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I have to tell you, I absolutely love my iPhone!

I love the way the phone looks, I love the email interface, I love that’s it’s my iPod, and I love all of the cool entertainment apps. The thing can do everything it seems, heck, I even have fish swimming in there and when you touch the water it makes it ripples – pretty stupid I know but as you can see where I’m going here it can do a lot.

Perhaps you’ve seen the ads on Apples national television commercial campaign talking about all of the cool things you can do with your iPhone? The one that really caught my attention is the one about how you can turn your iphone into a credit card terminal and accept credit cards out in the field. Being an iPhone app junkie the first thing I said when I saw the app was – “Now that’s a great idea!”

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 iPhone, 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 iPhone and collect a credit card payment right then and there?

There are 2 ways you can accept credit cards on your iPhone:

1. The first way is to go into the app store and search under the term “credit card terminal” or “accept credit cards.” 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 for your situation. 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 will be taking credit card orders right on your iPhone
2. If you don’t want to pay for an app you can still accept credit cards on your phone using iPhone’s Safari browser by logging into your gateway account to access its virtual terminal component.

The nice thing about processing credit cards on the iPhone 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. 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 begin using your iPhone to process remotely too. So the next time you bring your iPhone on the road with you to make your sales presentation or deliver an order, why not pull out your portable credit card processing system the next time you close the sale?

You’ll have the comfort of knowing that your product or service is paid for and the peace of mind knowing that your money will soon be deposited into your account

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