A Beginner's Guide to Accepting Card Payments and Reaping Its Benefits

Have you heard about the Mobile card payment machine? Well, this machine is also popular as a POS terminal, PDQ machine, credit card terminal, or EFTPOS terminal. You can call it a device that allows businesses for processing payments electronically. Here the POS system is quite similar to this but has the potential to deliver additional functions too. Mobile payments consist of mobile wallets with mobile money transfers facility and that regulates transactions that take place via your mobile device. In place of paying in cash, cheques or via physical credit card for buying any product or service cash, mobile payment technology will give the scope to pay it digitally.We picked 3 benefits which we believe will encourage you to introduce a card payment machine for business. Payment online: Popular as Virtual Terminal, allows a business to accept card payments over the phone directly from customers especially the one who doesnt have time to visit and pay, and also for non-local customers. It offers a discreet yet secure payment method for the customers to pay. Reduces the volume of cash management: Monetary transactions are common to happen in any type of business. Earlier it was only through cash, but with time people realized cash management is difficult and full of risk. Mobile Card machines offer business and their customers several security advantages over cash. By reducing the volume of cash keep on-business premises, one reduces the risk of theft and fraud. And accepting mobile card payments and paying online both businesses and customers feel safe and secured. Customers make more expenses with card payments: Based on several types of research it was found that customers do tend to make more shopping when they get the option of paying by card and that too using mobile online.Apart from the above three, there are many more reasons which can encourage you to introduce a mobile card payment machine for your business payment acceptance. You can review the available machines in the market before you make the decision on which machine will be best suitable and affordable for you RELATED QUESTION How do you sell medical equipment? Do you drop ship from manufacturers? Medical equipments business is growing these days due to increasing number of hospitals and dispensaries.When you ask how do you sell medical equipment, you can view various solutions online to get the best ideas to sell the products. There are many companies who go hospital to hospital selling their products through their sales people. Secondly, you can also promote your business through various mediums, like ads, social media and offline sources.The latest trend has been through selling products online. Companies have started with their own online portals to sell medical products online. You can for sure drop ship the products from manufacturers as this would help you to save money, buying them from, secondary resources. But, make sure you only invest in drop shipping for the products which are high in demand.Now, if you are looking to sell medical products but, do not have a right platform, there are various websites which allow you to sell your products on their website with some sort of commission they take. We usually purchase medical equipments through Medikabazaar. And while ordering some products I came across some option, where they allow you to sell the products on their website. You can try this option.How do you sell medical equipment? Do you drop ship from manufacturers?.

Three men have been arrested after trying to steal 36,000 from Tyne Tunnel's accounts while pretending to make a toll payment.The three, travelling in a black BMW, told the barrier supervisor they wished to pay the toll by card.Tunnel staff became suspicious when the men passed the card payment machine around inside the car and contacted their fraud team.Northumbria Police believe "a refund card" had been used by the men. The BMW was stopped and police were called when the men later drove back through the tunnel, which runs under the River Tyne between North Shields and Jarrow.The transaction was quickly cancelled by the tunnel's fraud team.Officers found several credit cards, mobile phones and a number of receipts in the vehicle.Det Const Thomas Stockport said the arrests would not have been possible but for the "quick thinking" of tunnel workers.He said: "From what we know this is a serious and sophisticated scam that could have resulted in these men getting away with tens of thousands of pounds."A 24-year-old and two 25-year-olds were taken into custody on suspicion of fraud.Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to .uk

The chip on these credit cards have been praised for making them nearly impossible to counterfeit. While the cards also contain a magnetic strip, that strip is supposed to tell the payment machine to use the chip. But there's a relatively easy way to knock down that safeguard. Computer security researchers at the payment technology company NCR demonstrated how credit card thieves can rewrite the magnetic stripe code to make it appear like a chipless card again. This allows them to keep counterfeiting -- just like they did before the nationwide switch to chip cards. They presented their findings at the Black Hat computer security conference on Wednesday. This claim of a glaring hole in EMV, the chip-based system, is possible because of the way many retailers are upgrading their payment machines: They're not encrypting the transaction. "There's a common misperception EMV solves everything. It doesn't," Patrick Watson, one of the researchers, told CNNMoney. On Thursday, a banking and retail industry