Questions, answered plainly

Yes — two ways. Open the live demo in your browser (no account, no card) and ring up a real sale. Or download the free Windows app and run it in your store; you only pay when you subscribe a till. Try before you commit, always.

Four short steps: subscribe, download the free Windows app, paste the one licence key you receive at checkout into Settings → Subscription, and run the setup wizard. The wizard asks for your province, tax rate and printer, then you're ringing up sales — no rep visit and nothing to schedule. There's a step-by-step walkthrough in the Help guide.

No. If you can install an app on a Windows PC, you can set up Estura. The wizard handles the fiddly parts — it sets your timezone and taxes from the province you pick and helps you set up your receipt printer. If you get stuck, email [email protected] and we'll walk you through it.

Yes. Pick how many tills you need at checkout — one Estura account covers all of them, and each till runs fully offline on its own PC. The more lanes you run, the less each till costs. See pricing for the details.

In most cases, yes. You can import your existing product list from a spreadsheet (CSV) during setup. If you'd like a hand mapping your columns across cleanly, email [email protected] and we'll help you bring it in.

Updates are free and included, and Estura checks for them on its own. When a new version is ready you're prompted to install it — it takes a few seconds and your data stays exactly where it is. You're never forced to update in the middle of a shift, and updates never cost extra.

Yes. Flag any product as age-restricted and the till stops the cashier to confirm the customer's age before the sale can finish — every time, on tobacco, vapes and anything else you mark.

Yes. Sell scratch tickets like any other product, and record lottery payouts as tracked payout items straight from the drawer, so your cash count and reports stay right. (There's no separate lottery-terminal integration — you ring sales and pay out winners through Estura.)

Yes. Pick your province during setup and Estura applies the right GST, HST or PST automatically, with tax broken out on receipts and in your reports for remittance. Estura is built for Canada only.

A Windows PC and a barcode scanner are enough to open your first sale. Add a receipt printer and cash drawer when you want printed receipts and a till, and a second monitor if you'd like a customer-facing display. You can start lean and add pieces later — nothing is locked behind a bundle. See the full hardware list for supported printers, drawers and scanners.

Most likely, yes. Any standard USB HID (keyboard-mode) barcode scanner works out of the box, and Estura prints to Epson and Star receipt printers with a cash drawer wired through the printer. Not sure yours is compatible? Email [email protected] and we'll check.

Clover's own devices (their terminals, printers and stations) are locked to Clover, so those don't carry over. The good news: you keep your card processor, and everyday gear works — any USB HID barcode scanner, an Epson or Star receipt printer, a cash drawer, and the Windows PC you already have. Not sure about a specific piece? Email [email protected].

Estura is a Windows app today and runs well on an inexpensive Windows PC — you don't need anything powerful. There's no Mac version at the moment. If that's a blocker for you, drop us a line at [email protected] so we can weigh it up.

The parts that ring up sales run entirely on the till, so every sale, receipt and drawer-open works with the internet down. A short-lived pass keeps the till licensed offline and re-checks your subscription in the background whenever you're connected — only a full 30 days offline would pause new sales. (Extras like the phone companion do need internet.)

Nothing changes — you keep selling. Because everything runs locally, an outage is invisible at the counter. The only things that need a connection are the extras, like checking your store from your phone or re-verifying your subscription, and those simply resume when the connection is back.

No. Every sale is written to the till the moment it's completed, so a power cut or a crash can't lose a finished sale. When the machine comes back on, your data is right where you left it.

Yes — automatic encrypted backups on the till, and you can set an off-site copy to a cloud folder (OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive) or a USB drive you choose, so a dead drive doesn't cost you your store. Export your own copy anytime (see Data & privacy), and if Estura ever detects a damaged file at start-up it fails safe rather than risk your records.

Yes. Keep the card machine you already have — ring the card total through Estura and take the payment on your own terminal. If you'd like the card amount to flow into Estura automatically, Stripe Terminal now connects directly (optional). You're never locked into one payment company or forced to switch banks.

Never. Estura is a flat monthly subscription per till — we don't touch your sales and we don't take a percentage. Your card processing stays entirely between you and your own provider.

However they already do — cash, card on your own terminal, and on-account house tabs for trusted regulars, with split payments when a customer pays part cash and part card. Estura records the tender and prints the receipt; you keep the processor you like. Refunds and voids are handled in cash — a card refund is done on your own card machine, the same way you take a card payment.

Yes, unquestionably. Your products, sales and customer records live on your own till and belong to you. We don't sell your data, and cancelling never holds it hostage.

Yes. You can export your product list and reporting to standard spreadsheet files (CSV) whenever you like — for your accountant, your own records, or to take elsewhere. Your data is never trapped inside Estura.

On the till itself, on your own machine — not on our servers. That's what lets Estura run fully offline, and it means your day-to-day store data never leaves the counter unless you choose to export it.

Yes. Backups are encrypted, and sensitive settings and overrides sit behind manager permissions. Because your data stays on your own hardware, you stay in control of who can see it. You can read the full details on our Privacy Policy.

A flat $94.99 CAD per month, per till — every feature included, with no setup fees and no per-feature upsells. Save 10% paying annually, and up to 20% per till across multiple lanes. See the full breakdown on the pricing page.

No contract and no lock-in. Estura is month-to-month, so you're free to cancel any time — nothing to sign and no minimum term.

You can cancel whenever you like and keep access through the end of the period you've already paid for — fees are billed in advance and aren't pro-rated or refunded. If you think you were charged in error, email [email protected] and we'll look into it — we handle every case personally and fairly.

Your register keeps selling. Estura's 30-day offline grace means a lapsed or failed payment never freezes the till mid-shift — you'll get a gentle reminder and plenty of time to update your card before anything changes.

You get it the moment you subscribe. Checkout takes you straight to your activation page with your key ready to paste into Estura under Settings → Subscription — no waiting on a callback or an email. It verifies offline in a moment.

No problem. Reopen the activation page from your original confirmation link, or email [email protected] from the address you signed up with and we'll re-send your details. Losing the key never means losing your store or your data.

Email [email protected] and a real person will help — no phone trees, no ticket runaround. You can also browse the Help guide for setup walkthroughs, or use the contact page. We're a small Canadian company and we answer our own mail.

Absolutely. The setup wizard gets most stores going on their own, but if you'd like a hand with your printer, taxes or importing products, just email [email protected]. We'll get you selling.