Processing Equipment: Buy, Lease or Get Free?

A majority of today’s business owners will, at some point, consider obtaining a merchant accounts for their business.  A merchant account allows business owners to accept credit card and debit cards from their customers as a form of payment.  In order to process credit and debit card transactions a merchant must obtain both a merchant account and credit card processing equipment. 

 

Credit card processing equipment, also called credit card terminals, reads the information contained in the magnetic stripe on the back of the customers card and sends the encrypted information to the processing bank and issuing bank for a real-time authorization.  The terminal also submits daily authorizations in a ‘batch’ to the processing bank for settlement or a request by the merchant for payment on authorized transactions.

 

Equipment can be large out-of-pocket, up-front expense to small to medium-sized business owners.  Choosing processing equipment, at the right price for you, is an important decision that can have a variety of financial impacts on your business.  For most small to medium sized business owners, a compact all-in-one solution like a Hypercom T7 Plus with an optional S9 Pin Pad for pin-based debit will exceed all of the businesses processing needs.

 

Business owners are faced with deciding if they should lease, buy or go with a free terminal equipment program.  There are obvious and not-so-obvious benefits with each.  A solution like the Hypercom T7 Plus can be purchased for a few hundred dollars, including programming and a warranty, from Premier Payment Systems (www.ppsbankcard.com).  An item like this should not be leased if it can be avoided. Leases are often non-cancelable, extend over a 36 month period and range from $19.99 to $99.99 per month. 

 

Leases are a great option, however, for a business like a new restaurant or fast-food establishment that needs a Restaurant POS system that can cost upwards of $5,000.  All-in-one cash register and processing systems can be leased for as little as $89.99 per month, a much more affordable and budget-friendly option in this scenario. 

 

Free terminal programs can be a great option but you must read the fine print.  For all free terminal programs, you must process with the company offering you the free terminal.  Many free terminal programs are offered in coordination with one or all of the following: higher processing rates; high cancellation fees; additional monthly fees; or start-up fees. Premier Payment Systems offers no-strings attached free terminal program that is a great option for business owners.  Premier simply asks for a small, 100% refundable deposit in exchange for providing you with a free terminal.  Upon canceling OR processing with Premier for 36 months (which ever occurs first) the merchant is refunded the deposit.

 

Happy Processing!