What is a Manual Credit Card Machine, and Why Would You Use One?
In a day and age when we are used to automation, you may want to
know why you would ever have any need for a manual credit card machine.
In order to understand that, however, you must be fully aware of what
this type of machine is. You might say that there are actually two
different types.
The first type is the credit card imprinter.
These are mostly outdated these days - few businesses use them, and
when a business does use them, it is because they do such a low amount
of card payment business, that this method of accepting payment cards
is the method that makes the most financial sense for them.
Of
course, there is a very good reason that this option is only suitable
for those businesses that only do a little card payment business - the
old manual credit card machine actually requires a little bit of muscle
to use. You place the card where it belongs on top of the device, place
the credit card slip over that, and then you have to push the imprinter
over the top - it's usually very tight and hard to move.
Of
course, this is just one way to manually process a credit card. There
is another form of manual processing, and it is important that you not
only know the difference, but that you also know which type of manual
processing is being discussed when you are talking with your processing
company or your customers.
The second type of manual credit card
machine is a card payment system that allows the business owner or
merchant to run the customers card payment - typically when the
customer or the card are not in the physical presence of the business
owner or merchant. Many processing companies do not allow this, as it
can lead to fraud. However, for certain types of businesses, this type
of processing is absolutely necessary.
For example, if you take
orders over the telephone, or through the mail, you will need to
manually process the credit card. Most processing companies that do
allow this include a software interface with their service, where you
can use the Internet for secure processing. All that is required is the
information from the card in order to process the payment.
Some
credit card machines are also set up for this, where the business owner
punches in the required information - directly into the machine - using
the keypad. Often, manual processing is required when a customer is
present, because the metallic strip on the card is damaged, and no
longer readable by the machine.
Since the equipment is already
set up for this, why couldn't you just process all cards manually? You
really cannot do that without a prior arrangement with the processing
company, because they know how often you are processing manually - and
they will start to wonder why you are doing that.
Again, the main
reason that the processing companies are so strict about manual
processing is because of the high amount of credit card fraud that uses
this method of processing, but there are instances where you do need a Manual Credit Card Machine.