Card terminals

[Fritha]

I think a few people on here have got them, essentially something where I can process card payments from someone stood in front of me, how do they work, how much do they cost, what else do I need to know about them?

I have no idea where to start or even if I want to start with all of that malarchy!

Thanks in advance for pearls of wisdom!

[friendlybaby]

You may find it cheaper to go with something like PayPal Virtual Terminal which costs £20 per month, or free if you use PayPal Payments Pro already. It would mean that you'd need an internet connection, but presumably you will need something along those lines to make a card machine work. I'm sure you'll get lots of replies from people who have a card machine too, but just another option to consider.

[Miranda]

Most places charge £25-40 a month rental for a terminal. Having used a deskbound one for years (and the paper vouchers when out and about) I investigated these round about the time they were going to bring chip & pin in. In the end, rather than rent the machine, I decided to buy one - from http://www.chipandpinsolutions.com - for about £500, I figured if I got 2 years out of it it'd be a bonus, we're currently about 4 or 5 years down the road and still going strong. The fees/month for the airtime on the sim card are about £9/month from memory. Additionally there's a fee per transaction (debit cards) and percentage (credit cards0 to remember when you work out the costs but they are (or should be!) a lot less than Paypal fees

[Mary Poppins]

If you are a member of Costco I believe they do one that you can rent. We had a leaflet through about it a couple of months ago. Might be worth giving them a ring.

[blush]

If you are a member through federation of small businesses you can hire one for free through streamline and transaction costs are discounted. I constantly get calls to try and beat their deal and no one has beat it yet. it goes through your telephone line

[Maryann]

Thanks for this post. Ive just opened a shop and having trouble finding one at a reasonable price. Will look into the federation of small business's