Oftentimes the local dealer will offer you a loaner program. This isn’t like printers for sale, even thought this can be a common misconception. Concerned with the burgeoning price of printers ink, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and also the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) established testing standards for printers. They did so due to superior speed and longevity of the parallel interface when compared to the then standard serial connection.

If you wish to have your web visitors return for future visits then must avoid this case at all costs. ” Because of these unlabelled items, Lexmark includes a program that gives a 20% discount on ink cartridges if consumers send them back to Lexmark following a single use. Generally, parallel connections are only concerned with cable runs of 10 meters or less.

There in fact is n’t need to your customers to endure the recovery time caused by a faulty printer. Those buying printer ink cartridges in britain and elsewhere really should investigate the policies surrounding the reuse or refill of the indispensable items before doing this practice. Which may be similar to www.printersforsale.org occasionally. These are necessary factors regarding a point of sale receipt printer.

This is easy. Of course, seek advice from your pos software vendor to make certain that they support parallel receipt printers.

http://nextbestdds.info

In most cases, they send the printer off for repair and never get beyond the simple repairs that can be done locally. Which is similar to types of printers most of the time. Concerned about the burgeoning cost of printers ink, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) have established testing standards for printers. They did so because of the superior speed and reliability of the parallel interface compared to the then standard serial connection.

Many point of sale systems will use serial printers at all locations. ” For these unlabelled items, Lexmark has a program that gives a 20% discount on ink cartridges if consumers return them to Lexmark after a single use. That makes them difficult to use as remote printers since those runs require distances of 100′ – 300′ feet from the connection point.

Other than that you should not have any major problems exchanging a dot matrix for thermal at the point of sale. Tonik has been selling inkjet cartridges and toner cartridges since 2001. Usually this is the exact opposite of what to look for in all in one printers. It is the unique and easy locking parallel cable connector that makes a parallel receipt printer the perfect choice.

Downtime is reduced from hours or days to a matter of minutes. Not all point of sale software uses parallel printers.

In most cases, they send the printer off for repair and never get beyond the simple repairs that can be done locally. Which is similar to HP printers for sale most of the time. Both Canon and Hewlett-Packard have been involved in lawsuits over both cartridges and alleged unfair competition. To check to see if your computer does have a parallel connection look at the bank of connections generally found in the back of your computer.

If you are a customer oriented company, this is totally unacceptable. Not all Lexmark cartridges are labelled “single use only. Since receipt printers are always located next to the point of sale terminal, long distance cable runs are not an issue.

You keep backup supplies such as ribbons and paper for your printers. Those buying printer ink cartridges in the UK and elsewhere are advised to investigate the policies surrounding the reuse or refill of these indispensable items before engaging in this practice. Usually this is the exact opposite of cheap printers for sale. Unless you screw in a serial cable you will have the same problem with cables coming loose.

Downtime is reduced from hours or days to a matter of minutes. By utilizing an otherwise ignored communication interface, freeing up other interfaces to be used for other devices and by having a locking connector parallel receipt printers are truly the perfect receipt printer for point of sale systems. You are not as stressed by having your point of sale system be crippled by a down printer.

Vacation Tips

Telephone Credit Card Processing

Indeed! You’ll be able to accept along with course of action your own customer’s credit card (CC) from the portable or perhaps just about any telephone through just about any location that you receive reception or possess a land based connection. Cell phone credit card processing is actually one of the newest innovative developments with this engineering which is often termed as feel firmness credit card processing.

How does it work

Almost all you want to do should be to phone your determined method and also enter the particular deal data as well as the client’s CC details while using the papan ketik of your cell phone. The actual system can quickly process the information and also either accept or drop your purchase. If accepted, a great agreement amount will be provided for your requirements to be documented onto a new invoice which the consumer will then must signal. Today, how easy is?

Strengths

Nicely, the main one positive feature that will chances are always be screaming from a person may be the SAVINGS! You will lay aside a great deal on pricey Point-Of-Sale (POS) pieces of equipment or even {{software}} that can be by simply something among $150 as well as $1000. You just need to your phone!

