If your small business wants to start taking different types of credit card payments, it is recommended that you ensure that your current merchant account permits this. For this to work successfully, start by choosing a payment vendor and then requesting them to recommend a merchant account bank so as to ensure that it’s well-suited with your chosen credit card payment methods.
Taking credit card payments
There are several different credit card payment methods you can actually opt for, each suitable to different circumstances. What you should know is that these methods all involve the use of different credit card machines and processing procedures. Here’s a look at 4 credit card processing methods your small business can rely on:
Bank processing
For this method to work, you have to first of all collect the cards information via an imprinter and then ask your bank to process it. Though not the cheapest, it is one of the most straightforward ways to process the charges. Most banks will run these kinds of payments for small businesses and organizations that have merchant accounts with them. The payments are deposited in your normal merchant account. If you receive your credit card payment information in paper, then bank processing makes a lot of financial sense.
Credit card imprinting machines
The use of credit card imprinting machines is one of the simplest and oldest ways of processing credit card transactions. Swipe machines are used to create a carbon copy of the credit card, and take impressions of the credit card details for processing at a later date. The only downside to this credit card processing method is that if the card is rejected for one reason or another, there is no way to find out about it until long after the person paying is gone.
An imprinting machine is generally given for free or at a small fee by the bank where you have your merchant account. These machines are an expensive and easy way to gather card details on-site. Nevertheless, you still require processing the charges at a later date using other techniques, and there is a significant risk in carting the imprinted slips around as you are basically carrying a heap of credit cards. If any of these slips is lost, then it means you have lost a cluster of payments.
Credit card imprinters are ideal for taking a number of payments in temporary situations. They are a temporary type of credit card processing method than something that can be relied on to process huge volumes of credit cards over a long duration of time.
Mobile devices
Smartphones and a wide variety of mobile devices these days have the capacity to process transactions over wireless, 3G and 4G connections. All that is required is bundling yours with the right software and you are good to go. The mobile payment solution is ideal for almost all small businesses such that it requires less hardware to purchase provided the owner already has a smartphone or any other compatible device.
Swipe credit card terminals
For processing higher volumes of payments, swipe terminals are the most recommended. Also referred to as credit card terminals, these tiny payment machines let you swipe a credit card, enter the payment and then instantly process it, and often printing out a receipt as proof of the transaction.
Talk to us at Nationwide Merchant Solutions if you think your small business wants to facilitate specialized types of credit card payments. We are well experienced in the industry and you will be impressed with our expertise!