Should You Use Offline Credit Card Processing?
These days, more and more businesses are going card-only (been to a Shack Shake or Blue Bottle Coffee lately?). The days of businesses only accepting cash as a form of payment are almost extinct as many businesses realize that in order to stay competitive, accepting cards are a must.
But what happens if a power outage occurs or your Internet goes down? You need the Internet to process these types of payments, or you need offline credit card processing.
What is Offline Credit Card Processing?
Offline Credit Card Process is when you accept the credit card as a form of payment without an Internet connection.
So how does it work?
When a customer makes a purchase with offline credit card processing, the personal account number and other data are encrypted and held in the payment processor until you are back online and the transaction can be processed.
Um, this sounds a bit risky?
Well, it can be. So let’s take a look at the pros and cons:
Pros
It’s perfect for businesses that are remote and set up at farmers’ markets or music festivals where the Internet is haphazard or hard to come by.
It’s easy for service-oriented businesses that travel to their customers. You can complete the sale with the internet or without it.
Power outages are becoming more frequent (hello, California!) and if the power is out, your internet is out. In this situation, you can still make sales with offline credit card processing, and not lose a customer or miss a sale.
If you are traveling, and need to process a sale, you can do it whether you have Internet or not.
Cons
The biggest risk in this situation is accepting a credit or debit card without having approval from the bank. If the purchase is denied by the bank later, you could have lost your merchandise and not have a way to contact your customer.
You may have to set a transaction limit for charges above a certain amount. You have to decide what you are willing to lose if the sale is declined or even charged back. For example, if it’s just a $10 lunch, you’re not taking a big risk by authorizing their offline payment. If it’s a big-ticket item like a $1,000 furniture purchase where the customer is loading up their truck to take away the merchandise, you may want to set up a delivery date instead. Losing that amount of money could be a hefty loss to your bottom line.
The big thing to ask yourself is - is offline credit card processing is worth it for your business? Can you afford to miss out on a sale? Then see if your payment processor offers offline credit card processing.
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