group that monitors the EMV system cast doubt on the theory. "If the data on the magnetic stripe is altered it might fool the terminal," said U.S. Payments Forum director Randy Vanderhoof. But on the back end, the system would "reject the transaction." But the discovery of this possible flaw bolsters the retail industry's complaints against the upgrade, which was forced upon shops by banks. The National Retail Federation has long complained about the upgrade, which is estimated to cost American retailers $25 billion. Related: Wal-Mart exec: Credit card upgrade a 'joke' This latest research shows that retailers could spend millions of dollars upgrading to EMV and still not protect their customers from a massive credit card theft like the Target and Home Depot hacks two years ago. Adding to the problem, payment terminal makers keep producing machines that don't have the encryption by default. And vendors who sell and install these machines at shops don't simply flip the switch and turn on encryption. Retailers have to pay extra for basic security. Related: 'Smart credit card' terminals can be hacked too The major machine makers, Verifone and Ingenico, both asserted they offer point-to-point encryption on retailer's machines -- but it's up to retailers and their partners to turn it on. Currently, retailers focus on protecting the computer network that support their payment system. But that leaves the actual conversation between your credit card and the machine in plain text, readable to any hacker who breaks into the system. It's a mistake, said Mike Weber, vice president at the IT auditing firm Coalfire. "They're assuming the environment is okay," he said. It's not. During their presentation, the NCR researchers advised shops to "encrypt everything" in a transaction. They also said consumers should pay with special apps on their phones and watches whenever the high tech option is available.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 50 percent of grocery shoppers are looking for a convenient store experience that would enable them to checkout more quickly--like the self-scan checkout. We show, how self-scanning provides benefits for both, retailers and shoppers. Supermarket shopping has always been a complicated search for products, critical browsing for special offers and, finally, a long wait at congested cash lines. We should help shoppers to save time for the good things in life rather than to spend it in a supermarket queue. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Self-checkout means shorter lines and happier customers. It reduces the need for manned checkouts, which in turn reduces labour costs. Studies show that ten percent of shoppers who leave a store without making a purchase cite 'checkout waiting time' as the determining factor in their decision not to buy. More importantly, when forced to wait in line for more than four minutes, customer satisfaction levels fall below 80 percent. Irritated customers at the end of their tether, employees who don't have the time to provide customer-friendly service--thanks to new self-scanning solutions we can change today's shopping nightmare into a friendly environment, where customers appreciate rapid checkout and benefit from information tailored to their individual needs. When a supermarket customer enters the store, she--once authenticated by her loyalty card--will be equipped with an ergonomically designed scanning device. This process has been fully automated. The scanning devices are locked in charging slots of a dispenser, where they are automatically prepared for the next customer. Provided the system is properly designed, there are fully-charged devices available at all times. Visual signs on a screen and at the dispenser slot indicate which . device was assigned to the customer in question. Of course, each customer can attach her device to a special holder on the shopping cart and start shopping--safely and conveniently. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] While shopping, the customer herself scans all items she wants to purchase. The self-scanning device has a large display in full VGA resolution, which provides both a good overview of the application and a flicker-free, clear image. The menu navigation also enables easy, error-free operation even for inexperienced users: if an item is scanned by mistake, all the customer needs to do is press the 'minus' key. Similarly, if you want to buy multiple items of the same product, just press the 'plus' key to increase the quantity. While shopping, the current total of the scanned goods will be displayed by default. Therefore customers are in better control of their spending budget. When this feature was introduced, supermarket operators were afraid that sales would drop as customers would be more aware of the price they have to pay. But to the contrary, sales went up as customers tended to spend closer to their budget limit. Finding a specific product in a shop can be cumbersome. Self-scanning software with a built-in product locator can be of great help, especially for new and infrequent customers. Self-service shopping can be an all-around satisfying experience for every shopper. You want more detailed information on a product, for example its nutrition facts? You are looking for a new dish and need some clues about the wine to serve tonight? You have to keep to a specific diet? The scanning device provides extensive tips and assistance. And effective cross-selling is even easier: after all, the device also provides current information on promotions or combined special offers. For instance, if a customer buys a bottle of merlot, a suitable camembert will be recommended to him that is also on special offer. Those additional functions can also mean higher sales to retailers, improved customer satisfaction and, as a result, enhanced customer loyalty--happy customers always come back. At the checkout the most important advantage of self-scanning becomes apparent. Shoppers no longer need to present their purchase on the conveyor belt, which can be a nightmare with a shopping trolley crammed-full--they simply hand the scanning device back to the dispenser. Now the amount linked to the scanned purchase of the customer is immediately transferred by WiFi or USB-Interface to the cash system. This could be a conventional cash register or, even better, a self-checkout payment machine. