Friday, October 12, 2012

Cash register credit card interface

Sharp cash registers are one of the first on the market to release a commercial grade cash register that  interfaces to a traditional credit card terminal made by Hypercom. Although It is only one specific model of Hypercom it is a step in the right direction. The registers that can do this are the ER-A347 and the ER-A247 from Sharp. I do not beleive gift cards have been introduced to this interface yet.

The interface with the standalone credit card terminal is good, however I don't think it is as fast or secure as the old standby of interfacing cash registers to credit card payments with a Datacap. When you interface with the Datacap product such as the TwinTran it really turns your cash register into a credit card terminal as well. Most SAM4s Cash Registers and Sharp Registers interface with Datacap and also allow Gift Card interface as well.

There are several credit card merchant services compaines that specialize in cash register to credit card interfaces and the unique aspects of this interface. The company I have worked with the most and with the higest rate of success for everyone involved is Mercury Payment Systems. They will offer you a no upfront cost Twin Tran, a no cost gift card program (you do buy the cards, but never a discount fee or transaction fee for gift cards), they pay me to manage and support  your register and cash register interface.

We have not even talked about if you should interface or not. After doing this now for over ten years I can assure you interfacing your cash register or POS system directly to credit card payments will make you more money. How can I be so sure you might ask? I have seen first hand with my own eyes store owners we have installed going through thier receipts before and after interfacing. Before interfacing reconciling credit card payments on the register to the actual charges on the credit card terminal are drasiclty different. After they match penny for penny! Before interface entry mistakes were common where a cashier might turn a $19.99 sale into $1.99 on the credit card terminal. Fraud also is reduced greatly when you interface the two.

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