It’s no secret that the credit card processing industry is evolving fast. From online credit card processing services to mobile credit card processing, new products and trends are transforming the way consumers pay for their purchases. One such trend is new tablet-based merchant account sales jobs point-of-sale (POS) systems. There has been an explosion in the number of new products in this area recently. Some interesting solutions include GoPago, ShopKeep, Leaf and NCR Silver. And more players are entering the arena practically every week.
Personally, I’m excited about their potential. They can provide many of the features of traditional POS systems at a small percentage of the price. Plus, they’re easier to install and use for small business owners. For approximately $1, 000 you can get a complete POS system, including the tablet, stand, money drawer, printer and barcode scanner. Yes, this is more expensive that a standard credit card terminal, but it’s far less expensive that a traditional POS system, which can set you back $20, 000 or more.
Retail credit card processing is done at retail stores that have machines designed to process the payments made with these pieces of plastic. A retail processing machine may be hooked up to accept only one or two types of credit cards, or they may be equipped to handle several different card types.
The stores that have retail credit card processing machines will have stickers up close to their machines that will identify the types of these cards they are willing to accept. Almost all retail credit card processing machines generally accept the Discover cards, the Visa cards, and the Master cards. American express is accepted at a lot of stores, but not as many as the other three big credit cards are. Some stores also have their own credit cards. Some store cards are only good for purchases made in the store and some are like a Visa or Master card that is good at any store. Most stores will give you a slight discount on the merchandise you are buying if you use one of their store cards to pay for your items.
Gas stations especially offer discounts to the customers that use their company credit cards. They often offer gasoline at cheaper prices per gallon to any customer using their cards. This incentive encourages people to use the card more frequently. The main differences in these machines are in the way they encrypt the information they are transmitting. There are three basic encryption types and different machines employ different versions of the encryption techniques. The encryption techniques separate the styles, but they also provide better security depending on the technique your device uses.
Most retailers pay the companies that provide them their processing equipment a percentage of each sale. This cost of service gets them the equipment, a repair contract, and a provisional contract that allows their devices to be upgraded as needed and to allow their devices stay within the legal regulatory code mandates.
Credit card processing software empowers you to provide a flexible mode of payment for your customers. By and large, more and more customers are switching to paying with cards. Accepting this type of payment can boost your sales by as much as a whopping 40%. Moreover, you can also get additional benefits from the tendency for customers to participate in impulsive buying, which is promoted by allowing credit card payments.
Read below to discover some of the basic facts you need to know about an efficient software program used for accepting and processing these flexible payments. Most of the credit card processing software systems can be easily upgraded through the Internet on a regular basis. This is one of the biggest advantages offered by these types of software programs, as they provide your customers with the latest technological features. When compared to the hardware used for this type of processing, the software used is highly efficient as it doesn’t become outdated as quickly and provides a true value for the money.
While investing in these types of programs, make sure to analyze its compatibility issues thoroughly. If your software is compatible with all of the leading operating systems like Windows, McIntosh, etc., its usability is enhanced drastically. Even if you have to switch from one operating system to another, you can still work with the same software without incorporating any substantial changes.
The main purpose of investing in this type of software is to provide your customers with the convenience of making payments with credit cards. However, if your processing software cannot process all major cards, it will turn out to be futile. Hence, before buying any of these types of software, make sure it can be used to process all of the major credit card types.