Wireless Credit Card Processing???

[system]

Hello all,

I have been reading a lot lately about apps for I-Phones and such that offer wireless C/C processing with swipe ability and even signature collection screens. With all the fraud that exists out there with phone in C/C orders… does anyone use this yet and how has it worked out for you? This seems like a great way to almost eliminate use of stolen numbers and lower processing costs by having 100% swiped transactions. :mrgreen:

 

[stebby1]

I personally would flip if a delivery driver swiped my credit card into their phone. However, I do believe Verifone has a portable credit card terminal that uses cell towers to communicate with the credit card company.

 

[Daddio]

I use the VeriFone Vx670 for all credit/debit card transactions at the customers door. My discount rate is lower since all transactions are swiped. I have a policy in place that the card must be present for any transactions and have not had any charge backs.

In Canada the credit/debit cards are coming out with a chip and PIN so the driver in most cases doesn’t even need to get the customers signature on the slip. The card is inserted into the terminal and the customer enters the PIN, the transaction is completed and I get the money

 

[paul7979]

In my business model, doing wireless terminals would not be realistic. I would love to save the processing fees that wireless terminals would offer, but the economics in my business just don’t work out. On my busiest shifts, I may have 15 drivers on the road at once. Over 50% of my orders are paid by credit card so in my mind I would need to have a terminal for each and every driver. From what I have looked at from different credit card processors, I would pay a monthly access fee for each of these terminals as well as a batch fee for each one that was used in a given night. I think wireless terminals have their place in some businesses, but high volume pizza delivery is not it.

 

[system]

Paul good point… I hadn’t even looked into that far…but with so many out… the fees could add up. Stebby…it uses secured network for the signal transmission…so no more a risk than giving that number over the phone. Maybe even less. The latest one I saw actually used a standard smart phone and was just a little attachment that hooked into the data port on the phone. I know this is in its early stages and will most likely become the norm in years too come. Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[brad_randall]

Mercury Payment Systems just released its app for the I-Phone. No cost for the app and no additional fees to process the transactions. All cards will be processed as swiped instead of keyed. Each phone auto-batches at the end of the night and the transactions are reflected in the store’s batch details available online - so no additional batch fees. Only issues seems to be whether or not gratuities can be separated out and tracked on the current version of the App.

I’m trying to crunch the numbers right now. I’ll need to invest in quite a few I-Phones and the mag-stripe readers (and plan for replacement costs). I’m trying to discover what kind of business data & voice plan Verizon offers for 15-20 phones too. Even if I just break even on the deal, I’m pretty sure I want to move forward as processing credit cards 3 different ways is an operational nightmare.

Benefits: Lower credit-card processing costs for formerly keyed orders and also web orders. Faster phone order taking with no need to key in card numbers. No need to track-through-the-system web orders prepaid through 3rd party sites anymore. Helps to reduce the “pending” vs. actual charges confusion for customers (hooray!). Less paper usage since receipts are e-mailed to the customer.

Just waiting on Mercury to get back with me about the gratuity thing.

 

[perfect_pizzas]

One problem with using these on deliveries is that several times a week when we key in a cc number on the phone it comes up declined. Very often the customer doesn’t have an alternative payment option. If you keyed these at the door, these pizzas would come back and you can’t resell pizzas. This would very quickly eat into any processing fee savings at our location.

 

[Rick_G]

I just got a $65.00 chargeback for a swiped card order on Christmas Eve :shock: . Evidently I am covering the food for the Christmas party :x . The last thing in the world I want is a way to make it easier for customers to use cards while also giving the card processors more of my money. They are like leaches except you can pull leaches off and be rid of them. Credit cards slow down the flow at the counter costing me labor and inconvienencing the customers that have to wait in line. CC fees cost me more in one month than six months of bad checks.

In nine years we have only had cash bounce one time, we got a bogus ten of all things. cash is king, checks are queens and the credit card is the court jester.

Rick

 

[Registered_Guest]

perfect pizzas:

One problem with using these on deliveries is that several times a week when we key in a cc number on the phone it comes up declined.

Exactly. This issue is the best reason to avoid “at the door” CC authorization.

Not to mention there are more than a few good reasons that the card might not be present - like a parent ordering food for their latch-key kids, or college students using their parents card (with permission). Etc., etc.

