Credit Card Equipment

Choosing credit card equipment has more to do with the interface between what equipment you use at the point of sale to collect and record payment, and the software that you use to perform the accounting required. The days of manually imprinting the numbers directly from the card are just about gone. In fact, several card issuers no longer have raised numbers on the card - a magnetic strip has replaced the mechanical method.

Today, most merchants simply swipe a credit card through a cash register scanner or a dedicated computer terminal. Some credit card mechanisms interface directly with inventory control software to provide stocking and ordering information on a real-time basis.

Another issue is whether your business is the type that must provide printed receipts to customers. The software that accounts for sales generally will provide the option to create a printed receipt. Obviously, the receipt you get for your burger and fries at a fast food restaurant isn't too meaningful. In contrast, the receipt that an auto repair shop provides has significance to several parties.

A receipt from an auto repair shop will detail each of the elements that enter into the final cost. Parts, labor, and materials are items that have significance to the customer, who will want to know why it costs so much does to repair a simple fender bender. The insurance company will want to see an itemized bill in order to negotiate how much to pay. And the repair shop can feed the data into inventory and bookkeeping databases. So, generating a single document from a credit card transaction that covers all of these tasks adds efficiency, in exchange for modest up-front equipment costs.