5 Steps To Accepting Credit Card Payments By Phone

In our last blog, we listed a number of reasons for you to accept debit cards at your place of business. This is a common theme, here on the Canadian POS Corporation Blog. And why wouldn’t it be? Our history has shown us that Canadian merchants enjoy numerous benefits when they become plastic-friendly. Quite frankly, we enjoy hearing the various stories that detail how many businesses improve once plastic is accepted.

Of course, there are varying opinions about which card is “better”. Some customers prefer the convenience of being able to pay for their purchases over time. So, some of our clients find that they benefit greatly from accepting credit cards. Of course, there are many others who prefer to use their own money and choose debit cards as their preferred methods of payment. However, there is something credit cards can do that debit cards cannot.

And that is pay for purchases over the phone! Once you begin accepting credit cards at your business, you gain the incredible benefit of accepting payments from customers who aren’t actually in your store. If you haven’t done this before, it’s quite an easy process. In today’s blog, with some assistance from Wikihow.com, we will provide you with five steps to accepting credit card payments over the phone.

1. Sign up with Canadian POS Corporation. Yes, we usually leave the pitch for the end of the blog. But let’s be honest. You know where this was headed. Believe us, if we weren’t 100% confident that you were making the right choice by making us your payment provider, we wouldn’t be as adamant about it in our blogs. You’ll be more than happy with our service and even happier that it will allow you to accept payments by phone. Call us at 1-877-748-2884.

2. Get the pertinent information from the caller. As Wikihow.com explains, “in most cases, you will need the complete 16-digit credit card number, the name as it appears on the credit card, the expiration date and the billing address associated with the credit card number.” In many cases, you will also require the 3-digit security code that is located on the back of the credit card. This is to help insure that your caller actually has the credit card in hand.

3. Use your own credit card terminal to process the sale. “Enter the 16-digit card number manually, using the numerical keypad on your credit card terminal,” explains the website, “Press ‘Enter.’ Follow the credit card terminal\’s prompts to enter the rest of the necessary information. Tear off the credit card receipt, file your copy, and put the client\’s copy with any products you will mail to the client. Write, ‘Per client request,’ on the signature line.”

4. Give the credit card information to your third-party credit card processing company. According to Wikihow.com, “some companies have a call-in number, while others use an online processing centre.” As a result, you may have to “wait for confirmation from your provider. This may be verbal or written confirmation. You may need to write down a transaction number for your records.”

5. Ship the product or get it ready for pick up. Obviously, the deal isn’t done yet. Payments by phone are obviously different than making them in person as the buyer cannot walk out of your store with the product. Naturally, you want to make good on your end of the deal by ensuring that the customer gets exactly what he or she paid for. Doing so will add heaps of credibility to your brand.