Cell
phone wireless credit card processing is
one of most convenient ways to process cards
on the road. You can use your cell phone,
but also you can use your PC as well and
simply connect to your cell phone and process
your orders away from your office. You can
also use a portable device.
Wireless
credit card processing is sometimes refereed
to as m-commerce which stands for mobile
commerce, although it is still a form of
electronic commerce.
This
convenient method allows you to increase
your sales, reduce your chargeback and fraud
transactions (since customer cannot deny
meeting you in person), and you can conduct
your business at locations where there are
no phone line connections.
There
are 3 types of devices:
Cell phone swipe device (about $100 but
most companies now provide it for free),
as shown below:
Portable credit card swipe or also called
wireless terminal with printer (about $100
but most companies now provide it for free),
as shown below:
Portable swipe
Laptop swipe with either USB or serial connector
(about $20 but most companies now provide
it for free), as shown below:
Selecting
the right wireless device is critical on
the network coverage, so always start by
finding the coverage area that best meets
your business and the location at which
you are processing your customer's credit
cards from.
Just as you
sometimes encounter coverage problems like
lost calls or bad reception with your cell
phone, you can encounter such problems with
a wireless device also and it is essential
that you take this into consideration.
Reception problems
can arise from bad weather, wireless network
traffic congestion, mountainous terrain,
battery problems, poor signal strength,
construction noise and obstructions, and
other such factors. Also remember that even
if the coverage map of a cell phone company
indicates coverage for a particular area,
it does not mean that it is so from all
spots.
Pricing
model for cell phone wireless credit card
processing:
Air charge monthly fee: between $5 and $10
per unit (unit is either a cell phone or
PC)
Wireless gateway setup fee: about $50 one-time
although you should ask for this to be waived
Gateway per transaction fee: between 5 cents
and 30 cents (they can also waive this)
Merchant account discount rate (Visa/Mastercard):
1.79% (but there is a catch see below)
Catch: the 1.75% is only a Interchange+Plus
rate. To this they would add another ~1%
Monthly minimum fee: $25
Per transaction fee: 20-30 cents
Statement fee: $8-$10 (another silly fee
just to charge you more money - ask to waive)
Customer service fee: $8-$10 (another silly
fee just to charge you more money - ask
to waive)
Online software fee: $8-$10 (another silly
fee just to charge you more money - ask
to waive)
Air swipe card reader that connects to your
cell phone: $100
For merchant
account pricing you can see: Mobile
merchant accounts and Wireless
merchant accounts. |
(last 30 days) 
