Processing Payments: What type of card equipment should I use?

When the time comes for any business to open a merchant account to process credit card payments, it is very important to decide what type of credit card equipment will be needed. In today's economy, several different methods exist for merchants to accept payments from their customers. Depending on the type of business, and how it interacts with its customers will go a long way in determining what type of terminal is required. Here we will briefly describe the different methods for accepting credit cards from your customers.

If the business is new to accepting credit cards as payment from their customers, a low cost entry for a merchant account is by using IVR or Interactive Voice Response. This is a service where the merchant will use the phone to call in authorizations for their customer's payments. There is no card equipment used in this scenario, just the phone. Any business who is unsure about how many transactions will be processed is a good candidate for the IVR service. Only credit cards can be processed using IVR, there is no capability to process debit card transactions. This service is the entry point for most new merchants, and is a good way to get started accepting credit cards as payments.

A step above the IVR service is a standard credit card terminal that would be attached to a phone line or internet connection. This type of card equipment is most prevalent in today's business environments. It allows the business to process payments when the card is present, or also be able to take phone orders from customers and manually key them into the card equipment. Every merchant processing company offers different types of terminals from various manufacturers. Some of the more popular brands include Verifone, Ingenico, and Hyperion.

Some businesses require that the credit card equipment not be attached to a phone line or internet connection, but rather be used throughout the businesses' premise. In this type of scenario, such as a restaurant, café or medical office, the credit card equipment can process the transaction right at the customer's table or in their examining room. The benefit of being able to process transactions in this manner is that the credit card never leaves the sight of the card holder, and is much more secure. Using a short range wireless terminal requires the business to have a functioning WiFi network within the business. Something to consider when thinking about using a short range wireless terminal is the additional costs involved in setting up the WiFi network as well as the cost of the terminal itself.

Some businesses operate in a card not present type of environment. These would be considered as "mobile" businesses, where payments need to be processed outside of the business premise, and at the customer site. In this instance, the type of equipment used would be a long range wireless terminal. Basically, a long range wireless terminal uses cellular networks to process the transaction. Before deciding if the card equipment necessary for the business is a long range wireless terminal, it is important to take the costs involved into consideration. Typically, this type of terminal is the most expensiveto use, and therefore the business must be processing a good amount of transactions to warrant this type of device. Not only is the terminal itself expensive, the cost for airtime to process the transactions can be expensive as well.

As you can see, the credit card equipment for processing payments is very diverse, both in terms of cost and capability. When a business decides to start accepting credit and debit cards as payment, it is also necessary to determine how they will accept these payments. Depending on how the business operates will go a long way in deciding what type of credit card terminal will be used.