Is it better to use a standard credit card machine (a.k.a, point of sale or POS terminal) or a virtual POS terminal (a secure online web site you can use like a credit card terminal)? There are pluses and minuses to both, so which one is right for your business depends on your store or call center setup and your objectives.
What’s a virtual credit card terminal?
A virtual POS terminal is a secure web site you log into to process credit card payments, debit card payments and/or electronic check payments. It works a lot like your traditional credit card terminal, except it uses your computer and a secure Internet connection rather than a separate piece of hardware and a phone line to process the payment.
How can using a virtual terminal benefit my business?
Benefits of a virtual credit card terminal include:
- You can use a virtual terminal from any computer with an internet connection. This works well when you’re on the road — if you want to check on your transactions or run a credit card payment, all you have to do is log in.
- Your computer is your credit card terminal, so if you have a computer there anyway, you don’t have to clutter up your desk with extra equipment.
- Updates are automatic. The rules according to credit card associations change–that means credit card terminal ownders have to update their software and/or hardware. With virtual terminals, it’s updated automatically–no worries!
- Virtual terminals like the Intellivative Merchant Portal let you plug in a card-swipe device, so you can swipe credit cards just like a traditional credit card terminal.
- If you have several people who need to process payments and they all have a computer, it can save significantly on credit card terminal costs because all your employees can log in from their own computer and use it, without incurring additional costs. This is especially handy for mail or telephone order call centers.
- Saves paper because you can view your reports online. Traditional credit card terminals usually have a printed batch report. A virtual terminal has visual reports designed for people to access and read online.
- You can often download the report data right into a database or into Excel (or your favorite spreadsheet) and even import it into your accounting software.
What are the disadvantages of using a virtual terminal?
- If there’s not a computer where you need to process payments, you have to find room for one. Sometimes you don’t have the space for a computer. Credit card terminals are smaller.
- Ease of use may vary. Make sure you see the terminal in action and get a chance to try it out before you decide to go with a virtual terminal.
- For security purposes, you have to log in to a virtual terminal. You may also get logged out if you don’t use it for a while , then you have to log back in before you can process a payment. This can be inconvenient when you’re in a hurry.
ApprovedPayments offers both traditional credit card terminals and an easy to use virtual terminal (in the Intellivative Merchant Portal). Our prices are very competitive, but they vary according to business type, so apply today and see if we can save your business some money and get you the best payment solution for your business.
New! Approvedpayments is pleased to offer a custom virtual terminal just for property managers. Paymentsite custom payment solutions for property management gives property managers convenient ways to manage all their rental payments received via the mail, in person. Add Link2Tenant, a convenient and customizable tenant payment portal, to give tenants the option of paying online by credit card or check.
Whatever you decide, we wish you the best of luck in your business!
Choosing an eCommerce shopping cart is one of the toughest decisions to make because there are so many carts out there with so many different features–and because businesses change over time. The right cart 
for you today might not be the right cart for your business six months from now, and switching carts midstream can be painful, timeconsuming, costly and difficult. So it is important to choose the right cart software from the beginning, one that will allow your business to grow into it, and be flexible as your needs change over time.
It will be easier to decide if you first know what you want in a cart.
Which shopping cart features are important to you?
There are a lot of things to think about when choosing a shopping cart. Consider whether or not you want these features and what you want them to do for you.
