Accept Credit Cards Using Your Palm Treo

One of the great things about using a Palm Treo is the applications you can install and use on your Smartphone.

If you sell a product or service than obviously you need to collect money and these days everyone uses credit cards so in my opinion every business should be accepting credit cards.

Thanks to the Treo, and the credit-card terminal app developers your credit-card terminal will be available anytime you need it as its sitting right in your pocket.

How cool would it be the next time you’re on a sales call to pull out your Treo and collect a credit card payment right there?

So here’s how it works…

There are two ways you can accept credit cards on your Treo:

1. The first way is to search under the term “credit-card terminal” or “accept credit-cards” to download the app. You’ll see several available apps ranging from free to $49. 95. I’m not sure which one is the best so I’d recommend reading the reviews to pick the one that’s best to you. Some will force you to use their preferred processing partner but most will allow you to bring your own merchant account to the table. Simply download the app and follow the instructions for enter your entering the gateway identification numbers your merchant account provider supplied and within minutes you ‘retaking credit cards.

2. If you don’t want to pay for an app you can still accept credit cards on your phone using a web browser and logging into your gateway account to access its virtual terminal component.

The nice thing about processing credit-cards on the Treo is that the card information is never stored in the phone as it makes a secure connection to your processor.

To process a card simply launch the application and enter the customers cc number, expiration date, the 3 digit CVV security code on the back of the card and the card holders zip code. Next, enter the amount you wish to charge and click the submit button and within 10 seconds you’ll get a reply with an authorization code.

There’s even a tip option for service businesses. Customers receive an email receipt for each transaction, and merchants can view transactions and process refunds on the fly.

Some service providers offer tethered credit-card reader & printer devices or external blue tooth devices that will allow you to swipe a card and generate a receipt to provide the customer.

The nice thing about adding swiping the card is that you’ll be able to qualify for lower credit card processing rates as you’ll be able to swipe the card and a get a signature at the time of the sale.

This is a great solution for those who need to process and authorize payments on-the-go, like, plumbers, electricians or transportation businesses. It’s also useful at tradeshows or our outdoor markets that don’t have phone lines available for conventional terminals.

If you’re already accepting credit-cards and have a compatible gateway you can add now before you ever leave a job site, you’ll have the comfort of knowing that your goods or services have been paid for and peace of mind knowing that your money will soon be deposited into your account.