Think Beyond the Traditional POS System with Virtual Terminals

Whether it’s a doctor’s clinic, a restaurant, a large business, a tailor shop, a local grocery shop, or a freelance web developer, each business is unique and so are the needs of operating it. The businesses may operate differently but one thing is for sure that they all accept payments – cash, credit and debit cards, checks, or e-wallets.

Follow the trends …

Over the last few years, the use of credit cards has increased at an unprecedented pace thanks to the online shopping trend catching up fast among people across the globe. Are you still accepting cash and card-present payments only? Do you know a lot of businesses have already made a smart move by embracing virtual terminal POS systems?

With virtual terminal card payments, you can accept credit card payments even when the credit card is not present. The virtual terminal is a software solution that allows merchants to effortlessly, quickly, and securely accept credit card payments anytime, anywhere – all you need is a computer, laptop, or mobile with an internet connection. Before we talk further about the incredibly great benefits of using a virtual terminal POS system for accepting credit card payments digitally, let’s quickly understand the basics of the virtual terminal and see how it works.

The virtual terminal is an online application that enables merchants to process electronic/digital payments by mail order, phone, email, fax, or in person. Any existing device, such as your laptop, computer, tablet, or even your smartphone, can be used as your virtual terminal POS system with no need to buy additional hardware or software. Isn’t it great?

For accepting in-person credit card payments, you may connect a card reader to your desktop through USB input but maybe you won’t need it. With a merchant account, payment gateway, web browser, and internet access, accepting credit cards virtually is not a challenge anymore. However, it is important to note that you cannot start accepting credit card payments digitally unless you have a virtual terminal merchant account.

How does the virtual terminal work?

A virtual terminal merchant account is highly beneficial for businesses including restaurants, retail stores, freelancers, wholesalers, and others that accept or want to accept credit card payments. Virtual terminals allow merchants to accept and process card-not-present payments and even set up recurring billing as well.

The virtual terminal is quite easy to use and anyone with little knowledge of computers or mobile devices can use it. To begin with, you need to log into the payment gateway or online dashboard and open the virtual terminal. Choose the payment type – credit, debit, e-wallet, etc. Now enter the amount of the sale and additional notes, if required. Type the card number or customer’s bank account details into the digital form.

You may use a USB card reader and dip or swipe the card, in case you are accepting physical, card-present payment. Hit the submit button to process the payment. If card approval is confirmed, your customer will get a copy of the receipt via email.

Other than accepting and processing card-present and card-not-present payments, you can process refunds using the virtual terminal and even review the history of all your transactions.

Please remember, if you follow the same process (of keying in card information), the sale will still be considered “virtual” and you will be liable to pay the transaction processing fees that apply. To avoid these fees, you may consider accepting checks and ACH payments instead. Alternately, you may use a USB card reader for processing all in-person sales. This will help reduce your processing fees.

Benefits of virtual terminal merchant account and POS systems for merchants

Some of the most compelling benefits of the virtual terminal for businesses include:

Merchant Application

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