Whether your customers are sitting in front of you or they’re buying your products and services remotely, you need a way to accept payments quickly and easily. Virtual terminals give you access to the payment processing software you need on any device with an internet connection. They can help you make card and ACH payments by phone, email, or mail order/telephone orders. They’re especially well suited for businesses that take recurring payments or book reservations and appointments in advance like hotels, spas, and independent professionals.
To process a sale, a business logs into their virtual terminal interface and either sends a digital invoice link to the customer or manually keys in transaction details. The customer pays the digital invoice link or provides their card information directly to the merchant, and the virtual terminal processes the payment. The merchant and the customer are both emailed the payment receipt, saving on paper, shipping, and time.
When using a virtual terminal, it’s important to remember that the transactions are considered card-not-present (CNP) since the cards aren’t being swiped through a physical credit card reader. CNP sales can be more expensive than in-person transactions, but certain virtual terminal payment processing providers like Payline Data offer interchange-plus pricing to offset these additional costs for high-volume businesses.
Some virtual terminal solutions let you accept ACH and eCheck payments as well, which can save on transaction fees because they’re usually lower than credit card payments. Some also allow you to do a quick charge where you enter just the amount of the purchase without any itemized items, or an itemized sale where you list each product or service separately. virtual payment terminal