This particular is good for anyone if you’re just starting to accept credit cards. It gives you the means to study the degree of sales that a company produces in affordable. Aside from totally free gear expense, this kind of type of processing processing usually incorporates small as well as absolutely no launch charge in any respect. It provide you with an opportunity to remember to evaluate the rise inside the income created through accepting CC on the cost received within CC processing. You can then decide when you need to put money into any CC processing remedies as well as not one in any respect. Most merchants help make the mistake of certainly not looking at the increase inside revenue for the costs that may get as well as find yourself struggling big loses. Anyone don’t have to be one of them.

Contour absolutely no gear fees as well as reduced initial costs, this kind of type of processing usually does certainly not feature earlier service end of contract costs. If you should decide in which you want to exchange signal of another type of cell phone brand, you may accomplish that with out using any holes staying with you.

There are no regular minimums and therefore you won’t experience actually if you don’t make a lot of sales via CC.

No cost on the web transaction confirming permits you to keep track of just about all the credit sales.

Down sides

The particular low cost price and also purchase costs are usually higher than some other forms of non-card processing options. You can find generally two advantages for that: Commonly, the particular merchant plumber uses an external organization to course of action the deals. Your charge of employing another business will be after that paid for by the merchant (an individual) within the form of higher charges.

Non-card dealings tend to be susceptible to greater danger of fraud and for that reason, the low cost minute rates are typically much higher.

Accomplish be aware which even with the bigger costs, the actual low start up costs as well as the lower month-to-month permanent costs usually make mobile phone credit card processing lucrative.

Is this to suit your needs?

Looking at the fore-mentioned benefits, this could you should be your selection for you if you are a fresh enterprise, a small company or new at all to credit card processing. The inexpensive provides you with the increase that you need to increase.

It is usually suitable for a person if you expect low size of CC dealings as part of your small business. For instance, a professional as being a personalized masseur or possibly a attorney at law might not help to make numerous sales inside a few days. On the other hand, to keep aggressive it is vital for the children to offer their clients using the selection of spending together with credit cards. It makes much feeling for the kids make use of this type of processing which in turn prevents your muddle of costly and awkward credit card processing equipment. Consequently, in case you are the solo-professional, cell phone credit card processing works furthermore to suit your needs.

If you work with cell phones, an individual could probably accept credit cards on the move without ever before requiring you to haul all over weighty, troublesome gear. For this reason, if you’re within any kind of shipping company (for instance garlic bread or perhaps fixtures) or if you are a professional mover or cab new driver, this can be a option in your case.

Last but not least, should you offer momentary sales in various areas, it can be clear that must be best for you personally.

Research your small business requires along with compare your accessible merchant service providers. Don’t simply compare your fees but additionally their service, technical support as well as status. Understand your own deals thoroughly (such as most small print) prior to committing to any. Mobile phone credit card processing could just be ones first step to be able to supplying your customers with variable payment alternatives along with remaining cut-throat. Good luck!

We have additional information on this subject you may be interested in reading: merchant credit card processing services, 0 interest credit cards and 0 credit cards

Click here for a video that explains the risk of non-PCI compliance

PCI & Credit Card Security: Background

Ever since magnetic strip cards were developed, both restaurateur and their customers have been enjoying the convenience of accepting and using credit and debit cards. However, given the skyrocketing cost and frequency of credit fraud, major card brands (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and JCB) have taken preventive measures to safeguard their stakeholders.

After IBM invented the mag stripe on credit cards in in 1968, it became the industry standard. Given that the track data on the mag stripe is easy to read and duplicate, the branded cards, with the set of standards that the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council has built, it clearly stated the first directive: ‘Don’t store track data.’

The PCI Standards

The three-pronged approach that the PCI Security Standards Council took to protect consumers, banks and merchants/restaurateurs:

• PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) ? embraces all entities that store, process, or transmit cardholder data: Merchants, restaurateurs, service providers, processors, etc.

Deadline for Compliance: Month of January 2007 (deadlines are long passed)

What it Means – All restaurateurs (in spite of size) must complete and submit a PCI Self-Assessment Questionnaire annually to their Acquiring Bank.

• PA?DSS (Payment Application Data Security Standard) ? including all applications used to store, process, or transmit cardholder data as part of authorization or settlement. (Point-of-Sale (POS) application developers)

Deadlines for Compliance:

Oct. 1, 2008 ? Only the software that is compliant with the new payment application security standards must be used by agents, merchants and payment processors.

