Phone credit card processing is very similar to telephone banking. It is where you would dial into your merchant account service providers 1 800 authorization number and basically enter all the correct credit card information with your Merchant ID number (MID) and the automatic response unit (ARU) would give you an approval or decline on the spot. This is great because merchants can be sure they will receive the money without needing a piece of electronic hardware.
This type of solution is one of the lowest cost payment processing system available to Merchants. Typically used by Merchants who do not see their customers in person and take orders over the phone, fax, and/or mail - these types of transactions are considered to be MO/TO in the card processing industry, which simply stands for: Mail order/Telephone order. You'll also commonly see Merchants who work Tradeshows use this solution. It is also a good solution for on the road consultants/sales people or possibly delivery type businesses too.
The phone authorization is usually always available as a back up way to process transactions should a Merchant's more modern system go down. Now whenever doing credit card processing over the phone it is always best if you can capture an imprint of the card at some point from the customer/client. This is where a manual imprinter comes in handy. The card imprinter will enable the Merchant to have proof that the card was present during the transaction (enabling lower rates) and also provides a quick receipt for the customer.
If you plan on getting set-up for phone credit card processing you may want to invest in a low cost credit card imprinter.
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