Grow Your Business with a Credit Card Machine
Contributed by Victoria Knox
You're losing sales without a credit card machine.
If you want to accept credit cards face-to-face, you need a credit card machine. If your business does not accept credit cards, you could be losing tons of sales. Think about it. When customers make an impulse purchase or find something they have been wanting for months, they don't always have the cash on hand. They use credit cards. Also, for larger purchases, customers may want to use a credit card to get points, miles or cash rebates.
Customers may simply want to spread the cost of an item over a few months. By accepting credit cards, the merchant gets paid quickly, while the customer takes their time to pay the card issuer. Plus, you don't need a storefront to accept credit cards. If you sell items out of your home or at flea markets, you can still get a credit card machine.
What credit card machines do you need?
To get a credit card machine, first apply for a merchant account. You can apply with the local bank you do business with or check out providers online. Put in a search for credit card machines and many choices will come up. Once you are approved for a merchant account, it's time to buy the necessary equipment.
There are different types of credit card machines available. Credit card terminals check on the credit card, get approval for the sale from the issuing bank and provide a printed receipt for the customer. Terminals can have built-in printers, or allow for a stand-along printer to be added on. Merchants can also forgo the printer and use manual card imprinters to producer receipts. This is the small machine where you put in a card and a credit card sales draft and slide a metal bar over the card.
This provides a paper imprint of the card. While this is more labor intensive for the merchant, it can help if there is a dispute from the customer, since imprinters provide an actual copy of the physical card. If you want to accept debit cards, you will need to add a pin pad to the terminal as well.
