Merchants in the US currently have access to 30 different terminals out of which 5 make up for 90% of the usage. While buying a credit card terminal, make sure you buy one with features that best suit your business. DO not pay extra for advanced technology or extra features that you are never going to use.
To start with, the terminal you buy to process credit cards doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive, most recent or even highly advanced. Also, you needn’t buy your terminal from your processor. Companies that have proprietary equipment or those who make a huge profit from equipment sales may want you to buy from them. Do not let your processor force you into purchasing excessively marked-up equipment from them. Processors usually support a wide variety of terminals from different manufacturers, so you can actually go out and get a terminal just right for your business!
To help make your choice easier, here is a classification of these terminals into three categories, Land-line, Ethernet compatible, and Wireless.
Nurit 2085 and Hypercom T7 Plus are two good options in the landline category. These terminals are all easy to use, very reliable, and cheap. The Nurit can handle multiple merchant accounts, and all have thermal printers. You won’t have the ability to process over an IP connection with these, but all support additional peripherals like pin pads, smart card readers, or check scanners. Most small retail businesses will be perfectly content using one of these lower cost terminals.
If you’re not using a phone line, or have your business over the internet, you may use an Ethernet compatible terminal with a broadband internet connection and a router / switch. These terminals all have a built in pin pad for PIN debit processing and a thermal printer. These terminals will cost from $300 - $500 with Ethernet compatibility. Be absolutely sure that your provider supports the terminal you are interested in for IP processing, before you actually go and purchase one.
While the wireless terminals have undergone outstanding development over the last five years, their price has dropped dramatically. Wireless terminals can be easily found between $500 and $700. The Nurit 8000 is really the only well supported full-featured terminal in the market right now.
One of the above mentioned terminals should fit the needs of almost every business. So whenever you purchase a terminal, remember to buy what you need and not the very advanced terminal the salesman says you need.
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