With many business owners providing their services on-the-go, other methods of accepting credit cards become necessary. Two of the more popular options for small businesses in need of mobile card processing include processing cards by phone and using wireless processing equipment how to start a credit card processing company . How do you know which option is best for your business?
When you use a phone-based card processing system, you get a phone number to call each time you need to process a card from a customer. After you dial your access number, you then use the phone keypad to enter the credit card number, expiration date, and security code. When you use a phone to call in cards you need to process, you don’t have to buy or lease any special equipment. It offers the advantage of being able to conduct business and accept payment from anywhere you get a phone signal. You will usually pay higher processing fees per transaction compared to wireless processing, but will probably pay a lower monthly fee.
Processing payments by phone allows you to accept cards even when your customers aren’t standing right in front of you, since you don’t need the actual card to swipe. Phone processing allows you to accept payments from customers from all over the world.
Using wireless processing equipment requires that you actually have the card at the time of payment – so it can be swiped through a small wireless device. Because these transactions fall under the “card present” transaction type, they are considered less risk than a card that is called in by phone for processing, and the rates and fees for wireless processing are generally lower than telephone processing.
If you process a large volume of cards, it would be more beneficial for you to use wireless credit card processing equipment rather than call in every credit card to process for payment. For example, pizza delivery services or taxi drivers, or any direct sales representative doing home parties would be able to process customer credit card payments quickly if they could just swipe it through a machine rather than dialing their phone service each time, and manually entering the credit card details.
Wireless card processing equipment will be a bit of an investment to get started compared to using a phone-based processing system. Even if you decide to lease your credit card processing equipment instead of purchasing it outright, it will have a higher monthly cost than simply using your phone to dial-in each card for processing.
In the not-so-distant past, if a business owner wanted to accept credit cards from customers, they needed expensive credit card processing equipment and software. Technology has made it possible for business owners of all sizes to accept cards from customers; giving people a variety of methods from internet processing to mobile processing to cash register processing. Many small business owners or freelance workers have turned to their ipad as a device for accepting credit cards from customers. Here’s a few options you have for using your ipad for payment processing:
The Square is a tiny card reader that plugs directly into your ipad, turning it into a credit card reader. You can swipe the customer’s card through the reader, and the software will process your customer’s payment. Fees for the Square are 2. 75% per swipe for all card types, and you’ll receive money in your bank account in one day.
The Square reader is free, and so is the app you download to make it all work. Your Square can be used on the iphone, ipad, and Android phones. Once you receive your Square and install the software, you can accept your first credit card in just a few minutes. The Square is great for businesses who need to swipe cards in the check out line, since it’s quick and easy. Receipts are emailed to your customers. It’s also convenient for people who travel for business and need a mobile payment processing solution.
The PayAnywhere payment processing solution provides you with a free credit card reader and app to accept American Express, Discover, Visa and Mastercard cards from your customers. You can use the reader on the ipad, iphone or ipod touch. Another inexpensive solution for payment processing similar to the Square, PayAnywhere does not charge a monthly minimum fee, no set up fee and no cancellation fee. Simply plug it in and start accepting payments. You will receive money in your bank account from processed cards within 2 days.
PayAnywhere is ideal for mobile business owners who need a way to accept credit card payments from customers who aren’t standing in line in their retail store. Service providers, contractors, and traveling sales representatives can use devices like PayAnywhere to accept payment from their customers.
Since your ipad allows you to connect to any website you like, you can also use any payment processing provider that allows you to manually enter the card details for your customers for processing. Generally, these services give you an online form that you fill in with customer name, address, credit card number, expiration date, and security code. You then put in the total amount to charge, and press a button to process the payment. Manual payment processing takes longer, and is not ideal for individuals processing a large volume of credit cards in real time (like in a check out line of a retail shop! ).