Oct. 1, 2009 ? Terminate any noncompliant payment applications that merchants might still have in their environments will be required.

July 1, 2010 ? Mandatory use of only the payment applications that support the new standards.

What this Means – If, after the deadline, a merchant/restaurateur is not running a PA DSS-validated application, means that they automatically fail their PCI assessment and could possibly lose their ability to accept credit cards.

• Pin Entry Devices (PED) Standard – embraces all PEDs and it aims to ensure that the cardholder’s personal identification number (PIN), including any sensitive information such as resident keys, are protected consistently at a PIN acceptance device.

Deadline for Compliance:

Jan. 1, 2004 ? For newly purchased Point of Sale (POS) PIN Entry Devices should pass testing by a Visa recognized laboratory and approved by Visa.

July 1, 2010 ? Mandates that all deployed Point of Sale (POS) PEDs must have passed testing by a PCI recognized laboratory and been approved by the PCI SSC.

Which Means ? All Merchants/restaurant owners gets two years to replace their old and unapproved PEDs.

The Do’s With Payment Card Industry (PCI)

• Do routine vulnerability scans of your systems.

• Prepare a security awareness training for your employees.

• Audits for system access.

• You must your system activity logs.

• Access privileges must be removed for separated employees.

• Do install software patches.

• Be responsible when it comes to any threats, have an incident response plan.

Payment Card Industry (PCI) Don’ts

• Avoid storing or archiving whole credit card numbers.

• Transmitting credit card data unencrypted should not be practiced.

• PCI is not simply about proving you are compliant with the standards – it’s all about protecting your customers and your business.

PCI’s Effect on Restaurateurs

Given consumers’ expectation of universal acceptance of credit and debit cards, a restaurateur’s validation that they are protecting their customer’s personal information is good for business:

Reputation / Image

For a highly competitive business – no restaurateur would want to be referred to as the eatery where a customer’s card data was stolen.

Protects Your Credit / Debit Card Payments Acceptance Ability – by not complying with the rules and/or a breach can jeopardize a merchants’/restaurateur’s ability to accept credit/debit payments. There are several cases that 80% to 90% of transactions are through credit/debit payments. Losing the ability to accept credit/debit cards means reduced traffic/customers.

The Effects of State Privacy Laws

A breach that discloses personal credit card information in one of the 40+ States with privacy laws may have a double impact on a restaurateur. Being off-side with PCI may result in penalties and lawsuit costs. Being off-side with State Privacy Laws is a felony with potentially more serious consequences.

Compliance / Security Strategy

• Be sure you are using a PA?DSS or PABP validated POS system

• Make sure you’re using an approved PED

• Hold regular security awareness training for your employees, especially for supervisors

• Do background checks on any employee with administrative access to your system

• Have your staff sign a ‘Confidentiality Agreement’

• If you’re not sure how to complete the PCI Self Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ), you can always ask

• If gaps in PCI compliance are identified, develop a realistic plan to straighten it out

• Maintain mature controls to sustain compliance

• Accessing controls

• Dual factor for system and device management

• Strong passwords and secure password storage

• Keep monitoring system activities for potential attacks and record evidences

• Controlling your wireless access points

• Maintain a secure configuration

• Segment networks

• Maintain an Incident Response Plan and Test It

• Test and audit the cardholder environment like your business depended on it

It can be difficult task the first time but when everything else is in place, ongoing PCI compliance is not an expensive undertaking. Besides, it’s a good practice for businesses to protect the sensitive data that your customers entrust with you.

Any Questions?

For more information and advice on this topic you can quickly contact a Restaurant POS professional serving your area at www.POS-For-Restaurants.com

The author of this article writes for POS-For-Restaurants.com – a VP of Customer Relations with over 20 years experience in the industry of restaurant point of sale system.

1. Network cables. Most systems are computer-based, designed to run on Microsoft Windows technology. Which means your workstations and computer equipments most likely will communicate over standard Ethernet networking. Although wireless communications have been the talk of the town these days, I would still prefer to “hardwire” your computer stations. Some vendors include this service in their bid; others specify that cabling must be contracted through a third-party vendor.

