1. Credit card machine information

There are many different styles and prices of credit card machines in today's industry. The type of credit card machine that a merchant needs is determined by the type of business and style of credit card processing that the merchant is planning on doing. For a history of credit card terminals, take a look at the credit card terminal timeline.

Popular Brands:
The most popular brands of credit card equipment in the US are Verifone, Hypercom, and Lipman.

Most merchants that are planning on keying in their transaction would need a, while merchants who operate a retail type environment would need a . Many mobile businesses would benefit best from a, providing that their processing volume supports the high cost of the wireless terminal, and there is sufficient cellular coverage in their area.

Businesses that both swipe their credit cards and key their credit cards in, may benefit from having 2 merchant accounts processing through the same terminal. This may sound more expensive, but is usually a cheaper way to process if the keyed and swiped transaction volumes are about equal. There are several credit card terminals that can handle multiple merchant accounts. These terminals are: Nurit 2085, Nurit 3020, Nurit 3010, Nurit 8000, Omni 3750, Omni 3740, and the Verifone Tranz 380x2. There may be other terminals such as Linkpoint or Thales that can handle multiple merchant accounts but these listed are the most commonly used.

Another reason that a merchant might want a terminal that can handle multiple merchant accounts is their type of business needs several merchant accounts. This is very common for Massage, Hair Styling and similar type businesses. Each stylist or Masseuse can have their own merchant account for their own customers, which will help avoid complicated paperwork at the end of the month.