In order to accept payments from credit cards, merchants will need a merchant account, and to be able to capture and transfer information from the credit card, the use of credit card terminals becomes necessary. The vendors that supply the merchant accounts, may also supply the terminals, but before accepting any offers, business owners should be completely clear, and fully understand what is being offered.
Although there may be different types of credit card terminals, they basically perform the same functions, but what is different, is the manner in which the functions are performed. The function of the credit cards terminals is to allow merchants to capture and transfer the credit card information. The information can be captured by swiping or manually entering the card information, that is then automatically sent to the merchant service provider for verification and authorization. What has also changed over the last few decades, is the manner in which the information is transferred.
In earlier periods, information was sent over telephone lines, using the dial-up procedures, although this process, may still be in use, it has largely been replaced by transfer over IP networks.
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