Also, I’m not about to give each of my drivers a $300 device to carry around with them and be responsible for. I’d bet within a couple of weeks that 2 out of 10 of them would be broken, lost, stolen…

 

[indie_pizza]

Registered Guest:

Also, I’m not about to give each of my drivers a $300 device to carry around with them and be responsible for. I’d bet within a couple of weeks that 2 out of 10 of them would be broken, lost, stolen…

I agree, but some places have delivery drivers who have been with them for ages, so I could see it working for some.

 

[brad_randall]

Mercury’s App doesn’t offer a separate tip line. They say it is planned for the next phase of the release, but I haven’t nailed them down on a time line as of yet.

My surfing/searching has also turned up a lot of swiper/printers already on the market (that connect to all kinds of phones) and I like the thought of being able to print out a receipt instead of having to collect an e-mail address to send a copy to the customer. Perhaps a better company to work with is out there already?

 

[stebby1]

qcfmike:

Stebby…it uses secured network for the signal transmission…so no more a risk than giving that number over the phone.

I’m just gonna say this and then move on… Phones can be hacked, and regularly are hacked. In fact google just had a big issue with a bunch of applications on their android os. Also, you still have a couple generations out there that dont quite trust the whole credit card thing as much as myself and my generation do. If your driver swipes a card into their phone, secure or not, it could get quite a few of your customers riled up. If they were swiping into an actual credit card terminal, your customers would probably trust that more.

I’m 26, and me personally, i would a lot rather give my number over the phone then have a delivery driver swipe my card on their phone.

And just one final thought. Wouldnt you have to pay a terminal fee or access fee for each of the phones running cards? I dont know, i’m just thinking this through…

 

[system]

I think there are a lot of factors that will change as this progresses. Being in its infantcy there are no doubt many questions about security and function that will need to be worked out. I need to look into it all a bit further… I thought the article I was reading said that it immediately sent the info to your processor and did not store any personal info on the collection phone…only used as a portable data port.

The other great point was how fast they break or get left behind somewhere. This would very quickly make any savings a wash. There is a little bar in town here that does it the only safe way. 100% cash only. No checks…no credit or debit cards. They do have a zero-fee ATM on site for all your cash needs. :mrgreen:

 

[MonAlyssa]

We have been using a Blackberry for the past year for our drivers this has been great. we have an Otter cover on all the phones and Printers so if they fall they absorb the shock. There is also a higher encryption on these phones then swiping on your terminal. No information is saved or stored on the phone it once you swipe its ecrypted and sent. We are know looking into the verizon I-phones as they are sleeker and faster and customers can sign directly on the i-phone. With my online reports it also gives my the gps cordinates of were it was swiped. if we ever lost our phones there is a software that was installed that will locate the phones from a computer. We can also print out a reciept e-mail it or text it to you phone. the phone is also great because we have had a couple of people call from the hotels and when we tell them that the driver will swipe there card infront of them they either cancel or tell me that they don’t have the card on them which we do not accept if the card is not present. We are using intuit the only issue is that we do not have a tip line or can not put a tip on later since of how it’s encrypted and sent they told me that the tip line is in the works. They also had really low prices on the processing fees when i got it. We also got Verizon Wireless Business plan so our pricing is a lot better then family plan which we switched our family to business and they added extra lines. We were also lucky that it took them over 8 hours to switch my family line to business that the DM that was visiting the store while i was there saw how horrible my experience was because of how we had to switch everything that he gave us free Andriods and free Blackberrys all our lines even the ones that werent up for a new phone. Also how they processed the lines i also got credit for 2 1/2 months.

 

[brad_randall]

Mercury added the tip line… I’m not sure when since I just happened to be looking at these apps against and noticed it. Nice salesmanship there MPS guys.

http://a1.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/000/Purple/28/02/b0/mzl.kwdlmurp.320x480-75.jpg

Apparently, the customer adds the gratuity and then swipes the card. No going back and modifying the tip line after-the-fact.

Also, I don’t know if that tax line can be removed or hidden. And I don’t see where on the other screens an e-mail address would be entered. I guess I’ll have to go get an Iphone, download the thing and use it for a few days to see how it would work out. Getting info from MPS is like pulling teeth.