Merchant Account Credit Card

Physical Business

You Need A Credit Card Processing Terminal For Your Physical Business

If you have a smart phone, then you already have a
credit card processing terminal. Watch the video here.

If you own a physical business where you sell things face-to-face with a customer in a retail store, then you need a credit card processing terminal to collect information from your customer's card.

What takes place is really quite simple. The clerk will swipe the customer's card, and enter the amount of the sale. In a very short time, the terminal will print an authorization code on the sales slip, which is then signed by the customer. That's it!

What is going on behind the scenes is also simple. The credit card swipe machine is connected to an online computer in the store. The software that processes the information sends it directly to the bank. The bank's clearinghouse then takes care of authorizing the card, and transmits the authorization code back to the computer in the store. The clearinghouse will also debit the customer's card, and transfer the money to the store's merchant account.

What you need in order to process credit cards

• Merchant account - This is a business account at a bank that has agreed to accept credit cards from your store. You will usually have no difficulty getting such an account at your local bank, since fraud involving point-of-sale processing is not as prevalent as with card-not-present accounts.
  
  
• Point-of-sale equipment - The credit card POS swipe machine and the software for the computer in your store can either be purchased or leased.

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Some features available for your credit card processing terminal

• A built-in printer, to print a receipt for the customer.
  
  
• Ability to process debit cards, and to verify checks.
  
  
• Integration with your computer, which will allow you to automate your accounting, and perhaps to control inventory.
  
  
• Ability to allow you to process installment payments.
  
  
• Optional battery operation, to let you swipe cards and print receipts when you're not online. You can then process the transaction when you are again connected to the internet. This feature is very useful if you need to make sales outside of your physical business, such as at a trade show.

Credit card processing terminals have come a long way since the pre-internet days of the old "knuckle-busters", where you took an impression of the customer's card, filled in the amount of the sale by hand, and then deposited a copy of the receipt at your bank. These ancient machines can still be purchased for around $40. Modern battery-operated wireless card swipers cost up to $600. They can usually be rented on a lease-to-own basis.

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Janyce

Posted 537 days ago

Computers sure have simplified a lot of things, and here's another example. Having an electronic swipe machine hooked up to your computer makes it a lot easier than it was in the old days. You don't even need to write anything down any more - it's all done by the computer!

Francie

Posted 621 days ago

I remember those old "knuckle-busters" well. Back when I owned a small business, I used to use them every day. The part I loved was taking the carbon copies to the bank and depositing them. Visa and Master Card slips were just as good as cash.

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