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Small Business Owners: Give Your Credit Card Machines A Little More Respect

Credit card payment

Credit card payment

Credit card machines are probably the most underrated business equipment you have. Believe it or not, I once considered my credit card machines less important than the copiers in my business premise(!)

One of the reason why they are underrated is due to the fact that credit cards are already accepted as part of our life and business. What people forget, is that partnering with the right credit card machines provider will ensure your payment processing reliability that eventually will affect your bottom line.

You might said to me, “C’mon mate, we should discuss about how providing more payment options can make a difference in our small business, not about paying tribute to our credit card machines!”

More payment options for your business is important, but having the system ready is more important

Of course, I totally agree that offering more payment options, such as accepting credit cards, can provide convenience to your small business customers or clients. Here are some other benefits of accepting credit cards for your business:

  • You can reduce overheads by reducing the amount of cash circulated in your business.
  • Your business can attract non-cash carrying customers and clients to purchase products and/or services from you.
  • From my personal observation, offering credit cards as payment method tends to attract buyers with larger transaction amount.

However, accepting credit cards without proper system and equipment will backfire, eventually. Instead of building an image of your business being “convenient” in checking out, you create an appalling image of your business being not ready to move forward. Ouch.

How to choose the right credit card machines

The first and foremost thing to do is partner with the right credit card machines provider. A reputable company, such as the Merchant Warehouse – The Credit Card Processing ISO of the year 2009, can help you choose the right credit card machines, software and other related equipments and accessories.

Secondly, decide what you need in a credit card machine: Do you also require a check reader capability on your machine? Do you require a wireless credit card terminal? Don’t forget to also consider the manufacturer of the machine.

Third, invest in credit card machines that answer your business need and fit in your budget. Remember, not all cutting-edge equipments with a vast array of peripherals and accessories are the ones you should after. That being said, chooses the machines that are the best value for money.

Image by LotusHead.

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About the Author

Author profile pictureIvan Widjaya is the Owner/Editor of Noobpreneur.com. He is a web property investor, blogger and web property maker, and currently manages and writes for Franchise Note. He also runs a web design business, Chalcedony Design, specialising in Wordpress theme creation.

Visit Noobpreneur's profile and other posts.

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7 Responses to “Small Business Owners: Give Your Credit Card Machines A Little More Respect”

  • Kathryn says:

    Another thing to take into consideration is that mobile payments are starting to become an option. This allows people to swipe their mobile phones over a contactless payment system at your place of business and charge their cards that way. It’s another type of technology that might be common in the future.

  • Noobpreneur says:

    Kathryn,

    Thanks for the tip – It is indeed something that will be a common business transaction method in the future – People are “dwelling” with mobile phones these days, and to be able to pay using their mobile phones is simply life-hacking technology :)

  • Dat To says:

    Good info. Business owners must take payment processing/acceptance more seriously. If you don’t ask the right questions, then any answer you get will do and won’t matter. Once you find out the right questions to ask, start avoiding Sales Reps/Companies who give you no answer, evasive answers, or ’smart’ sounding answers that further confuse you. If the beginning of the business relationship does not fit, then it won’t get better by adding time and especially being locked up in multi-year contracts.
    Also, don’t get bullied by high pressure sales tactics because a good deal today will be a good deal next week.
    Also, do they have any happy customers? Dozens and dozens of Customer Reviews/ Tesitmonials?

  • Noobpreneur says:

    Thanks for the additional tips!

  • As for me the main benefit of credit card is convenience. I believe using a credit card is a better idea because of the protection afforded by law.

  • Stacey Loans says:

    Hello, perhaps our post could be off topic but anyways, I have been surfing about your website and it seems truly neat. It’s obvious you know the subject and you are passionate about it. We are creating a fresh web site and I’m struggling to make it look good, plus present top quality blog posts. I’ve acquired a good deal from this site in addition to I look forward to alot more quality information and will be returning soon. Thanks you.

  • Noobpreneur says:

    Cheers, Stacey!

    It takes time to get the ‘machine’ going well… Once it’s there, you just need to follow up and increase your control on your goal-seeking directions :)

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