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Debits, the good kind!

Written by: Will Atkinson

Article Overview: Debit card transactions can be a bit of a mystery to retailers, since they are priced differently from credit card transactions. The industry lingo can be confusing and retailers end up paying too much to accept these payments.

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Debits, the good kind!

Debit cards are an increasingly popular method of payment for consumers these days. They have been a major tender for years now, but as consumers shy away from the debt associated with credit cards, more and more are using their debit cards.

What does this mean for retailers? Well, most credit card systems will accept debit cards and process them as a credit card. This works fine, sure, but it may hold hidden costs. Typically processors charge a flat fee for processing debit transactions. There is a discount to this fee for using a pinpad to capture the customer's PIN number. The idea is that a PIN-entered transaction is more secure than a non-PIN transaction, so the processor will give the retailer/merchant a better rate.

So, if you have held off on getting a pinpad due to the cost, now's probably the right time to catch up with the times. A good pinpad shouldn't cost much more than $200, and if you are handling lots of debit transactions, it could pay for itself in a very short time.

Look into this with your POS provider and make sure you're not paying too much for credit and debit services.

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Home > Retail > Will Atkinson > Debits the good kind
Article Tags: consumers, credit card systems, credit cards, debit cards, debit transactions, pin number, pinpad, processors, right time, short time

About the Author: Will Atkinson
RSS for Will's articles - Visit Will's website

Will Atkinson has spent his entire career dealing directly with small retailers to solve their technology problems, especially point of sale and inventory control issues. Will manages CAP Software, a specialty POS software company dedicated to providing the finest in retail POS applications for small and medium retailers. Learn more about CAP at www.capretail.com or contact me at will@capretail.com. His expertise extends to customer service issues, usability and workflow properties, and other retail best practices. Will helps retailers understand business problems in order to provide a solution that saves time and money, commodities that are limited for everyone.

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