Sure it is easy to set up and accept credit card payments if your business is a bricks and mortar business. But what about those who aren't? These businesses could consist of landscaping companies which are often ran out of the home of the owner, small start up businesses like antique dealers or sales professionals, vendors who take their business to a location like food carts, or even freelance workers who sell their stuff at expos or other types of flea markets. Sure they can just as easily accept credit cards from their homes but that will be a tedious project with no payment guarantees. It would involve recording each customer’s contact information along with their credit card numbers, the date it expires, and the CVS security code and manually entering this all into the credit card terminal when you arrive home. It is a long and tedious process and the risk of a declined card or fraud are extremely high since you are processing the card without the customer or their card physically there. A common trait between these types of business is the lack of a fixed point of sale location.
Accepting credit cards does not have to be a stationary thing. The big boys in the merchant account industry offer wireless terminals. These terminals are big, bulky, and often slow. They also usually have the traditional fees associated with them causing many business owners to cringe at the idea of signing up for a contract. However, like every other technology out there, the merchant service industry is turning innovative. Developers for all the big companies are coming out with mobile credit card processing options. These options are often at lower cost and fit the life of those who do not have a fixed POS.
With mobile credit card processing services like Pay Anywhere out there, there is no reason for a business not to accept credit cards. Own a landscaping business? How convenient is it to allow your customers to pay at their doorsteps with a credit card rather than receive a check that you have to take to the bank? Customers will even want to see this process in action. It is a savvy feature that is also energy efficient. The reader which comes free plugs into the phone and runs off of the phones battery. It is paperless as receipts are e-mailed to the customer rather than printed off, and secure as no data is stored during any process of the transaction. The best part about this service, from an entrepreneur stance, is the low fees. Traditional merchant accounts will fee a user for processing the card, batching the machine at the end of the business day, a monthly rental fee, and even a monthly minimum fee. These fees factor in to a business’s decision on accepting credit cards as it can become costly.
The fees with mobile credit card processing are different. For example Pay Anywhere only charges users a processing fee. The fee is 2.69% plus an additional 19 cents for every card swiped. This is huge for someone who knows they will not be using the device daily. It is a manageable fee that is relatively similar to what processing fees are for standard credit card terminals.
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