Inspite of who will work on the cabling, it will need to be completed and tested before installation of the equipment. Each piece of equipment will be needing a cable drop. A drop is considered a cable that runs from a remote printer or computer back to the networking source such as a patch panel in the mechanical room or office.

For a restaurant POS system, the restaurant should be wired with CAT 5 or 6 network cabling that runs from every conceivable POS workstation, remote printer or KDS, office computer, hostess station, delivery order desks, cashier stations and network server to a “home run” area such as a central patch panel, preferably located in your telephone or electrical room or closet. Cabling routes need to ensure that cables are at least 24 inches from fluorescent fixtures, neon transformers and electrical motors, because these devices can sometimes cause communications interference.

2. Electrical. Install dedicated and isolated circuits that all of your POS, computers, network devices such as hubs and routers, and phone systems can share. No other electrical equipment should be in this circuitry. Preferably, your network, phone, and electrical service will be near one another. An isolated circuit means that its ground is separated from that of the main electrical service. This helps to prevent spikes and surges that may damage motherboards and hard drives. Note, however, that you’ll still want to use surge protectors at each workstation.

3. Designing workspace. When it comes to designing the workstation area, be sure to leave some extra space to comfortably fit your needed equipments. A flat roomy space for server stations should be large enough to hold a computer monitor, guest check printer, and possibly a credit card terminal if you plan to use separate credit card equipment. Make sure you have enough space underneath the tabletop to hold the computer, surge protector, power strip and your UPS.

If you want to place your workstations on mill-manufactured top such as granite or woodwork, you’ll want to have your contractor pre-drill holes if needed to run cables or power cords beneath the surface. A 2-inch hole should be enough space for cords and cables on most POS systems.

For cashier and bartender stations, the tabletop space should also be ample enough to fit a cash drawer and an order confirmation customer display. Most cash drawers have a footprint (space requirement) of 15- to 17-inch depth; 16- to 20-inch width; and 3.5-inch to 4-inch height. So better make sure you get the drawer specifications from your supplier in advance if you are building a custom countertop for your drawer to fit perfectly in.

4. Service plans, as part of your system. Your supplier may offer different types of service plans as part of your original purchase. The fact is, business grade systems are composed of materials that are not built to last forever especially in restaurants. POS printers will eventually break, fans will slowl fail, and hard drives will crash. How often they depend upon the conditions under which they operate. Dirt, dust, heat and moisture are not friendly allies to office and restaruant POS equipment.

There are those people who rarely experience problems wih their computers while others continue to suffer the same problems. The best thing a retail business owner can do is to invest in good equipment and then protect that investment by maintaining it. Many restaurant POS solutions provider will offer ongoing service plans that are basically extended warranties. The annual cost for these services usually ranges from 10% to 20% of the original purchase price.

Remember that computer systems represents as a sizable investment. But if you dedicate the time and planning required to properly put in place and maintain the system, you are more likely to be rewarded a return on your investment by getting the most from your system in cost reduction, labor savings, and ensuring that you can account for all cash.

The Author of this article is the Vice President of Customer Relations at POS-for-Restaurants.com — With over 20 years of restaurant experience helping businesses like yours to use your technology more efficient and make your business more profitable .

In our today’s economy, every cent counts and adding them to your bottom line is possible in the middle of economic crisis. Are are some steps that will increase your profits, by boosting your sales, reducing debit card fees and expenses, and most of all block theft.

In the food service industry, if you’re running a restaurant point of sale system then this simple tips can greatly help you grow your business!

Checks

Checks are still widely used, especially among older customers. So if you have not been accepting checks, start soon. There are POS equipments that can scan checks as fast as credit cards, measure them against a nationwide database of bad check writers, electronically deposit the money, and can guarantee that funds will be delivered to you within a couple of days. In addition, the cost is typically lower than for credit cards and could add 10-15 percent to sales—and possibly more if you have many senior customers.

Accepting Credit Cards

If you do accept credit cards, you’re probably accepting Visa and MasterCard already. But what about Discover and American Express? Particularly, the latter accompanies larger transactions in general. If you’ve hesitated because the fee is higher, reconsider—you may also think that it’s not worth it even a 1% difference, and because American Express transactions are often larger than those of other cards, you’ll make it up in gross profit. Furthermore, customers will coming back because they’ll know that your business accepts all forms of credit cards.

