSafe system enables compliance with Visa MasterCard PCI regulations. No one thing can protect you are make your PCI compliant. It is a multi faceted problem requiring a comprehensive solution.

If you are using a POS System in the Seattle Tacoma area contact us to see how VendorSafe can work for you. National Business System can deploy the VendorSafe solution on almost any POS system even if we did not supply it to you.

NBS at the Sysco Food Service Show

Tuesday March 24, 2009 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM we will be at the "Good Things Come from Sysco" as one of their iCare Vendors. You need to be a Sysco customer to attend the show. You can find more info on Sysco here

If you are a Sysco customer you are eligible for special discounts on POS, Cash Registers, and DVR Security systems from us. Contact us and let us know you are a Sysco customer and we will hook you up!

Free POS System Training in Seattle

When you buy a POS system from National Business Systems, Inc. you get a long term commitment from us supporting your system. No system is worth a dime if you don't know how to use it, and we know we will get more referrals from customers who are getting the most from their POS system.

So that does not mean we can offer free unlimited training, but we do offer 3 to 4 free classes per year as well as low cost options available any time of the year.

Our next free class on the Keystroke POS system is coming up February 24 at our office located in Kent Wa. The class is offered for free to our customers and is first come first served. Follow this link to sign up for our newsletter and receive notice of our next for Free POS System Training in the Seattle Tacoma Area.

We also offer free classes for our Touch Screen system for restaurants called Digital Dining. Three to four classes a year are offered every year for our customers for free to learn how to get more from their investment.

Tax Rates for Cash Registers and POS Systems in Seattle

So in King County Washington we have several different sales tax rates that can affect a business. In Seattle and Bellevue and other parts of King County we have a tax rate on prepared food that is higher then our regular sales tax on retail goods. How can this effect your business? Well lets say you are a restaurant or bar that also sells shirts or hats, or maybe cooking equipment, recipe book, etc. your prepared food would be one rate, and your retail goods would be a different rate. I'm not going to mention the rates as I would rather have you check with the county and state! I can just tell you from our experience in the Cash Register and POS systems in Seattle that there are multiple rates!

Also if you are a retail outlet that also have a little deli or snack bar you would need to pay attention to this as well. Lets say you are a c-store selling cigs and beer that are taxable but you also have a deli that sells jojos and chicken! Well I would bet that your jojo's and chicken will be taxed at a higher rate!

Check out sales tax rates with the State of Washington

Our business sells cash registers and point of sale system designed to handle the tax system in Seattle visit our site or give us a call 253-839-9636

Cash Register vs. Point of Sale Systems in Restaurants

So all Point of Sale (POS) systems evolved from old school Cash Registers. Cash Registers however did not go away although their market share of the industry is tiny compared to modern POS. In the Seattle Tacoma area we have installed many Touch Screen Cash Registers systems and computer based touch screen systems.

Which type of system is right for your restaurant? Well believe it or not there are more choices out there today in touch screen systems then just a few years ago including Cash Registers. Today's Cash Registers have grown up to include models with touch screens and hybrids with traditional cash register keyboards and touch screens.

Touch Screen Cash Registers cost about 25% to 50% less then the typical computer based POS system. And of course you will find they have 25% to 50% less features as well, but most establishes never use those features.

So here a list of the pros of a touch screen cash register

• Much cheaper in most cases.


• More reliable then a PC in most every case because they are ROM based not hard drive based, they do not have an operating system, they can not acquire a virus like a computer, and employees can't play video games or surf the web on them


• Very durable and reliable


• Long service life

OK, there are a few cons as well

• The reporting is not as robust as a computer based system. For example you can go deep into history and see what server sold the most in July vs. August. Those reports are there but the register won't sort or save them


• Not as many options to integrate or expand to like hand held POS, integrated reservations etc.


