Faster Credit/Debit Card trasaction processing can increase sales and decrease costs

How fast can you process credit (debit) cards?

Using a telephone line for dial-up services takes 25 to 45 seconds.

Using high-speed service over the Internet reduces the transaction time to 2 to 5 seconds.

According to studies, switching from a slow speed dial-up credit card service to a high-speed Internet service can increase credit/debit card processing sales by 3 percent because your customers are not waiting longer than necessary to pay for their purchase.

In addition, of course, you are increasing staff productivity when you use high speed Internet service because your staff is not wasting time waiting for a transaction to complete.

Another big factor for increasing the speed of transaction processing involving a debit or credit card is the printer being used to print the receipt.

Examples of high-speed printers are the Epson TM-T90 series, which can print a credit card receipt in about a second.

Adding a fast printer and an Internet connection in your business can significantly increase your sales and decrease your customer's checkout time.

Adding an Internet connection in your business will cost anywhere from $14.99 (Verizon Online DSL) to $119.95 (Covad Business DSL) per month (prices as of 04/04/06).

These costs, however, are easily offset by the advantages discussed above, plus others, such as cost savings that will accrue because you can do away with a dedicated phone line for credit card processing. And, because you can avoid costs such as postage and create new revenue opportunities enabled by your Internet connection such as communicating directly with your customers via email.