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Especially during peak periods, the run on checkouts means not only long waiting times for shoppers; it is also a challenge to retailers who need to deploy their staff to ensure they could deal with the masses. It goes without saying that maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction has always been a very hard work, particularly in such labour-intensive phases. Thanks to self-paying kiosks, long queues in front of checkouts can be a thing of the past. Innovative self-checkout payment machines separate the payment from the scanning process to facilitate smooth processing in the checkout area. Using a conventional system, the probability of mistakes at checkout go up during peak times, especially when returning change to customers paying with cash, a task which calls for high attention. Accordingly, payment machines not only save time. By separating payment process from the scanning they prevent employees from making such mistakes due to fatigue or reduced concentration. The customer-friendly system and appealing design make self-checkout payment machines easy to be operated for all different kinds of user including casual shoppers. A graphical user interface, enhanced by audio and video clips, guide customers through each step of the payment process. Customers save time using self-service Shopping--and retailers have some added benefits. Payment machines lead to an increased percentage of card payments. Less cash means less cash handling, which has always been costly. Retailers may deploy their staff more flexibly, especially during particularly brisk phases of business, thus enhancing the level of customer service. Thanks to the new solutions everyone will save time for the important things in life. BY ANDREAS MULLER, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, HOFT & WESSEL AG, BUSINESS UNIT SKEYE

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has directed all the states to opt for cashless modes of transactions and to use mobile wallets for payments at government hospitals across the countryOnline and mobile transactions would soon become a common mode of payment at government hospitals across the country. The credit goes to demonetization following which the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has directed all the states to opt for cashless modes of transactions such as mobile wallets like paytm, Mobikwik, Oxygen wallet and PayPal etc.Having shown inability to handle the hassles faced by patients in private and government hospitals, Union Health Ministry has already reached out to Finance Ministry seeking a solution to the problem; meanwhile they are finding ways to ease out the situation.We had directed all the states to accept old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes till November 24, 2016 as per the direction of Finance Ministry. Following an extension from Finance Ministry, though public hospitals will accept only Rs 500 notes till December 15, 2016, the challenge stands tall. We are aware that public is facing problems but we have to abide by the directives of Finance Ministry, said Dr Arun K Panda, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.We cannot device our own directives in this situation. We have already requested the hospitals to accept cheques and demand drafts. We have asked them to use other modes of payments also. Gradually, everything will settle down. We appeal people not to panic, he said.The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has already started using Paytm and other wallets for transactions in the Out Patient Department (OPD)s. Interestingly, the hospital will have kiosks near OPDs where volunteers will guide and teach patients how to use their mobiles for making payment.In government hospitals, OPD charges are already minimal. People come to AIIMS from faraway places, it is always better to go for cashless payments due to varied reasons. Mobile technology is being used at its best, said Dr D K Sharma, Medical Superintendant and Head, Hospital Administration, AIIMS.The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has also issued an advisory for hospitals in interest of patients. According to the advisory, all doctors in practice should accept cheques and if facility available credit or debit cards. Most bank account holders have access to ATM cards. All private hospitals and medical stores should consider installing card payment machine and also most big hospitals have banks within their premises. Hospitals should also consider taking available money as advance at admission with an undertaking.Private hospitals have also become in tune to the current situation. We being a corporate hospital, receive patients that already have health insurance. As far as foreign patients are concerned, embassies are in touch with our relative teams. We already have online banking facilities. There was a minor problem earlier, but now it is running smoothly, said Dr Anupam Sibal, Group Medical Director, Apollo Hospitals.

