Old Fashioned credit card processing

Posted by mhodgdon on January 3, 2007, 2:04 pm

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I have gotten my hands on credit card machine that will process transactions
the old fashioned way via a phone line. The machine does not have the
ability to hook up to a pc and therefore I wont have the ability to tie these
transactions into my history / activity. I have a few questions regarding
this:

1) what are the implications of not having the CC history?
2) is there an effective way to enter some sort of tracking number at POS
from the credit card that will allow me to tie the CC slip to a specfic
transaction?

Any other tips on this would be great.

Michael

Posted by Juli on January 3, 2007, 10:16 pm

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Why do you want to use the separate cc machine when it's so easy to have RMS
do it?

IMHO, it sounds like a royal pain...two separate receipts that you and the
customer have to hang on to. It's one more thing to reconcile. Ugh. Assuming
there's some cost savings motivating this, divide that expense over the 2-3
years you'd expect your equipment to last (bare minimum) and you're talking
pennies a day.

"mhodgdon" wrote:

> I have gotten my hands on credit card machine that will process transactions

> the old fashioned way via a phone line. The machine does not have the

> ability to hook up to a pc and therefore I wont have the ability to tie these

> transactions into my history / activity. I have a few questions regarding

> this:

> 1) what are the implications of not having the CC history?

> 2) is there an effective way to enter some sort of tracking number at POS

> from the credit card that will allow me to tie the CC slip to a specfic

> transaction?

> Any other tips on this would be great.

> Michael

Posted by Mickie on January 4, 2007, 1:05 pm

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We do not have our cc integrated. Seems like more of a pain....with all the
posts about closing "batches" and losing money from lost batches. Whatever.
We don't do batches...yet. But we may have to when we integrate Quickboooks
this year.

Make a general tender type called "Manual Credit Cards" or whatever name you
want.

You can make the tender type credit card, but then the system will prompt
you for the card number which is a pain so don't chose this one.

If you make it a CHECK type, the system will prompt you for the customers
check number and you can also enter their DL number (you may use this
now)....instead of entering the check number you could enter the
"confirmation" number from the credit card receipt...
Or, you can make it "other" tender type and not worry about putting in the
confirmation number.

Why do you need it? We do not keep this number. Just say the person paid $x
by manual Credit Card, and give them the credit card receipt to sign, (We
file these away by month.) then give them their RMS receipt. 99.99% of
people do not WANT the credit card receipt. Our cc machine asks if you want
to print an extra copy for the customer...we never do.

If someone wants to charge back their credit card, you are going to have to
dig out the signature receipts anyway--the confirmation number doesn't do
anything!

"mhodgdon" wrote:

> I have gotten my hands on credit card machine that will process transactions

> the old fashioned way via a phone line. The machine does not have the

> ability to hook up to a pc and therefore I wont have the ability to tie these

> transactions into my history / activity. I have a few questions regarding

> this:

> 1) what are the implications of not having the CC history?

> 2) is there an effective way to enter some sort of tracking number at POS

> from the credit card that will allow me to tie the CC slip to a specfic

> transaction?

> Any other tips on this would be great.

> Michael

Posted by Craig on January 4, 2007, 8:15 pm

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We handle our CC's the same way as Mickie. I feel more secure with the stand
alone terminal. All the programming for the machine is done by our
processor. Nothing to enter like integrated processing. Any problems our
processor takes care of it. Settlement is done automatically, no manual
settlement of batches. There are other reasons, these are just some of the
more important.
Craig

> We do not have our cc integrated. Seems like more of a pain....with all

> the

> posts about closing "batches" and losing money from lost batches.

> Whatever.

> We don't do batches...yet. But we may have to when we integrate

> Quickboooks

> this year.

> Make a general tender type called "Manual Credit Cards" or whatever name

> you

> want.

> You can make the tender type credit card, but then the system will prompt

> you for the card number which is a pain so don't chose this one.

> If you make it a CHECK type, the system will prompt you for the customers

> check number and you can also enter their DL number (you may use this

> now)....instead of entering the check number you could enter the

> "confirmation" number from the credit card receipt...

> Or, you can make it "other" tender type and not worry about putting in the

> confirmation number.

> Why do you need it? We do not keep this number. Just say the person paid

> $x

> by manual Credit Card, and give them the credit card receipt to sign, (We

> file these away by month.) then give them their RMS receipt. 99.99% of

> people do not WANT the credit card receipt. Our cc machine asks if you

> want

> to print an extra copy for the customer...we never do.

> If someone wants to charge back their credit card, you are going to have

> to

> dig out the signature receipts anyway--the confirmation number doesn't do

> anything!

> "mhodgdon" wrote:

>> I have gotten my hands on credit card machine that will process

>> transactions

>> the old fashioned way via a phone line. The machine does not have the

>> ability to hook up to a pc and therefore I wont have the ability to tie

>> these

>> transactions into my history / activity. I have a few questions

>> regarding

>> this:

>> 1) what are the implications of not having the CC history?

>> 2) is there an effective way to enter some sort of tracking number at POS

>> from the credit card that will allow me to tie the CC slip to a specfic

>> transaction?

>> Any other tips on this would be great.

>> Michael

Posted by Juli on January 5, 2007, 12:32 pm

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I guess we're all just more comfortable with what we're familiar with.

I'm a small retailer, not a programmer and I've been able to do it myself.
The setup takes only a couple of minutes and if tested properly (which I'd do
even with a stand-alone), you shouldn't have any problems. Settling the batch
might be different. Although it only takes a couple of seconds each night
(less than running a Z report), for some retailers, the closing employee
might not have security access to let them settle the batch at the end of the
night. We don't have that problem.

The original poster was concerned about a way to tie the cc transaction to
the RMS transaction. In integrated processing, this is a given. And it's been
helpful for me. I've had situations where customers are returning products
without a receipt and, as long as the sale was entered on their account, I
can instantly tell which cc they used to credit them back. We sell some
special order items, so customers will sometimes ask me to verify which cc
they used on their deposit when they decide which cc to use when they pay
their balance. Of course the number is masked but I can tell them the cc type
and last 4 digits.