Merchant Articles

Credit Card Machines- Credit card machines are extremely necessary for retail stores if they plan on accepting credit cards. Business Merchant Account has written this credit card machine review to help you find the best credit card machines!

There are four main ways to accept credit cards; in person, phone, mail, and online. Each way to accept credit cards has slightly a different procedure but all require some type of credit card machine or processor. An actual credit card machine is mainly used for in person purchases. The other ways to accept credit cards can still use credit card machines but mainly use computer software and payment gateways to process credit cards.

Business Merchant Account is going to only discuss credit card machines in this review. We have discussed payment gateways in other articles so we want to give you the best credit card machines review that we can!!

When you hear about credit card machines people might also refer to them as credit card terminals. Credit card machines are the machines that you see at the stores in which your credit card is swiped through and then your receipt is printed. Credit card terminals read the information that is encoded in the bar stripe and then forwards that sensitive information onto your payment gateway. This is how credit cards are processed via a credit card machine.

No matter which credit card machine you choose to use, you need to have an internet connection. Without an internet connection you have no use for credit card machines. Instead you would have to call the credit card company each time you wanted to process a purchase. This way is extremely costly and takes a long time. Avoid it!!! Business Merchant Account is going to break down the three types of credit card machines and explain to you which one works for which types of businesses.

Dial Up Credit Card Terminals- The stone age type of credit card machines. These credit card terminals work by connecting to your payment gateway via a dial up connection. Kind of like the original internet connection that AOL was so famous for. Dial up credit card terminals are very slow and outdated. The only time Business Merchant Account would recommend using this type of credit card terminal is if you had no other choice.

Internet Credit Card Terminals- Perhaps the most common and best type of credit card machines are ones that use the internet to connect to payment gateways. Internet credit card terminals require a connection to the internet which is done via USB connections or Ethernet connections. Internet credit card terminals are the fastest way to process credit card transactions. It will typically take you under 10 seconds to process a credit card with an internet credit card machine. Business Merchant Account recommends this type of credit card terminal to any store that has an internet connection.

Wireless Credit Card Terminals- Similar to internet credit card machines, wireless credit card terminals connect to the internet also to speak with your payment gateway. Instead of using a USB or Ethernet connection, wireless credit card terminals require an air card to access the internet. The speed of the transaction all depends on the connection speed that you have. This type of credit card machine is perfect for people that are on the road a lot and don’t always have a hard line to connect to the internet from.

There are several companies that offer credit card machines that it can be confusing on which one to choose from. After using a lot of the different credit card machines, Business Merchant Account has found that the following three companies offer the best credit card terminals. Most of the merchant account providers offer the following brands with several different models to choose from.

1. VeriFone- Perhaps the biggest name in credit card machines, VeriFone makes some of the best credit card machines. What is really great about the VeriFone machines is that they are affordable. You can pick up a VeriFone credit card machine for around $100.00.
2. Hypercom- One of the most trusted names in the credit card terminal industry, HyperCom makes some of the most durable credit card machines there is. HyperCom machines can be found at almost every merchant account store for as low as $100.00.
3. Nurit- Nurit makes some decent credit card machines at very affordable prices. While the Nurit machines might not have all the bells and whistles, you can find them for as low $95.00.

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