| Shopping Cart Feature |
Things to think about |
| Gift certificates |
Can be handy for gift sales or during the holidays, but redeeming gift certificates can complicate the checkout process, which can lower your conversion rate |
| Customer reviews |
While it can be a little scary allowing your visitors to say whatever they want about your products, online shoppers tend to trust another online shopper’s word and find helpful advice that, in general, tends to increase sales. Customer reviews can also be a good place to find phrases and real-world information for product descriptions, and, because they contain the words people use in real life, they can help with search engine optimization by increasing the search terms for your products. |
| Cross selling |
Also called suggestion selling, this is the idea of adding “customers who bought this also bought this” or suggesting peripherals or add-ons that logically go with a product. Cross selling can increase your order totals. If you decide you want this for your eCommerce store, think about what types of cross selling you’d want to do. Do you want a cart that auto-suggests other products based on what has sold to other customers, or do you want to configure it yourself? |
| Specials and featured items |
Do you want to offer specials and feature different items on your home and/or category pages? Think about what you want to do in this area and how you want it to work. |
| Loyalty program |
Do you have an existing loyalty program or do you want to build one? How does it work? Some shopping carts will support your existing loyalty program; others have pre-built loyalty programs you can use. |
| Shipping options |
Do you ship products? How do you handle shipping? Do you want your web site to automatically integrate with the shipping vendors and set up tracking numbers? Do you want to be able to print your shipping labels right from the cart admin screen? Some carts allow that, and will auto-e-mail the tracking number to the customer. |
| Multiple product images |
If you offer physical goods, it’s generally a good idea to have more than one product image, but how many to use depends on the product and the options. Does the product come in different colors? You probably want to show each of the colors. If it’s an item of clothing or furniture, you might want to show different views/angles. If visuals of your product are important to help the customer make a purchase decision, then look for a cart that supports multiple product images. |
| US or international addresses |
If you want to do business internationally, you need a cart that supports international addresses! Some carts only support US addresses, so if shipping internationally is important to your business, check the carts for international address support. |
| Automated emails |
In general, the more touchpoints you have with your customers, the better, so email messages for order confirmation, shipping notification, etc. are usually good. Look for email customization options so you can customize the message and keep the customer experience consistent. |
| Electronic soft goods download |
Does your company plan to sell music downloads or software online? If so, you’ll want to for electronic soft goods download features. Pay attention to how they manage the downloads. To prevent un-authorized downloads, it’s usually better if they generate one-time-use URLs that are specific to each customer. |
| Search |
Some shoppers are search-oriented, so if you have an online store with many products, you’ll want a site-search to accommodate search-oriented shoppers. Not all search systems are equal, so once you’ve narrowed down the list of carts, try out the search function on a few sites that use each cart to see how well their search function assists you in finding the product. Filters that allow users to search only a certain brand, color or size are also helpful for searching a large e-commerce site. |
| Reporting |
What types of reports do you need to monitor the success of your business? Look over the reports offered by the shopping cart. Do they give you actionable, understandable information? |
| Search engine optimization |
There are a lot of factors that go into search engine optimization (SEO), but search is so critical for online businesses. Check what the search engines do to help with your online store’s SEO. |
| PCI compliance |
Payment Cart Industry (PCI) compliance is not optional–it’s mandatory if you’re accepting credit cards. (If you’re not accepting credit cards, you should seriously consider it! Over 90% of internet shoppers pay by credit card.) Check the cart’s compliance–it better be compliant or you’re putting your merchant account at risk. |
| Web site analytics |
If the cart doesn’t offer integrated web analytics, it should at least support Google Analytics so you can tell what people are doing on your web site. Web analytics are critical for determining the effectiveness of your web site. |
| A/B testing |
Another tool that can help you optimize your web design is A/B testing, where you can test two (or more) versions of a page and see which performs better in terms of conversions. |
| Payment options |
What payment options does the shopping cart offer? Does it support everything your gateway offers? Does it allow recurring payments? |
Is it compatible with your payment gateway–and flexible?
Some carts will force you into using a particular payment processor, others will allow you to choose whoever you want. It’s important to choose a cart that allows you to use the payment processor of your choice, and allows you to switch if for some reason you become unhappy with your processor. (Sometimes you can get this flexibility in your gateway, which simplifies things, as long as the shopping cart you want to use is compatible with your gateway.)
Whichever shopping cart solution you choose, get a reliable gateway payment solution for processing your payments, such as the Intellivative Payments API. Apply now for a free, no-obligation quote!
