Integrated Terminals – What Makes Sense for Retailers

Merchants need to arm themselves with a payment setup that’s fast, convenient, and safe for themselves and their customers. But what type of payment integration and terminal work best to streamline business and please customers when accepting credit cards?

Which Payment Terminal is Right for Retailers

Choosing a terminal that makes the most sense for a merchant is based on the company’s size, needs, and type of customers the business serves.

Fully-Integrated Terminals  

What is it?

This type of terminal often comes in the form of an all-in-one solution that combines a merchant’s point-of-sale system and card terminal into one device. This set-up eliminates the need for a separate point-of-sale and credit card machine. A fully-integrated payment terminal has a 2-way sync capability between the point of sale (POS) and the terminal, enabling merchants to process and refund payments on either device.

Why use it?

This type of terminal set-up offers a much faster way to process credit card payments. Customers will appreciate this efficiency during checkout while it offers merchants real-time data sync between the point-of-sale and payment device. For merchants, payment information is transmitted automatically, so there’s no need to re-enter payment amounts at the checkout counter, which means cashiers can process sales faster, and there’s no room for human error. Plus, merchants can qualify for card-present processing rates which are the most cost effective.

Semi-Integrated Terminals  

What is it?

With a semi-integrated solution, the POS system is separate from the payments terminal. However, the two systems are integrated in the sense that they can “talk” to each other. The credit card terminal sends payment data to the POS system, enabling merchants to process and record payments easily. This means when a customer swipes, taps, or dips their credit card using a merchant’s payment terminal, the purchase amount and payment data are automatically transmitted to the POS.

Why use it?

For merchants looking for both speed and security when accepting credit card transactions, this type of terminal set-up works well. Semi-integrated terminals offer better security to customers since the card information does not enter the POS software during the transaction and alleviates some of the data breach threat. Also, merchants can qualify for card present rates that are lower with this set-up.

Non-Integrated Terminals

What is it?

With a non-integrated payment terminal, the POS system and terminals are not connected. To accept a transaction, a merchant only needs the terminal and a web connection to process payments. The customer inserts or swipes a credit card through the terminal, sending the information for processing directly from the card reader to the payment processor. Once the card is authorized, the merchant can manually record the transaction into the POS or record-keeping system while a receipt is printed from the card terminal.

Why use it?

This type of terminal set-up offers an affordable way to accept credit cards for merchants who do not deal with many customers who don’t insist on quick checkouts. But these types of terminals are becoming quickly outdated and have an increased risk of human error from manually entering transaction data. Non-integrated terminals also do not provide merchants with any insight into the customer purchasing habits or transaction data.

 

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