When you are starting a business in 2020, then you just have to offer multiple ways for your customers to pay. This is important because your business’s reputation, accessibility, and sales depend on it. E- wallets, credit/debit cards.NFC and cash are the prime payment methods of course, but no other mode of payment holds as much importance in direct, offline establishments as credit/debit cards.
Choosing the right card reader service, however, is somewhat complicated and even more confusing,
since there are so many options available these days. To help new business owners find the right card
machines and the proper merchant service that will be powering those card readers, we have listed the following few pointers to keep in mind:
Accessibility: Premium Plans without Scalability May Not be Worth It
There are premium service providers in this business and they charge a premium price for their services as expected. The question is, what if you do not need their latest and greatest plans right now? After all, you are only just starting out and you probably do not have a clear idea regarding how much of what you will need from them.
This is precisely why accessibility is important, which is to say that the company providing you with your card machines and the associated services should have entry-level and scalable plans for new
businesses. You can start as low as you like, but you should also be able to scale your plan to a more
suitable one later on. Nevertheless, until that time comes, there is no point in choosing a service that
starts at a much higher price point than that. All those extra services the premium plan may include will only hold value for a business if they have the capacity to make use of those extra features. Otherwise, the monthly fees will just become an unnecessary expense without return.
Speedy Payment Processing is a Must
Depending on which company provided your business with the credit/debit card machines, the processing may take anything from two to four days. That is just something that you cannot, or rather should not accept in 2020. Consider UTP Merchant Services instead, which processes all transactions made via their card machines within 24 hours at the most and in less than 60 minutes if required. UTP is also one of the only two merchant service providers in the UK that works with Barclaycard.
In-House Service Should be Available
The card machines that most service providers sell are generally not made in the UK. This is a problem because of three interlinked reasons:
1. When foreign-made, it is unlikely that a damaged or malfunctioning card reader will be
serviceable by the service providers themselves.
2. That leads to outsourcing, which also means your damaged card machines will not be
serviceable in-house.
3. Finally, all of this also translates to delays in service for obvious reasons, which will affect your
business productivity.
Go with a service provider that doesn’t need to outsource their manufacturing and repairing services to another country and can also provide reliable and speedy in-house technical support to their customers. If they meet that requirement, rest assured that it will be mentioned by their sales rep, or on their website. It is a brilliant selling point for companies that can provide such comprehensive services, and they should be proudly mentioning it as a feature.
Even if in-house service isn’t mentioned, this is certainly a question worth asking. A card reader is a
machine, and they can break down at any point, just like any other machine. Given how crucial
credit/debit card machines are to offline businesses, you need the assurance that the merchant service provider can tend to such issues in a timely manner, with reliable in-house support when required.
Check the Manufacturer of Your Card Machines
If your card related merchant services are being provided by a reliable company with in-house
technicians available for repairs, then the tabletop/wireless card machines which they supply must also come from a reputed manufacturer. Within Europe, the French manufacturer Ingenico holds a lot of respect in this field. Any card reader manufactured by them should not only be of high quality, but they should also be serviceable within the UK since they have a prominent presence in the country. Besides, high-quality card machines from a top manufacturer are also a lot less likely to need frequent repairs to begin with.
On the other hand, if you see a manufacturer name that you cannot find much information on, it’s a sign that your card machines and the service provider may not be the most reliable option.
Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.