Card payment acceptance is critical to most, if not all, businesses. Moving may seem expensive, and yes, the price has increased over time. However, accepting card payments is still of vital importance, and now more than ever. It increases your sales and profits, and in the long run these will outweigh the costs.
- Why accept card payments?
There are several reasons why you should accept card payments. These include, but are not limited to
It is currently the preferred payment method for customers; Most customers prefer to carry credit or debit cards instead of cash.
- Credit cards encourage customers to spend more
- Ideal for online sales
- It makes it easy for you to keep track of your transaction history
- It enables faster payments
- Helps minimize fraud
- Can be affordable; that depends on your decisions
- Setting Up A Card Swipe Device: What You Need To Know About The Cost
Now that you know why you should accept card payments, setting up a credit card machine should be next on your to-do list. The biggest challenge here for most people is cost. Your goal is to find the cheapest POS machine cost for your system.
There are several factors that you need to consider when choosing your ideal credit card reader in order to achieve this.
Let’s look at some of them.
The system you have chosen to accept card payments
To enable credit card payments, you can either
- Open a merchant account or
- Work with a payment service provider
These two will affect your overall impression Card reader price, depending on the option selected. If you choose to work with a payment processor, the costs are higher, and if you open a merchant account, they are lower.
The hardware and software options you selected
If you want to build a personal sale, you need one Credit card terminal or card reader. The ideal type depends on the needs of your business. If you already have a POS system, you can find a card reader to match your existing system.
To set up an online sale, you need to integrate your online payment system with your website. To do this, you may need to use the services of a payment processor or web developer.
The credit card processing fees
There are different types of fees that you have to pay in order to use credit card payments in your company. These fees are usually a percentage of the total purchase amount and a small flat fee. Monthly fees may also apply.
Some other types of fees are non-negotiable and are set by the credit card networks and banks.
There are also fees that are set by credit card processors and can vary depending on the processor.
All of this affects the total price of the POS machine.
You need to know more about these fees in order to find the cheapest options for your credit card machine.
- Interchange fees; paid to the card-issuing bank. Determined by the credit card network. Depending on the industry, type of credit card, type of transaction, etc.
- Evaluation fees; paid to the credit card network. Fixed fees.
- Processor surcharge; Paid to the payment service provider or merchant account provider for services rendered
The pricing models
The pricing model also affects the price of the card swipe device. There are four common types of pricing models available. these are
- Flat rate; fixed volume fraction
- Exchange plus; determines the cost per transaction
- Graduated; Fee based on the card type used by the consumer
- Subscription; Fixed costs
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The list of factors that can affect your system’s POS machine price is endless. Choosing an affordable option is not easy. But you can always do it if you take your time and pay extra attention throughout the process.
