Looking for a Merchant Account? Virtual Terminals Offer The Most Versatility for Any Type of Business

Flexibility and versatility are powerful adjectives which, when used in a small business’ strategy, can mean the difference between thriving or simply surviving. A merchant account virtual terminal is another tool that small business owners can employ to help build an agile-focused business strategy. The advanced payment options, and the associated efficiencies that virtual terminals are capable of adding, will bear immediate dividends in any small business setting.

Learn the Ins and Outs of Merchant Accounts

Merchant accounts operate in much the same way as typical business accounts; payments made by customers via a credit or debit card are sent to a merchant account. However, unlike the typical business account, you do not get direct access to a merchant account. Instead, the funds within a merchant account are distributed to your own business accounts at pre-determined and regularly scheduled times.

If you can’t directly access revenues contained within a merchant account, why not just cut out the middleman and have money flow directly into your accounts? The answer to this is straightforward; the account provider gives you payment acceptance processing as well as some other features, such as monitoring your account to maintain PCI compliance. Merchant accounts are necessary in order to realize the full potential benefits that come with using virtual terminals in your business.

Know What Virtual Terminals Can Accomplish

Virtual terminals are powerful business tools that can help you streamline the way your business operates. However, it is important to understand what exactly a virtual terminal is capable of accomplishing and how these should be implemented. There are three key business aspects where virtual terminals can make a large difference in managing customer payments and the resulting flow of data into your POS business software:

Virtual terminals allow you to use mobile devices as a physical terminal for payment acceptance.Using virtual terminals is a requirement in today’s eCommerce business model.You can accept payments from distributed invoices or customer transactions that do not require itemization.

Virtual terminals offer the ability to accept a wider range of payment types. When a virtual terminal is deployed in conjunction with a fully supportive merchant account, the cost of doing business drops significantly through the reduction of fees associated with some forms of payment acceptance. Virtual terminals are mobile-friendly, and will allow you to accept payments without limitations, even in the event of all of your other systems going offline—including in power or internet loss situations.

Understand What Virtual Terminals Cannot Accomplish

As exciting as the benefits virtual terminals bring to both business processes and customer relations are, there are some flaws that must be considered as well. For example, cash transactions must be manually keyed into a virtual terminal, which slows the time required to process a transaction while eliminating the ability to offer a fully contactless experience. This will also apply to the keying in of payment information from a physical card.

Extra security measures will need to be in place, as one of the basics of virtual terminal payments is to be able to accept and process cards that do not present transactions. Also, payment acceptance fees will be higher than accepting traditional physical card payments, adding another potential area of costs to a budget. However, these can all be readily addressed by choosing a merchant account provider that manages the security and a budget-friendly fixed rate for all transactions.

Determine If a Merchant Account Virtual Terminal Is Right for Your Business

Making a final determination about whether or not you want to move toward virtual terminals starts with self-analysis. The merchant account provider you select will be a determining factor in selecting the type of virtual terminals. But instead of trying to outthink the room, ask yourself these questions:

Are cash transactions a prevalent part of the way I do business? If so, can I easily transition towards a cashless business model? If the answers to these are “yes” and “no” respectively, then virtual terminals will not be a good fit.Do I currently have, or are planning to move, towards an online ordering platform? If so, virtual terminals will be a requirement to maximize the positive impact on your business.Does my business rely on me being able to be mobile and to utilize my POS software in a virtual office environment? A virtual terminal is for you if the answer to these is “yes”.

These are just a few examples of the types of questions you need to ask yourself during a self-examination. Using this process will give you an accurate view of where and how exactly your merchant accounts and virtual terminals can work in sync to provide operational benefits for key business processes.

Merchant Account and Virtual Terminal Guidance Is a Click Away

Narrowing down your search to the merchant accounts or virtual terminals that best fit your business scenario will be made easier by following the above considerations. But this can still leave an overwhelming amount of options on the table that may still have your head spinning. Instead of navigating this maze on your own, turn to an expert POS consultant that can help you derive an all-encompassing solution to modernize your processes and the way you accept payments.

Establishing a business relationship with talech provides more than just innovative and affordable technology. We see the value in the work that you do and want you to have the most effective technical tools at your fingertips by guiding you through making profitable changes that enhance your market position. Reach out to us today to sign up for a demo and to learn more about how talech can be your valued POS partner.