Credit Card Processing Terminal

Credit Card Processing Terminal
I need some info on credit card terminals.?

We are starting up a business, and as everyone knows credit cards are very common. We have no idea how to go about searching for credit card terminals, the going rate per transaction or anything about the process. Does anybody know how to get further info? I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

Terminals and processing are two separate issues. You may decide to purchase your terminal from your processor, but make sure that it suits your needs and that it is priced competitively. A nice standard choice for a retail endeavor is the Omni 3750. It is universally certified by nearly all merchant processing companies and offers many upgrade options including IP, gift card, smartcard and more. It’s really a workhorse. If you decide to go in another direction, make sure that the equipment you purchase is not proprietary and allows you the flexibility of being used by muliple service providers. Another option altogether is to set up a POS system or other processing software on your network or PC.

As to actual processing, this is an excerpt from an educational article I wrote for a local merchant group. Merchant processing isn’t really exciting, so it is kind of dry, but it should help you ask the right questions when you look to make a decision on a new processor.

Visa and MasterCard, the card associations, receive the majority of the fees that merchants pay for their processing services. The remainder of the fees, or the margin, is what the merchant processor receives. The card associations have designated over 240 different card categories that each merchant processor must recognize and process. Every merchant processor, no matter how big or small, is charged the same rates and fees by the card associations and every merchant processor differentiates each card category utilizing exactly the same card category name as designated by the card associations.

The card categories are designated in the following manner:
1.) Industry – Retail, Restaurant, Hotel, Government, Utility, Service Industry, Gas Station, Supermarket, etc.
2.) Type of Card – Personal Visa or MasterCard, Visa or MasterCard Debit, Visa Rewards, MasterCard World, Commercial Visa, Corporate MasterCard, etc.
3.) Method of Processing – Face-to-Face (swipe), Mail Order/Telephone Order, Key Entered, E-Commerce, etc.
4.) Processing Efficiency – Address Verification, Authorization/Settle Match, Timeliness of Settlement, etc.

These categories are as diverse as they seem. If a cardholder uses the same card to buy something from a retail establishment, lunch at a restaurant and pay their electric bill, all three of these transactions will be designated as a separate card and rate category. If a retail establishment accepts two different types of cards (ex. – a Visa Debit Card and a Visa Rewards Card) for a purchase of the exact same amount, both of these transactions will be designated as a separate card and rate category. The same is true for a Face-to-Face transaction as opposed to a telephone order. Furthermore, if a merchant does take a telephone order and doesn’t enter the required cardholder information, the transaction will be downgraded to a higher priced card and rate category than a properly executed telephone order.

So what does all of this mean to you?

For many merchants, the hardest thing to do is accept the fact that the merchant processing system, to some extent, simply is what it is. There really are that many card categories. There really are that many different rates and fees. Your merchant processor deals with and manages this system – they do not have the power to change it. Any merchant processor who claims to be dealing with a better or more advantageous system than other processors isn’t being honest.

Sure, some merchant processors offer a simplified statement format with bundled categories, but only to keep from disclosing individual rates. The simpler the statement format the less a merchant knows about what their true credit card processing costs are or should be. A simple statement also makes it very difficult to perform an accurate comparison to other programs. For many merchant processors, their most successful customer retention tool is their customer’s complete inability to understand their services.

One of the posted answers is a great example of this issue. If Visa and MasterCard charge the exact same amount to every processor for every transaction, why would a merchant pay a higher amount depending on how they identify themselves? (To the author’s credit he reveals this nuance of his company’s pricing structure) Your profile will dictate what your effective rate should be and a merchant processor should be able to help you identify this. Make sure that you are not penalized for accepting cards outside of your normal channels.

Free Hypercom Optimum T4100 Credit Card Processing Terminal

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