Chinese technology giants have leapfrogged U.S. companies in popularizing mobile payments. Now, they are trying to get people to bypass their smartphones and make payments by simply looking into screens.Ant Financial Services Group andTencent HoldingsLtd.,rivals that operate, respectively, Alipay and WeChat Pay, Chinas two largest mobile-payments networks, are competing for dominance in the next stage of Chinas cashless society. Each is racing to install its own branded facial-recognition screens at retail points-of-sale all over the country, marketing the screens as a way to speed up sales and improve efficiency.In the space of a few months, the two giants have rolled out two competing systems and an upgrade. In December, Ants Alipay, which has more than 700 million active users in China, was first to launch a facial-recognition payment machine for checkout cashiers. Ant is an affiliate ofAlibaba Group HoldingLtd. Then, in March, Shenzhen-based Tencent unveiled its WeChat Pay system that can either scan QR codes on peoples phones or scan their faces, based on individuals preferences. The following month, Ant rolled out an upgraded Alipay facial-recognition system that was smallerroughly the size of an iPad Miniand cost 1,999 yuan (about $290), about one-third less than Alipays first facial-recognition payment system.Analysts say the machines are here to stay.In China, facial recognition has developed into a fairly mature state and will likely be adopted as a standard feature for cashless transactions in the future, says Zheng Qingzheng, an analyst with Suning Financial Research Institute.SAN FRANCISCO BECOMES FIRST MAJOR US CITY TO OUTLAW POLICE USE OF FACIAL RECOGNITIONThe moves are notable because Alipay and WeChat Pay together already handle close to 90% of Chinas third-party mobile payments market, where transactions totaled 160 trillion yuan ($23.16 trillion) last year, according to BigData-Research, a Beijing-based firm focused on the internet industry.Alipay and WeChat Pay collect small fees from retailers when people use their payment networks, and as growth slows in user numbers and transaction volumes, both are fighting to get customers to use their services more. In April, Ant said it plans to spend 3 billion yuan ($434 million) subsidizing merchants that purchase the new devices and providing financial rebates to shoppers who make purchases with it.Neither company has disclosed how many merchants have adopted the new technology so far. But facial-recognition machines accepting Alipay or WeChat Pay have appeared on vending machines, in grocery stores and even in hospitals across the country. The devices of both companies contain three-dimensional cameras to capture enough facial details to verify identities.China has been at the forefront of developing facial-recognition technology, which is now used in everything from government and corporate surveillance of citizens and employees, to toilet-paper dispensers in public bathrooms. Both Ant and Tencent have invested in other companies that specialize in facial-recognition technology. Facial-recognition software leaders SenseTime raised hundreds of millions of dollars from Alibaba, while Megvii received investments from both Alibaba and Ant Financial in private funding rounds. Ant in 2016 also acquired EyeVerify, based in Kansas City, Mo., which changed its name to Zoloz the following year.In Hangzhou, where Ant is based, a KFC outlet was the first store in China to use Alipays facial-recognition payment technology. First-time users have to link the service to their Alipay accounts by entering a phone number, then they can use the machines to make payments without their mobile phones.Wedome, a Chinese bakery chain, is using Alipays latest facial-identifying payment machines at more than 300 of its retail stores and in outlets without cashiers, where people can pick up cakes and bread from display shelves and check out items on their own.Hu Bo, Wedomes chief information officer, says the facial-recognition payment machines have helped increase the efficiency of the chains human cashiers by more than 60%. At some stores, he says, more than 70% of customers are now choosing to pay by scanning their faces.DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS SLAM 'UNREGULATED' FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGYPrivacy concerns are a potential issue. A 2018 survey by the Payment & Clearing Association of China found that 85% of mobile-payments users surveyed were willing to make payments using biometric methods such as facial and fingerprint identification, but more than 70% cited safety of their personal data as their biggest concern.Some users also say the facial-recognition technology hasnt been as seamless as they expected. Zhang Lingling, a 31-year-old employee at a financial company in Nanjing, says she paid for a bottle of water using Alipays machine at a train station in March but found the process cumbersome.It was her first time and she had to try repeatedly before she could link an image of her face to her Alipay account. On another occasion, when Ms. Zhang tried to make a payment, the machines camera was unable to capture an image of her entire face because the camera was too high. I only tried out of curiosity, but wont use it if Im running out of time, Ms. Zhang says.Wang Haowei, a 19-year-old English major at a university in Hangzhou, says he likes to pay at convenience stores and vending machines on campus by scanning his face.It is super convenient, he says. And, since it works without a smartphone, he says, it eliminates worries about being unable to make a payment using a smartphone when the battery is low.Click here to read more from The Wall Street Journal, where this story was first published.

