Leasing POS Terminals - Is This a Good Idea?

A new business owner should be aware of telemarketers and companies offering to help them with their credit cards. Because of ignorance in the credit card industry, many new business owners are led to believe that leasing a credit card terminal is the way to go for their business. This is not so.

A new business owner will spend a whole lot more money on leasing a credit card machine than purchasing one outright. While leasing one can cost them thousands of dollars, putting your money into a purchase of a simple swipe/print machine will only cost you $200 to $300 dollars which is a lot of savings especially when you're just starting out. This money saved can go into another purchase that you require for your new business.

Many new businesses are still being convinced to lease their equipment because they do not take the time to investigate their purchase options because of their very busy schedules. With the internet readily available, it is not common for most other businesses to lease. It is much more reasonable for them to purchase outright unlike back in the eighties and early nineties where they were led to believe that processing equipment was pricey.

Some business still do lease their equipment if the equipment is very highly priced. Wireless terminals are becoming more affordable but can still cost over a thousand dollars which is quite a bit of money. Leasing may sound more reasonable initially but in the end you will pay more than the original cost of the terminal.

If you do decide to lease your equipment, always be aware of all the terms that go with it. There are always strings attached. Leases last anywhere from 12 - 48 months and the shorter the lease the higher the monthly payments will be. There may be penalties for trying to terminate the lease and also buyout options to consider at the end of the lease. Be sure you completely understand what you are getting into before signing a lease. The costs can be hefty.

See how much more leasing will cost you compared to buying your equipment outright by using the lease cost calculator.

IP POS Terminals will be over taking the Dial-up POS Terminal in Canada

IP POS Terminals are becoming the new credit card terminal to use in Canada. The dial-up used to me the only POS terminal available and when IP (Internet Protocol) POS terminals hit initially hit the market place just like most new technologies it was expensive for most small business owners.

However, now most IP units are the same price as a Dial-up but have 2 major benefits over the older dial-up.

1. Speed
2. Security

The IP terminal can process transactions in 3-5 seconds and can run multiple units off one broadband connection.

The security is as good as internet merchant accounts with SSL (secure socket layered) prevents millions of dollars of fraud through online processing. When transactions pass through a SSL connection it is converted into a secret code that only the correct companies can understand. Yet Dial-up terminals, offer no transaction security for data in transit, based on the assumption that somebody would have to tap a phone line to intercept the data.

Soon Visa and MasterCard is also going to charge more to merchant's who still use old unsecured technology. So with IP POS Terminals being faster, safer and soon to be cheaper... what is keeping merchants from making the switch to IP credit card machines...?