What is an FFL POS Integration?
There are two essential management software applications required to run an firearms-related retail business – retail FFL POS software and A&D compliance software. Your FFL POS system allows you to ring up sales, take payments, manage inventory, and price items. Your A&D compliance software is used to ensure that your FFL complies with ATF requirements for the sale and handling of regulated items. Both are important.
The key is how these two FFL systems work together. The lack of any integration between the FFL POS system and the A&D compliance software can create workflows that require double entering of data, resulting in bottlenecks receiving regulated items into inventory or selling regulated items at the register. This could slow the check-out process and negatively impact the customer experience.
Importance of an FFL POS Integration
Some sort of an FFL compliance procedures or system is critical to ensure ATF compliance. These systems document A&D process for firearms and help ensure that your customers properly fill out 4473s when purchasing a firearm. Failure to do this will lead to a compliance violation. For many smaller gun stores, A&D compliance is maintained manually through a paper bound book. Larger gun stores generally use an electronic A&D compliance system. The best electronic FFL compliance software contains built-in checks and business rules that will help you maintain accurate and ATF compliant A&D records for your regulated items.
POS systems help you run your firearm business, so it’s important to be able to have a POS system that can manage your inventory, help you generate sales revenue and keep track of financial performance. Some smaller FFLs decide to go without an FFL POS system and instead use just a payment terminal and spreadsheet such as Excel to keep track of sales and inventory. But as you grow, you will need a proper FFL POS system.
Not all gun stores integrate their retail management and compliances systems. With paper-based bound books, there is no integration between the FFL POS system and the A&D paper bound book. Some firearm stores using an electronic A&D system choose not to integrate their FFL POS system with their A&D compliance software due to mostly unfounded concerns about security or access to the data. Additionally, many gun stores use a general POS system that does not offer integration with their chosen A&D compliance software.
For firearm businesses without an FFL POS integration, they are missing out on the opportunity to streamline operations. The main purpose of this integration is to simplify and streamline firearms transactions by not requiring information to be double entered into two systems. This will help to ensure that data is transferred between the systems accurately and completely – which will better ensure ATF compliance.
How does an FFL POS System Integrate with an A&D Compliance System?
An FFL POS integration can create a persistent and reliable integration between your electronic A&D and 4473 software and your FFL point of sale system. Modern software systems have a set of ‘plugs’ that allow it easier to integrate with other 3rd party software applications. This is called an Application Programming Interface (API). This interface allows the two systems to exchange secret keys that allow the two systems to connect securely and manage the sharing and exchanging of data between the software systems. To do this, both systems must have their own APIs using standards published by the connected systems or agree to cooperate with each other.
While this is technically how it happens, the important thing to remember is that if both your FFL POS software and your electronic A&D compliance software have API’s and both sides state that there is an ‘integration’, the connection between the two should be stable and secure.
When is an FFL POS Integration Helpful?
There are two types of transactions in a gun store where an FFL POS integration is most helpful.
- Acquisition – When you acquire a new firearm, you will want to record the details of the firearm in two places. The first is in the FFL POS system used to run the retail operations at your gun store. This will allow you to sell and track inventory of the item. The other is in your electronic A&D compliance software. The challenge is that the A&D compliance software needs to record some information per ATF requirements that is generally not relevant to a POS transaction (manufacturer, caliber, length) while the POS system needs information not relevant to the electronic A&D compliance software (sales price, discounts). A FFL POS integration sends the required information to both systems without any need for double entry.
- Disposition – When a firearm is sold at a store in an POS transaction, it must also be disposed of in the electronic A&D compliance software. When a sale is started in the FFL POS system, the integration will automatically notify A&D compliance software that the specific firearm is being sold (usually based on the serial number of the gun) and start a 4473 process.
Once the sale information is transferred to the A&D compliance system through the FFL POS integration – the A&D compliance software takes over. The A&D compliance software may use a separate computer or tablet to manage the 4473 process, including the collection of digital signatures and safely and securely storing the data in some sort of cloud-based storage. The A&D compliance software may also split up the tasks – the buyer can fill out the sections of the form required for buyers on a tablet, while at the same time a retailer can run a background check on the main computer.
What Are the Benefits of an FFL POS Integration?
There are several benefits of an FFL POS integration. First, it ensures that the data entered into your FFL POS system matches with the data entered in your A&D compliance software. Without the integration, serial numbers and model numbers need to be manually entered in two separate systems. A typo during one of those entries will cause your two systems not to match.
Second, it will streamline your A&D processes. With an FFL POS integration, the data transfers automatically, saving you time from manually entering data in two systems. The required paperwork and administrative tasks at an FFL can be very time-consuming. An FFL POS integration can greatly simplify the administrative requirements of selling a firearm, freeing you to focus on more productive activities.
Third, it will improve the quality of your compliance. Failing to maintain complete A&D records and improperly filling out 4473s are two of the top reasons for ATF violations. The business rules included in FFL POS software and A&D compliance software will decrease the likelihood of a form being filled out improperly.
Is Your Software Developer a ATF Compliance Specialist or a POS Software Expert?
The top A&D compliance software applications ensure the absolute highest level of ATF compliance. The makers of these ATF compliance platforms have to stay up-to-date with the latest laws and regulations and make sure that their A&D compliance applications can process A&D transactions while keeping everything 100% compliant. When you subscribe to an A&D compliance software application, you need to be able to trust your system and be able to process A&D transactions without having to double-check everything manually.
Similarly, a quality point of sale can make your store run smoother. You need to be able to purchase items from your vendor, track inventory and price your items so that you can generate profits. There are all sorts of sales discounts, returns, exchanges, transfers, and other transactions that need to be quickly and efficiently managed. Poorly designed or buggy POS systems can cost you time and money by losing sales or inventory data, cause you to work inefficiently or not provide the data or features to profitability run your business.
Be sure that your FFL POS software developer is not a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ by trying to develop and ‘own’ both the POS and A&D compliance technology. Or avoid FFL POS systems that are based on a POS system not owner be the party selling the software. Several well know FFL POS software companies ‘rebrand’ or ‘white label’ a general POS software owned and developed by a third party. This means that they do not own the core IP and have less control over the development roadmap, bug fixes and overall service quality of the software.
The best strategy for FFLs is to find the best POS system for your gun store and then integrate it with the best A&D compliance software for your A&D activities. An example of this would be the integration of MicroBiz POS for Firearms and the FastBound A&D compliance software.
In Summary – What to Look for in a FFL POS Integration
A good integration between your FFL POS software and your electronic A&D system can benefit you in the following:
- Streamlines the checkout process.
- Saves you time and reduces paperwork.
- Helps keep your business fully ATF compliant.
- Product records are kept in two systems, offering redundancy.
When looking at an FFL POS integration, the first step is to decide whether you want to go with a ‘best of breed’ electronic bound book such as FastBound or Gun Store Master, or go with a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ POS vendor. Choosing the best POS system and the best electronic compliance system for your store will provide you with the best overall system and ensure that your POS FFL integration will grow with your business.