Should You Turn Your Mobile Device into a Cash Register

Did you know that 180 million Americans carry credit cards, and that is the most popular form of payment. It’s also been found that customers spend more when paying with card over cash. This info shows that it’s absolutely crucial for small businesses to accept credit cards, and if your small business isn’t accepting credit card payments, then you’re potentially missing out on a lot of sales and revenue.

If you don’t have a cash register that can accept credit card payments, and you’re worried it may be too expensive, PowerSites is here to present an alternative option–turning your mobile phone into a cash register that accepts credit card payments.

Smart Devices as Credit Card Terminals

SquareWhen businesses choose to accept credit cards, they expand their potential customer/client base dramatically. This is the number one reason so many businesses choose to accept credit cards.

Merchant service businesses are businesses that process credit cards for merchants. Companies that specialize in using smart devices such as smart phones and tablets usually provide a card-reading device at no charge that simply plugs into the businesses smart device, like the Square Reader.

In addition, when companies use landlines to process credit card payments there is normally a monthly fee, a fixed transaction fee, and another fee that can be as high as four percent of the total transaction. However, where smart devices used for credit card processing there is only a single fee that is less than three percent of the total transaction.

Businesses That Can Benefit From Smart Device Credit Card Acceptance

In the United States, businesses that are attracted to smart device credit card acceptance are primarily businesses that deliver to or work at customer’s residence or business. These businesses can be quite varied ranging from a butcher who delivers meets to your home to an electrical contractor that installs electrical fixtures. Other great candidates for using smart device credit card acceptance are repair people. Merchants that attend trade shows, county fairs, and street festivals or farmers markets to sell their products find that using smart device to accept credit cards is an affordable way to expand their customer base.

Anyone that works on the go and accepts payments for services or goods would be ideal candidates for turning their mobile devices into cash registers.

Smart Device Credit Card Acceptance Technology

Mobile credit card acceptance technology is in its infancy. A merchant services company gives a small reading device; frequently called a “dongle”, that easily plugs into a smart device. Once the card is swiped, the merchant services provider who receives the information over a mobile phone carrier’s network or the Internet, then processes it. Once the card is approved for, the transaction customers use a stylus or their finger to sign on a touchscreen. In addition to processing the card merchant services company also provides reports such as gross sales and best-selling products. It also benefits the customer and reduces the waste of paper with features like being able to email a receipt, instead of printing one out.

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