There are a few great inventions out there that make our lives a little easier and the credit cards has to be in the top 10 for businesses. This allows your customer to feel more comfortable about purchasing large dollar items without the need to carry around all the cash. Instead they can turn to a secure way to complete the transaction, but are you set up to accept such a transaction? Credit card machines today have evolved into something that is small and light weight no need to pull out that large dinosaur that took an impression on carbon paper just a simple swipe and you are good to go. These devices attach to many smartphones or even Ipads to give you a mobile credit card processor. There are several different choices when it comes to readers and these are only a few. I have used the Square before for some of my non-profit work and it works great, and I know that many businesses who work with websites use Paypal so there option might be work taking a deeper look into as well.
So how does this work? Well first you will need to have a smartphone so either an Iphone or an Android or even an Ipad (you will need a data plan). You would need to download the app to your device, and finally you would need the device itself. When you have all of these pieces you can either manually key in the card number or swipe the card.
Here are my top 3 Readers you should look into:
Square Register
www.Square.com
Square Register has two ways that you can be billed. Either a pay-per-transaction or $275 monthly flat fee (if you accept large payments on a regular basis such as cart sales this is for you). You get transfers released the next day. Square also allows you to customize your receipts to include your company logo and you can even create a product inventory so you can easily tally customers’ orders. There is also a way to build a loyalty program but I haven’t tried this feature. One other good point is that the actual device is free so if you sign up at their website they will ship it to you on their dime.
Fees: 2.75% (swiped), 3.50% + $0.15 (keyed-in) or a flat rate of $275 a month.
Paypal Here
www.Paypal.com
Many of our dealers who sell online use Paypal for their transactions because it is simple and secure so what a perfect choice but to add a Paypal reader that will deposit funds within minutes of swiping the card. One other advantage to Paypal Here is that you can also accept and process checks by taking a photograph of the front and back of the check. You can also use this app even if you don’t have the reader on you but there is an additional keyed-in rate.
Fees: 2.70% (swiped), 3.50% + $0.15 (/keyed-in)
Intuit GoPayment
www.Intuit.com
This would be the option for small businesses with a few sales staff or on the road technicians because you are allowed to have up to 50 users that can take payments on the road. Some other features include full refunds allowed on the spot and transfers take about 2-3 days.
Fees:
Non-subscription (free) – 2.75% (swiped), 3.75% (keyed-in)
Subscription ($12.95/mth) – 1.75% (swiped), 2.75% (keyed-in).
If you currently aren’t set up to take credit cards or even credit cards in the field you may want to at least look into these options they are free and can be a huge benefit to your sales. If you are like me you don’t carry much cash but you don’t want that to be a reason why you can’t purchase something on the spot. In this technological world we live in accepting credit cards is a must and if you can accept them on the go or in the field you are right were you need to be.
