The financial world is increasingly getting much more accessible with the advent of technology. The advent of technology has revolutionized the financial sector such that more transactions in bigger volumes can be handled. In time past, all transactions involving transfers, payments, and withdrawals are only carried out in the bank, which is very much limited.
But technology is changing that, technology is making the financial sector much more accessible and easier to deal with as more volumes of transactions can be carried out easily.
Nowadays, we don’t need a bank any longer to carry out transfers, deposits, and withdrawals. The advent of credit card machines has made things so much easier and less stressful. Think about the stress one would have to go through to carry out transactions in the bank.
Faster transactions and professional business
Think about the number of hours you might potentially spend in the queue at the bank to pay. But things are changing for the better, nowadays, more businesses are increasingly making use of credit card machines to conduct business.
Using credit card machines for business has so many advantages.
Some of the advantages include:
☑ Faster transactions can be carried out with credit card machines
☑ Larger volumes of transactions can also be carried out
☑ Makes your business look much more professional looking like a 21st century business
☑ Reduces the risk and tendency for fraud.
Now that we have briefly examined some of the advantages of credit card machines for your business, let move further. This article aims to give you a balanced perspective and advice on the best payment terminal for your business. We will discuss the major brands involved and how you can get the best of deals.
Your choice will depend on several factors. Some factors should be considered if you want to get the best of deals. First, you need to consider the following…
The size of your business
The size of your business can significantly affect the choice of your credit card machine. Depending on the volume of transactions that takes place in your business, you might need a different type of machine.
For example, if your business handles a volume of transactions that is less than $5000, you might need a processor that charges a flat rate rather than a processor that charges annually or monthly. But if your business transaction volume handles more than $5000 per month, well you might want to consider a processor that charges monthly or annually.
Overall, for your choice whether the volume of transactions of your business is large or small, you should be aiming to get processors that have a transparent charge. Usually, processing charges for most processors range from $0.07 to about $0.35. Based on this we can consider and recommend some companies, they include:
✔ Square
✔ Merchant one
✔ Pro Merchant
✔ Clover
Budget
You can get terminals at various prices. Usually, they can range from between $200 to about $1000 depending on the features.
Features
Another thing to consider for your business in getting a credit card machine is the type of feature. Now, most credit card machines have slightly different features which can aid your selection because you would only choose based on selection. But basically, credit card machines are only known for accepting credit and debit cards.
Hardly would you find any device that can perform nonpayment functions, an example of such is inventory management. But you don’t really need to bother about that anyways. A card machine can majorly be used for cash processing which is enough for you.
Others can have other built-in functions like a pin pad that would allow pin transactions, so depending on what you want, you can select from many others. Many devices allow functions like the magstripe, allows features like the EMV chip, and NFC (contactless) payments while others only accept magstripe and EMV.
But these days it is getting harder to find a magstripe-only machine. But as a business owner, you would want to maximize the two features. An example of a machine with the 2 features is the Verifone VX520 model, it comes with a magstripe feature and a contactless feature too.
What you want
When we discuss credit card payment terminals, broadly there are two categories available. We have the Universal and the proprietary. Let me define them for you so you could understand.
Universal credit card machines are built by a manufacturer to allow them to have access to many processors. This means this machine is not built for one processor.
On the other hand, proprietor credit card machines are only built for only one processor. It is custom-made for a particular processor. I stated earlier the names of different processors available. Sometimes proprietor credit card machines may work with 1 or more other processors, but it is usually a handful.
The implication of this classification is that to you is that depending on the class you choose, you may not able to change your processor. Or you might have limited options for changing your processors. If you opt for the proprietory type of credit card machine, you will be limited in processor choice and if you opt for universal you would have unlimited choices to make.
Also for business owners, you must consider this factor as you try to get a credit card machine because another implication that exists as a result of the two types of machine is that one can be reprogrammed while the other cannot. The universal type can easily be reprogrammed while the other is not or may not be reprogrammed.
How would you know this?
Ask them at the point of purchase, if you are buying or ordering online, check for reviews. Well with these points highlighted in this article, you should be able to make decisions on credit card machines. It is very important to consider this point all together to have a clear insight into what you want.
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