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When starting a new business, one of the first things you are going to need for set up purposes are business credit card machines. These instruments can be purchased through credit card processing companies, and are very easy to set up and maintain. But how do you know that you are purchasing the right ones? Well, it is actually very simple.

Credit card processing companies provide all of the basic tools necessary for credit card processing: wiring, technical and set up support, and of course terminals (the business credit card machines). These all come in a few different varieties depending on the nature of the business; for retail outlets you will become very familiar with the conventional forms of credit card processing devices, hard wiring and static terminals. For businesses that are mobile and depend on delivery, you will be spending extra for wireless, portable terminals, and for e-businesses you will be using e-terminals.

Credit card processing companies make money primarily based on the discount rate, which is the percentage of the final credit card sales price that is deducted by the processor. The discount rate is universally somewhere in the area of 2%, give or take a fraction, and typically higher for e-terminals than for standard business credit card machines. There are a small number of other fees that may apply as well, such as static, per-charge costs and monthly fees.

It is always best to do your homework when choosing business credit card machines. The primary concerns that you will want to consider are the discount rate (as this will be the largest expenditure) and the level of customer satisfaction. Both of these can be checked through toptenreviews.com or JD Power and Associates.

Running a successful business is simply a matter of finding the right people to work with, and choosing the right processing service is no exception.


This Business article was written by Mark Karavan on 2/8/2010