If you have a store, then you will probably want to have at least one credit card machine for each cash register there. For a large department store, that could mean 20 or 30 machines, whereas a small gas station might only have one. In either case, the credit card machine must be hooked up to a land line telephone. If you shop several merchant service providers, you will likely find one that is willing to provide the credit card machine in order to establish you as a customer. Otherwise, they can cost between $200-350 apiece.
The next step is to contact your telephone provider to set up a dedicated line that is only used for the credit card transactions. Thereafter, when you swipe a customer’s card, or enter in the information, it will quickly be transmitted to the merchant provider and analyzed against all reported lost and stolen and closed numbers. If it is a good account, you will have a quick approval and you can happily send your customer home with some of your products.
