Financial Related INFO

The POS Terminal Timeline

POS, or point of sale, was not the first way that credit card payments were accepted by retailers. Prior to 1979, credit card payments were processed differently, with mixed results for both merchants and consumers. Predecessors to the POS terminal included:  

• Manual imprinters

 • Electronic authorizations

For many consumers, a manual imprinter may seem like a genuine relic, only relied upon by merchants in a power failure or offline situation. Indeed, the process of imprinting customer information on duplicate or triplicate merchant payment slips was often cumbersome. Before merchants could call in transactions and receive instant approvals, the process was relatively slow as well. With instant approval and transfer capability now standard procedure, merchants can receive their deposits on a timelier basis even if they have to resort to this rather outdated form of credit card payment acceptance. The electronic authorization system was not without its challenges either, as merchants often spent a relatively long time on the phone waiting to receive approvals.

By the early 1980s the POS terminal had evolved from the cumbersome electronic information capturing terminals originally introduced by Visa and MasterCard. Accordingly, credit and debit machines became more of an asset to merchants in terms of providing an efficient way to process electronic payments. This is likely due to the magnetic data stripe being added to the backs of credit cards. POS terminal options have included:

• Verifone ZON, Tranz, and Omni

• Hypercom TZP and TZ Plus

• Lipman Nurit line

Verifone, Hypercom, and Lipman have steadily produced dependable credit and debit machine processing terminals. The ZON terminal, arguably the first genuinely modern POS option, is still considered an industry standard, despite the continued technological evolutions. Likewise Hypercom has many impressive models that offer ideal options regardless of business size or need, with high-end terminals that can handle substantial consumer processing applications. Direct payment systems such as Interac help make debit machine transactions easier and more advantageous as well.

The Importance of Selecting a Reputable Merchant Account Provider

Credit or debit machine capabilities can be extremely beneficial to merchants, provided they select quality products. Accordingly, working with a reputable merchant account provider should be paramount. Selecting POS terminals with the help of a reputable provider will likely ensure the highest level of security and reliability for both you and your customers.