In this article, we’ll compare Helcim and Square feature-by-feature, showing you the benefits and drawbacks of each provider and explaining where each company excels and where it falls short.
Payment processing hardware can be expensive. But when you’re ready to start shopping for credit card machines or terminals, you need to know the pitfalls and your best alternatives. And please, whatever you do, don’t lease.
Which Square reader and accessories work for you? See what hardware options Square offers, then find the right Square POS/cash register setup for you.
Wondering about using a manual credit card machine? A credit card imprinter essentially uses a miniaturized version of printing press technology, capturing a copy of the credit card for you to process at a later date. Credit card imprinters let you take payments without internet, but it also means extra work.
Credit card machines have evolved from having little more than simple transaction processing capabilities to today’s high-tech devices with color touch screens, multiple displays, and the ability to install additional software apps to help your run your business.
While many of the more reputable merchant account providers have abandoned terminal leases altogether in favor of selling the terminals directly (or allowing you to reuse your existing equipment), there are still plenty of other providers that are still pushing terminal leases. Check out the best credit card processing companies for some good options that let you buy your credit card terminal at an affordable price.
Can you buy a used Clover POS? Absolutely! Should you? No! While you can certainly find a used Clover POS system for sale on eBay or Amazon, it’s never a good idea to buy one. Used Clover POS are not reprogrammable and new systems are always sold with a merchant services contract — which you should never enter lightly.
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The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
