Virtual Terminal Credit Card Processing: Best Options For Small Businesses

Why Helcim Is The Best All-Around Choice For A Virtual Terminal

Helcim is one of the most affordable credit card processing options for small or low-volume businesses. Available to Canadian and US-based merchants, Helcim offers one of the lowest-cost options for payment processing that we've seen anywhere. The company's proprietary Helcim Virtual Terminal is included as a standard feature of each account, allowing you to take remote payments over the phone, through the mail, or using the terminal's online invoicing features.

With no long-term commitment and no monthly account fee, Helcim is a great choice for seasonal and low-volume businesses that aren't taking a large number of credit card payments every day. And unlike Square, Helcim offers a full-service merchant account to its customers. (You can compare the two in-depth in our Helcim vs. Square breakdown.)

The Helcim Virtual Terminal can run on any internet-connected device, including laptops, smartphones, and tablets. If you need to accept in-person payments as well, the optional Helcim Card Reader ($99) offers all the features of a wireless countertop terminal at a very affordable price.

Helcim offers some of the most extensive pricing disclosures in the industry, so you won't have to worry about hidden fees being tacked onto your bill. While Helcim is one of the best all-around merchant services providers in the industry, be aware that the company does not accept high-risk merchants.

Why PaymentCloud's Virtual Terminal Is The Best Choice For High-Risk Retail Businesses

PaymentCloud serves both low- and high-risk businesses, with a focus on the retail sector. The company offers a free credit card terminal with each account, although you can choose a card reader instead if you plan to use a virtual terminal to enter card-present transactions.

Your specific virtual terminal will be determined by your choice of payment gateway, with the company offering Authorize.Net, USAePay, and several other third-party options.

Like other high-risk specialists, PaymentCloud works with a wide variety of processors and banks (including some offshore options) to get your business approved for an account. As a result, there is no standardized pricing available for high-risk businesses. Instead, you'll have to reach out to its sales department and obtain a customized quote.

Fortunately, PaymentCloud does not charge an account setup fee for the extensive underwriting process required to establish a high-risk merchant account. In addition to free hardware and reasonable pricing, the company provides excellent customer support after you've signed up for an account.

Why Clover's Virtual Terminal Is The Best Choice For eCommerce-Only Businesses

Better known for its popular line of countertop terminals and point of sale (POS) systems, Clover also offers a fully-featured virtual terminal and does not require you to purchase any of Clover's physical devices.

With the Clover Virtual Terminal, you can accept customer payments remotely, send invoices via email, generate sales reports, and send paperless receipts. You also have access to the Clover App Market, allowing you to add additional features, such as inventory management, employee scheduling, and more. While the virtual terminal-only option requires a monthly fee, your contract is month-to-month and doesn't include an early termination fee. If you want to add the ability to accept in-person transactions, you'll have to purchase the Clover Go card reader and switch to the Clover Essentials Plan. (Learn more about Clover POS pricing in our detailed guide.)

While we prefer to see companies offer their virtual terminals for free, the ability to add additional apps from the Clover App Market makes the monthly fee a worthwhile trade-off for businesses that will be relying on the Clover Virtual Terminal for most (or all) of their transaction processing.

Also, note that the terms of any Clover merchant services depend on which company you sign up with. The fairness of these terms, the quality of support, and the affordability of your Clover plan can vary widely from one Clover reseller to the next. Check out our list of the best Clover merchant services providers before shopping elsewhere.

Why Square's Virtual Terminal Is The Best Choice For Low-Volume & Seasonal Merchants

Square offers a complete lineup of POS products and payment services to accept any kind of transaction. Among those services is the Square Virtual Terminal, which is exactly what the name implies: a web-based "virtual" terminal for accepting credit card transactions on a personal computer.

While you don't need a card reader to use Square Virtual Terminal, the lower processing rate for card-present transactions is reason enough to invest in one. For in-person payments using Square Virtual Terminal, you'll need a computer (Windows or Mac) and the $299 Square Terminal card reader.

Square's Virtual Terminal is an excellent choice for small businesses that only process several thousand dollars a month in credit/debit card transactions. At higher processing volumes, the company's flat-rate pricing can actually hurt you, and you'll be better off getting a full-service merchant account. As with any other payment service provider (PSP), account holds, freezes, and terminations are also more frequent. You'll want to take this risk into account when signing up.

Why Dharma Merchant Services Offers The Best Virtual Terminal For Nonprofits

One of the most transparent and ethical companies in the payments processing industry, Dharma Merchant Services offers fully transparent pricing information, with all account fees, processing rates, and contract terms disclosed on the Dharma website. This saves you the hassle of having to negotiate with the company's sales team to get the best offer.

Dharma uses month-to-month billing and interchange-plus pricing exclusively and offers discounted rates to qualified nonprofits. Every Dharma merchant account comes with a free virtual terminal, which is included as a feature of the company's MX Merchant integrated payments platform. Dharma's QuickPay virtual terminal allows you to manually key in a transaction and integrate with a customer database, so you can process sales to repeat customers even faster. For in-person payments, you can add the AnywhereCommerce Walker CX3 Bluetooth card reader, which supports EMV, contactless, and magstripe payments.

While Dharma is an excellent choice for many businesses, it's not for everyone. The company freely admits that its pricing will not be affordable for merchants processing less than $10,000 per month. Also, it does not accept most high-risk merchants, referring them to PaymentCloud instead.

Why Durango Merchant Services Offers The Best Virtual Terminal For High-Risk eCommerce Businesses

Durango Merchant Services is one of the best companies we’ve found that specializes in serving high-risk merchants. The company works with a wide variety of acquiring banks and payment processors to get you approved for an account but offers its own proprietary merchant services and customer support. One of these services is the Durango Pay gateway, the company’s proprietary payment gateway.

Durango Pay includes a virtual terminal as one of its features, allowing you to accept orders and payments over the telephone, even if you don’t have a website.

You’ll get access to various features, including support for recurring billing and a customer information database. As a high-risk provider, Durango also includes a robust set of security features, including tokenization, encryption, and anti-fraud services that can flag (or even block) suspicious transactions.

The one downside to working with Durango — or any other high-risk provider — is that its complex relationships with its numerous back-end processors make it impossible to disclose any pricing information on its website. Instead, you’ll have to contact Durango’s in-house sales team and get a pricing quote that’s customized to your business. Although you can expect to pay higher rates than a comparable low-risk business, the company’s prices are fair and haven’t generated any complaints from merchants.