Retail Merchants
Anytime customers are paying
you face-to-face you need to use a swipe terminal. Swipe
terminals allow you to take advantage of low processing fees
since customers can easily "swipe" their card through the
terminal. While processing costs for retail merchants is
the lowest, upfront purchase costs are steep. You can
expect to pay anywhere from around $300 and up on a new swipe
terminal. Refurbished terminals can be purchased even
cheaper. It is recommended that you stay away from
long-term, binding leases. You will always pay much
more with a lease then if you would of just purchased the
terminal from the start.
Mail Order/Telephone Order
Merchants
If your business is entirely
conducted over the phone and by mail, it is suggested to use a
computer software or online virtual terminal solution to process
credit card orders. Of the two, the virtual terminal would
be the most cost effective option since computer software will
tend to cost several hundred dollars, whereas virtual terminal
access would cost around $100 to $150 to purchase. A
virtual terminal allows you to securely log-in to a website
where you manually enter in credit card and check information,
then submit it for processing. Then you print out the
confirmation page for your records and that's it. It's a
very easy and secure process.
Internet Merchants
As an Internet merchant you'll
want a solution that is automated and will process transactions
in real-time, without your intervention. Basically, your
website's order form passes the customers information to the
processor securely for transaction processing. The money
is then deposited into your bank account within 2 to 3 business
days. Real-time services vary from $100 and up to
purchase. With real-time processing there is no software
to load on your computer, you simply setup the order form, on
your website, to send the information to the processor.
Processing fees are higher then they are for retail merchants
since Visa and MasterCard say the instances of fraud and charge
backs is higher. However, there are ways to prevent chargebacks and fraud.
As an Internet merchant, you'll no doubt be taking orders by
phone, fax and mail, also. In addition to real-time
processing, using a virtual terminal solution to process orders
retrieved in those manners would be a good idea. Most
real-time services are coupled with a virtual terminal as well,
check with the merchant account provider for details.