The mobile payment wars are heating up.Wal-Mart Stores, the world's largest retailer, said it's launching its own mobile payment system that will allow shoppers to pay with any major credit or debit card or its own store gift card through its existing smartphone app at the cash register.It started testing the new payment feature at its stores in the Bentonville, Arkansas area, where the retailer is based, and plans to launch the payment system called Walmart Pay in all 4,500-plus U.S. stores in early next year.Scroll down for videoIt's part of Wal-Mart's overall mobile strategy to making shopping easier and faster, but the launch is the latest salvo in the battle for mobile payments that's in the early stages.Wal-Mart has moved into the field as Apple's one-year-old tap-and-pay system is being expanded to other merchants like Best Buy and KFC and several months after Google launched the Android Pay mobile wallet app and Samsung came out with Samsung Pay.They're all trying to get a piece of what could be a very lucrative business, but none of them have cracked the market so far.The move signals that Walmart believes it's best to build its own system to better serve its customers, even as it backs a retail industrywide mobile payment program that is in test phase.'We are creating a seamless shopping experience that includes payment,' Neil Ashe, president and CEO of Wal-Mart's global eCommerce, told reporters on a conference call on Wednesday.'It's fast. It's simple, and it's a secure way for customers to use their smartphone.'Twenty-two million customers use the Wal-Mart app each month, and more than half of Wal-Mart's online orders are now coming from a mobile device. This holiday season, Wal-Mart added new features like allowing online shoppers to check in once they get to the parking lot so they could have their online orders ready for pickup.Wal-Mart executives said that after evaluating various mobile options, they found that they had different constraints, working only on certain devices or payment types.Apple Pay requires iPhones. But Google's own tap-and-pay services, Android Pay and Samsung's Samsung Pay require Android phones.However, Ashe and Daniel Eckert, Wal-Mart's senior vice president of services, told reporters the system is designed to integrate with other payment applications like Apple Pay if the retailer decides to include them.Wal-Mart's move could be a blow to Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX, set up a few years ago by a consortium of retailers and restaurants to create an industrywide mobile payment system. Wal-Mart has been a key player.But Wal-Mart executives told reporters they remain excited about the MCX pilot program for the payment system called 'CurrentC.'A pilot test is being conducted in Columbus, Ohio, and it involves Wal-Mart and 10 other retailers.Nevertheless, Eckert noted, 'We are listening to the needs of the customer. We are looking at innovating the checkout experience and using payment to do that.'Mobile-payment services from Apple, Google and Samsung all rely on wireless technology called NFC.The customer merely taps the phone next to a payment machine at the store and authorizes the purchase, usually with a fingerprint ID.But it works only in stores with newer, NFC equipment.Samsung goes further in offering a backup: The phone can mimic the old-school magnetic signals produced by card swipes and work with most existing equipment.JPMorgan Chase, meanwhile, is working on its own system for mobile payments. But Chase Pay won't use NFC when it debuts next year. Rather, it will rely on QR that can be scanned by a register.All of these services offer security benefits: They store and transmit an alternate card number that's generated by the card issuer.The merchant never gets the real card number, so it remains safe even if the store's system gets hacked.With Wal-Mart Pay, the company says no card information is stored on the phone, but the real card number is still stored at what it says is a secure data center.The retail consortium's CurrentC system is similar to Apple - but customers don't use a fingerprint, and it doesn't use NFC technology. Customers scan a QR code on the reader.