Credit Card Swiping

What do you think happens to your credit card the minute you turn it over to make a purchase? You know. It gets SWIPED! When your card is SWIPED all your personal information is being stamped on to the receipt. There are two copies, one for you and one for the shopkeeper. A record of the transaction; in print!

There are two kinds of credit card transactions: Magnetic and Non-magnetic. The magnetic transaction is the general face-to-face transactions that take place. The credit card is swiped through a reader. EDC (Electronic Data Capture) are software used in swipe-card terminals that are becoming commonplace in almost any business. This software is set up at the POS (Point of Sale) terminals. Swiping a credit card refers to running the magnetic stripe at the back of the card through a reader. What happens when you swipe your card is that the EDC at the POS terminal automatically dials a telephone number that has been stored in it.

The number of course belongs to your "sponsor" bank. The acquiring processor checks for the Merchant Id, the validity of the credit card number, the date when the card expires, credit limit and card usage. Based on these factors, the acquirer goes on to give the merchant a payment guarantee.

The credit card swipe is a vital component to processing payment information. Every credit card has a magnetic strip that stores all of the cardholder’s vital information, such as the personal identification number (PIN), credit card number, expiration date, and other information regarding the account.

After the credit card reader extracts the data stored on the magnetic strip, it authenticates the information through a gateway network connection. Once the gateway authorizes the validity of the account, the information is then passed back to the store’s point of sale software.

If you run a retail business, you are missing out on a large number of transactions if you do not accept credit cards or debit cards. As more and more consumers feel safer about cash-free transactions, you will miss a sale if you can’t provide a credit card payment system to the customer. Younger generations of consumers use even less cash in their transactions, relying even more heavily on credit and debit cards.

For more details visitCredit Card Processing and Merchant Services provider