Researching

Most merchants think their fees are 1.69% plus an additional $.19 because that’s their qualified rate on a pricing program tier. Though fewer than 20 of 100 transactions receives low qualified rate and all the rest downgrade and cost one, two, or even three percent. By researching for alternate programs that offer different interchange rates that may end up saving more than what you’ve expected.

Insist of Understanding Rather Than Having a Conflict

Neither you nor your bookkeeper would have to scratch the back of your heads over a complex credit card statement that just doesn’t fit. A few companies have made extraordinary efforts to simplify these reports. You should be able to reconcile your statement and rates without exceeding 15 minutes.

Getting Your Reports Online

The post office is slow, don’t wait any longer for them to deliver you a letter of disputing a charge. Using the internet, you will know within 24 hours, which ables you to aggressively defend against chargebacks. With a quick response, it can increase your success rates and reduce your losses.

No need to scratch your head over complex credit card statements and for your bookkeeper as well.

Use the Card Validation Value and Address Verification System. They are highly effective fraud screens proven to reduce losses, and when using them correctly, you obtain the lowest possible rate for discounts.

In addition, you need to avoid hackers by being PCI compliant. Hackers can cause merchants huge fines, and drive them out of business. Find time to read Visa’s report on noncompliant systems, be alert at all cost.

Taking Care Of Chargebacks

If you run an online business, either by internet orders or by phone, it’s always a great idea to implement the “Verified by Visa” or “MasterCard Secure Code” plug-in on your web site. This will eliminate cardholder nonauthorization chargebacks. Liability for these chargebacks is shifted away back to the issuing card bank, and you qualify for the lowest discount rate available. Just by following this simple step, you can eliminate up to 80% of all chargebacks and increase your profits.

With over 20 years of restaurant point of sale experience and helping businesses in the food-service industry nationwide increase their efficiency and bottom-line profits, the author of this article is the VP of Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants.com.

You may visit POS-For-Restaurants.com for further understanding of how our national network of restaurant point of sale professionals can help your business achieve greater success in these difficult economic times.

At Contactless, a leading provider of advanced, open-standard contactless chip technologies, and First Data, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing services, announced that they have signed an agreement for 3 years to develop contactless payment stickers, which First Data will market as GO-Tag products. With this agreement, INSIDE will supply MicroPass payment sticker prelams exclusively to First Data-qualified card manufacturers for production.

The agreement leverages the core technology from INSIDE Contactless and the issuing and transaction processing power of First Data. GO-Tag products will be marketed by First Data to major U.S. merchants, financial institutions, and other distribution channels in a variety of form factors.

First Data’s GO-Tag Solution represents a very important step into the future plastic cards and fobs, and offers a bridge to the future of mobile payments according to Barry McCarthy, the general manager of Mobile Commerce and Point of Sale Solutions at First Data. “Our partnership with INSIDE Contactless enables us to offer consumers an opportunity to turn just about any personal item, from a mobile phone to an employee ID badge, into a payment device.”

According to Charles Walton, executive vice president of payments for INSIDE Contactless, the agreement highlighted the versatility of the MicroPass platform to support a variety of contactless payment applications and form factors, also stickers.

You might also want to consider updating your restaurant POS system to Contactless credit card acceptance in the near future, because their technology is becoming more and more common in the marketplace. And we all know that customer service is all about the speed and fast transaction to a restaurant point of sale terminal, the better the service is the better your customer experience will reflect on the value of your services.

The author of this article is the VP of Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants.com with over 20 years experience helping restaurants nationwide increase their efficiency and bottom-line profits using restaurant POS systems.

To learn on how our national POS network of restaurant point of sale professionals can help your business achieve greater success in these difficult economic times, visit POS-For-Restaurants.com.

A vast definition that can include merchandising aids, displays and the methods used to enable transactions.

In our case, we will be talking about the hardware and software that runs your business from the operations at the front counter to your back office.

For a small craft store, their basic POS system would consist of a computer, cash register (can have a built-in cash drawer), receipt printer and the proper POS software. A service organization, like a lawn care company, wouldn’t need be a cash drawer or a receipt printer.

