One of the best ways to introduce contactless payment for your business is via Credit card machines for small businesses. Credit card machines, also known as PINs, chips, or card readers, are machines that let you accept payments through credit cards. They classified these cards into 3 types: mobile, portable, and countertop.
- Mobile–If you are someone who travels to visit customers, then mobile credit card machines will be the best for you. You can use it anywhere on the go and all you’d need is a mobile device with a stable internet connection.
- Portable–With portable machines, you can process payments from any place without being stuck in a single place, like the billing booth for instance. This operates with Bluetooth technology that helps you take the machine to your customer rather than having them visit your place to make the payment.
- Countertop–This is where the payments happen at a fixed place every time, like at a desk or reception. You’d have to connect the machine with your broadband or landline, and you’re all set to accept payments.
How Does It Work?
Now that we have seen what credit card machines and their types are, let us now see the working procedure of the best credit card machines for small businesses. The process is like what you see in any retail shop when you make a card payment.
- The process starts with the merchant entering the product or service’s transaction amount into the card machine.
- Now, the customer has two options: if his/her card has a contactless payment option, they can just place their card over the machine. Else, you need to enter the card into the machine, and the customer is prone to enter the right pin.
- Once the card is inserted, the chip on the card will communicate with the machine, which will send transaction data to the merchant’s account.
- Once the data is received, the bank at the receiving end will send the authorization request to the card provider. Now, the credit card provider will request authorization from the buyer’s bank.
- If all these processes run smoothly, then the payment will get processed, and you can see the amount reflecting on your bank in 3 to 5 days.
Let us further look at some popular credit card processing machines for small business.
Clover Flex
If you are already aware of their POS functionality and are looking for a mobile device, then Clover Flex is the one for you. It offers a battery life of about 8 hours and a built-in printer to print the receipts.
- Helps you run any card transaction in seconds.
- You can start tax rates once and apply them automatically further.
- All the deposits made in your bank account will reflect the next day.
- Fully encrypted on the PCI‑CERTIFIED SYSTEM.
- Comes with fraud protection of up to $100,000.
- Works well with Wi-Fi and wireless connections as well.
- Their in-store payment system gives flexibility to the customers over tipping, payment, receipt options while letting the staff focus more on the business.
- Their mobile processing services help the best when you’re running deliveries, with a portable flex and in-built receipt printer.
- You can take payments on the go on your mobile devices using their card reader and Clover-go app.
- You can customize the system by choosing the right portable devices and stationery.
Also Read – How to Setup Small Business Credit Card Processing?
Square Terminal
This is one of the compact and popular credit card processing machines for small business. This affordable compact device comes with a touch screen, supports EMV, NFC-based devices, and includes a receipt printer. You can connect the device to the internet using Wi-Fi or Ethernet you can plug it into the wall with an internal battery.
- Fixed rates for any tap, swipe, or dip with no monthly fees.
- No hidden fees or long-term contracts.
- Processes payment with ease in-store, online, or on the go.
- You can create customized payment links, QR codes, buy buttons, and market your business online.
- You can also send emails to customers about changing work hours.
- You can sync up your inventory across all the sales, in-line, or in-person.
- It facilitates scheduling remote meetings to get bookings and payments in one place.
- You can enhance the payroll service by importing timecards to pay your employees automatically.
Ingenico Group
You’d have come across this name as they’re the most popular credit card processing machines for small business. There’s no color display nor touchscreen and the connection options are limited to ethernet and telephone jack. They support magstripe and EMV, NFC-based payment methods. It has an in-built thermal printer to print receipts. Its cheapest pricing makes it a must-have for small businesses.
- Wide range of smart terminals, totally complying with different local regulations, payment methods, and business sector.
- They offer businesses a unique platform and reliable connectivity to deploy and manage payments.
- They are associated with several POS services to enable merchants to optimize their stores and checkout options to cover all the customer-centric points.
- They are equipped with the latest solutions to accept electronic payments anywhere and at any time.
- Their mobile POS solutions include mPOS card readers, mPOS EMV SDK, mPOS platform, mobile smart terminals, and tablet POS solutions. And their security solutions include point-to-point encryption (P2PE) and Remote Key Injection (RKI).
- They have also partnered with the top security providers in the market in order to expose their customers to different technologies to suit their purpose.
Conclusion
For a few years now, we are seeing the demise of direct cash payments. Using cash among people is slowly declining. Rather, people are using different cards for all their purchases. This is where credit card machines for small business come into use. Contactless payments have been an important factor for businesses in the recent years as it gives you multiple options to both accept and make payments, no matter where you are. Also, it eliminates the risk of carrying cash everywhere you go. Thus, if you’re looking out for enhancing your business, choose from the list of above-discussed credit card processing machines for small business and reap benefits!