• Not open architecture hardware

Now here is the great thing about our company that you won't find elsewhere in another POS Cash Register Dealer in Washington State or the Seattle Tacoma Area. We sell both Computer Based Touch Screen Systems and Touch Screen Cash Register Systems. Our computer based touch screen system is Digital Dining and our register based system is the SPS-2000 and The Sharp UP-800 Series

POS Credit Card Security

OK, like everyone else you have probably seen the headlines and received the telemarketing calls about credit card security.

We not trying to add to the hysteria but it is real and we are all about to become way to familar with it. What does that mean for your point of sale system you may ask? Well it means you have to protect your data know more the ever before. Right here in the Seattle area they have arrested a server who was stealing large amounts of credit card numbers, police are still looking for the theives who stole thousands of credit card numbers at a gas station in Puyallup.

What can you do? Here are a few steps you can take.

• Make sure your POS system is PCI compliant and you are using an up to date version.
• Ensure you are using up to date Anti Virus and Spyware blocking software
• Use a firewall to prevent access to your computer.
• Control who uses your computers with log in and passwords
• Use an integrated POS system, not a stand alone credit card terminal. Why you might be asking yourself. Yes integrated is more complicated and requires more expensive hardware, however it makes it much harder for a server/cashier to re-run a card. Because integrated systems require a sale be registered first.
• Security systems recording what clerks and servers are doing are a huge deterrant. Interface your security system to your POS for more theft stopping power.
• Keep you records and computer locked!
• Watch you servers and cashiers from time to time. Watch what they do when they take a credit card. Do they dissapera for awhile. Do they carry anything strange around credit card transactions that look like a PDA or iPod? The reason to pay attenetion is because servers/cashiers have been caught right here in Washington State using credit card skimmers.

Give us a call or visit our site to find out more about POS and Cash Register and Integrated Credit Card in Seattle

Cash Registers in the Seattle Tacoma

Looking for a Cash Register in the Seattle Tacoma Area? Well look no further then NBS, Inc. We offer Cash Registers from Sharp, SAM4s, and Casio from our office in Kent Washington. We offer complete turnkey systems or in the box. Our Cash Register Systems can have Integrated Credit Card and Gift Card programs to help you make even more money.

And don't forget we offer DVR Security Systems that also interface to cash registers. We can help your business be secure from door to door.

Check out our Cash Registers in Seattle and Tacoma here

Restaurant Touch Screen Systems

We are one of the oldest companies in the Seattle Tacoma Area offering Touch Screen Systems for Restaurants. Our Primary offering is the industry leading system Digital Dining. The Digital Dining system is one of the most mature feature rich Restaurant Touch Screen System in the world. With over 100,000 installs Digital Dining is one of the major restaurant systems in the world.

National Business Systems has installed well over 100 Digital Dining Systems in the Seattle Tacoma Area. From Bell Town Seattle to 6th Street in Tacoma we have Digital Dining Systems installed in Family Restaurants, Quick Service Restaurants, Clubs, Bars, and cafeterias.

However don't worry if you don't have the budget for a full blown windows based touch screen system we also have ROM based touch screen cash registers like the SAM4s SPS-2000 and the Sharp UP-800 Series Touch Screen Based Cash Registers.

Check us out at Restaurant POS Systems in Washington State

POS in Seattle and Tacoma Area

Hi and welcome to my blog. I work at National Business Systems. We have been serving the Seattle Tacoma Area and most of Western Washington for over 30 years.

Unlike other we offer you a great range of choices in POS and Cash Registers. We know that not everyone can use the same system so we offer more then anyone else in Washington State.

We offer Point of Sale (POS) system for restaurants and retail stores. Our POS offerings include computer based touch screens as well as cash registers for those customers where POS is overkill.

We also offer integrated payments services to help make you more money. Credit Card, Private Label Gift Cards, and Customer Loyalty Programs can be integrated into many of our POS systems.

Thanks and please feel free to contact us when you are looking for a Cash Register or POS in Seattle or Tacoma