But they they may want a laser printer for their service invoices.

Then again, you have the flexibility to easily customize a POS system for your business needs.

The centeral nerve of any Retail POS system is the computer (or computers) that runs the POS software.

We understand the temptation to use an older computer or perhaps those really cheap computer models available through the “superstores”.

But keep in mind, once it starts running your business will be depending on these low quality equipments, so a good quality computer is a must. 

If you seek high quality use custom built POS systems, name brand parts and will work perfectly for years.

The same advice goes for all the other components.

You can get the job done using the basic cash drawer, but heavy duty models can last longer since they are built much better.

CCD barcode scanners are more reliable than the old pencil type wands, but they’re still designed to work with flat, easy to read barcodes.

Laser scanners not only have a greater range, but they’re flexible enough to scan barcodes on wrap around bottles, plastic bags or follow irregular shapes which is much better than the CCD scanners.

While barcode scanners are improving, so is the printer technology. The workhorse of the industry is used to be a dot-matrix printer, and they’re still fairly popular, but thermal technology is faster, quieter and affordable.

Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS’s), or battery back-ups, are affordable and can keep you up and running during power glitches or short outages. Remember, your business will be depending on this equipment. If you’re going to be using it a lot, do not hesitate to use the extra bucks to get the heavy duty models and UPS units.

Keep in mind that your retail point of sale system cannot only provide you the control over your business, but it also puts a wealth of info at the palm of your hands.

Imagine being able to compare year to date and month to date sales with just a few keys. yuo eill learn that a database of your customers’ data can be a powerful tool to boost your sales.

Tracking inventory list, automatic creation of order lists and adjusting quantities based on customer demands are just a few of what a retail POS system can do for your business.

Al in all, a POS system helps you keep a constant eye on your bottom line.

If you want to know more on how to choose the right retail point of sale system provider visit Retail-POS-Solutions and you will receive information on a system designed for your specific business and retail business needs.

The author of this article is a retail POS sytem professional who has been counseling businesses of all sizes from single locations to national chains for over 20 years.

If you want to run your restaurant business to success, learn the basics: good food, good service and the right location. But today, there’s an addition to these basics: a reliable software to run your POS systems.

Even though physical components like the monitors and computers are the most visible, the software is the core of your POS system. Doing a careful evaluation of restaurant POS software is key to getting a system that will satisfy your customers and staff.

Looking for the right restaurant software
First, it’s important to know what exactly you need the software to do. Your restaurant POS software should be able to handle checks per diner or per table, track orders per server, has the ability to move bar diners to the table, manage waiting lists and reservations, and more.

Once you’ve found that restaurant software that can meet your basic requirements, give it a test drive to learn how to use it. Even though there would be a learning curve for your staff when you purchase a new POS system, and since a POS software is easy to learn and navigate it can save you time on staff training.

You may have a couple of your staff to to be involved in the evaluation of the software while testing it. They may try different kinds of inputs and changes to the system that can cause problems with some software.

• Security – create login accounts for each employee. With this you are able to limit your employees’ access to some reports as well as the functions (such as comping meals) to managers, if desired.
• Flexibility – servers should be able to manipulate checks to match your patrons’ whims: easily splitting checks and tracking special orders, for example.
• Reporting – one the main advantages of restaurant software for owners and managers is the detailed reporting available. So you better make sure the software you choose gets the neccessary detailed information on your business transactions either by per server or over all sales from day-to-day or annually.
• Multiple location support – if applicable, make sure that your POS system is able to track and record on multiple locations, including local differences in staffing and pricing.

Don’t forget your hardware
Of course you’ll need to invest in restaurant POS hardware as well: computers to run the restaurant software on, touch-screen displays for servers to enter order, and printers to produce order slips for the kitchen. Along with POS software is hardware – the biggest hardware decision you’ll have to make is how many stations you need.

Think you need more learning when it comes to searching for the right POS dealer? You can read more information and get free unbiased quotes from the Restaurant POS professionals serving your area.

The author of this article is the VP of Customer Relations at POS-For-Restaurants with over 20 years of POS experience meeting the automation needs of restaurants of all types throughout the U.S.