Credit Card Machines for Small Business: How to Get One
A credit card machine is a small piece of equipment with decisions behind it. Here’s what to know before you get one.
Credit card machines for small business come in a few different forms, and the right one depends on how your customers pay you — at a counter, at a table, or out on a job. The machine itself is straightforward.
If you’re a cash-only business thinking about taking cards, here’s what actually goes into getting set up.
What is a credit card machine and what does it do?
A credit card machine is the terminal a customer taps, inserts, or swipes their card into. It’s the piece your customer touches.
When a card goes in, the terminal reads it and sends the transaction out to be approved. The customer’s bank says yes or no, the answer comes back, and the sale completes. From your customer’s side it’s a few seconds and a receipt.
Behind that terminal is the processing — the part that moves the money into your account. The machine and the processing are two separate pieces, and FPE provides both.
What kind of credit card machine does a small business need?
Three basic types, and the right one comes down to where the payment happens.
Countertop terminals sit by the register and plug into power and a phone line or internet connection. If your customers pay at one fixed spot — a liquor store, a smoke shop, a counter-service restaurant — this is the standard.
Wireless credit card terminals run on a cellular or Wi-Fi connection and move around. A restaurant with table service, a food truck, a business that takes payment away from the register. Your customer’s card never leaves their hand, which some businesses prefer.
Mobile card readers attach to a phone or tablet. Smallest and simplest, and they suit businesses that take payment out in the field more than at a fixed location.
Most small businesses only need one type. Picking wrong usually means a countertop unit for a business that needed to move, and then you’re carrying the whole check to the front.
How do you get a credit card machine set up?
Four things happen, roughly in this order.
You figure out which terminal fits. See above — where the payment happens decides it.
You get set up with processing. The terminal needs a processing account behind it before it can approve anything. This is where most business owners have questions, and it’s worth having someone walk you through it.
The machine gets configured. It has to be programmed to your business before it works. A terminal out of the box isn’t ready to take a payment.
You start taking cards. From there it’s a matter of knowing who to call when something acts up.
How does FPE handle credit card machines?
FPE provides credit card processing and supplies the terminal — one company for both.
We’ve been doing this since 1997, a family owned business in Burbank, California, and we work with businesses across the country — some of which are the same restaurants, markets, and convenience stores we already handle ATMs for.
Hablamos español — call and speak with someone in either language.
If you’re thinking about taking cards, or your current machine is giving you trouble, call us and we’ll figure out what you need.