point of sale

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌpɔɪnt əv ˈseɪl/
• Homophone: point of sail

Noun

point of sale (plural points of sale)

1. (retail) The location at which payment for goods is made in an establishment that sells goods or services.

   Synonyms: POS (initialism), point of service

   Near-synonym: point of purchase

   • 2011, Jay A. Gertzman, Bookleggers and Smuthounds: The Trade in Erotica, 1920-1940:

     His trenchant criticisms of the Church's repression […] include a discussion of the considerable 1938 success of the fledgling NODL in getting magazines removed from various points of sale.

   • 2024 March 6, Dr Joseph Brennan, “England's booking offices of distinction”, in RAIL, number 1004, page 56:

     Traditionally, 'ticket office' seems to have been the preferred term in America, with Britain using the term 'booking office' (as an 1881 edition of The Railway Age Monthly and Railway Service Magazine explains). Today, the two are often used interchangeably (as the recent 'Save our ticket offices' campaign shows), with the term 'ticketing' perhaps capturing more of the point-of-sale transaction and issuing of tickets within stations.

Related terms

• salespoint

Translations

location at which payment for goods is made

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 銷售點／销售点 (zh) (xiāoshòudiǎn)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: myyntipiste (fi), kassa (fi)
• French: point de vente (fr) m, caisse (fr) f
• German: Kasse (de) f
• Hungarian: (formal) árusítóhely (hu), eladási hely, eladás helye, értékesítési pont, vételi hely, (informal) kassza (hu)
• Italian: cassa (it) f
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: ка́сса (ru) f (kássa)
• Spanish: terminal punto de venta m
• Swedish: kassa (sv) c
• Welsh: pwynt talu m

establishment that sells goods or services

• French: point de vente (fr) m
• German: Verkaufsplatz m, Verkaufsort m, Verkaufsstelle (de) f
• Hungarian: (shop/store) üzlet (hu)

See also

• cash on the barrelhead
• cash register
• cash wrap
• checkout
• checkout counter
• checkstand
• POS

 

Further reading

• “point of sale”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “point of sale”, in Collins English Dictionary.