One of the first decisions you’ll need to make when you apply for a merchant account is whether or not you need a credit card terminal (a.k.a. Point of sale or POS terminal), and if you decide you need a terminal, which one to choose?
First, do you need a credit card terminal?
If you process transactions face to face with your customers most of the time, a credit card terminal is a likely option. Because the terminal makes it easy to swipe a card and complete the sale, credit card terminals are often used in “card present” situations where the cardholder (with their credit card) is present at the time of the sale.
Some mail and telephone order businesses also choose to use credit card terminals and key in the credit card information into the terminal.
But there are other options for retail and mail/telephone orders:
- A virtual terminal (such as the Intellivative Merchant Portal) can also fit the bill if you have a computer with an internet connection handy. The advantage of using this is you can have as many checkouts as you have computers, without additional costs for a terminal at each checkout. You can also attach a small card-swipe device to your computer for face-to-face transactions. This option is very handy for small businesses and mail order call centers.
- If you want to integrate your business systems (such as your shipping or inventory system), consider using a payments API (like the Intellivative API), which allows you to create your own custom integrated payment solution.
Online businesses should typically steer away from credit card terminals, and should instead integrate appropriate payment processing software (such as the Intellivative Payments API) into their eCommerce web site.
How much does a credit card terminal cost?
Terminal costs range from $99 to more than $1000, depending on the age of the terminal and the features offered. Some credit card terminals come with an integrated printer; if you get one without a printer, you may need to purchase a printer for receipts as well.
Factors to consider
Do you need to manage multiple merchant accounts?
Do you plan to share your terminal across businesses? If you are sharing a terminal with other co-located businesses who will need to run transactions on their own merchant account, there are some terminals that can hold up to 9 merchant accounts. This might happen in a doctor’s office or hair salon where several independent businesses all work at the same place. If you want to do this, look for a terminal that can hold multiple merchant accounts. (Or think about using a virtual terminal, which would allow each business to log into their own account.)
Do you have a phone line available?
Many credit card terminals dial out through a phone line. Often you can share this line with other devices (such as a fax machine) as long as the line is available when you need to process a transaction. Also, make sure the line does not have call waiting to ensure your transaction processing doesn’t get interrupted. Transaction times on a phone line are typically about 10 seconds.
Do you have high-speed internet?
Many newer credit card terminals connect using an internet connection. If you have high-speed Internet access at your business, you probably want a terminal that connects to the internet so you can save money on an extra phone line and process your transactions faster (around 2-3 seconds per transaction).
No phone or internet?
Wireless credit card terminals do not need a phone line. They communicate wirelessly, like your cell phone. With a wireless terminal, you can process your transactions from anywhere as long as you’re within the network coverage area. You might choose a wireless terminal if you have a regular need to process payments in out-of-the-ordinary locations, such as a parking lot (in the case of a car rental business) or outdoor festival.
If your need to process transactions only happens occasionally when (or where) a phone or Internet connection isn’t available, you might want a terminal with store and forward capabilities. With store and forward, you can enter the information into the terminal and it will store the information until you do have access to a phone line or Internet connection. The disadvantage of this is you don’t know right away whether the transaction was approved or declined, so if you’re selling goods, it can put your business at risk.
Do you want to accept debit cards?
If you want to accept debit cards and get the lowest transaction fees, you should consider getting a PIN pad for customers to enter their personal identification number (PIN). Without a PIN pad, you’ll still be able to accept debit cards, but you’ll need to run it as a credit card transaction, which tends to cost a little more in transaction fees.
Should you lease or buy a credit card terminal?
Typically it’s better to buy a terminal than lease one, as leasing will cost you more money in the long run. We recommeng you research terminal prices and don’t pay more for a terminal than what it’s worth. Also, don’t let anyone push you into a leasing agreement that you don’t want.
What kinds of terminals does ApprovedPayments offer?
We offer a wide selection of terminals, with the most popular being from Verifone, Hypercom, and Nurit. We’d be happy to help you pick the right terminal for your business–apply today for a no-obligation quote.
