Where and How Do You Process Charges?

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Until now we have always asked guest into our private living room to deal with payment. But we are thinking of changing this and moving the credit card processing machine to the entryway and buying a tablet so that we can see the bills electronically and process guest charges outside of our private living room. But this has lead me to ask how others do it.
Remember, in Canada we have Chip & Pin, so we need to use the physical card and the guest my be physically present, unless we get one of the very expensive wireless handheld units.
 
Our credit card machine was in our front foyer on a secretary/ desk. We process payment right then and there when they come into the house...after we give our little welcome:)
We wanted our area to be private so no guests ever got in there unless by special invite :)
 
Because our cottages are some distance from the main house, I take the up front deposit electronically then manually run the balance when they're getting ready to leave. I do it that way because they sometimes pay with alternate forms of payment i.e., cash or check. This is all done privately in my office.
 
At the moment we take the card from the guest to our office and run it. We bring the slips out for them to sign. When the wing is finished I will have a small office on the ground floor where they will be able to come in and pay in private.
RIki
 
We have a locking small rolltop desk in the living room that has the credit card machine for swiping the cards. I also keep the reservation forms and room keys in that desk. The PO used to take the cards back to the innkeeper's office for swiping but we relocated it within the first six months.
 
we have a cordless machine ie has a base which is plugged into the phone line and a hand held part we can take about with us. This is a lot cheaper than a wireless one.
 
We were just contemplating going in reverse...the cc machine has always been in the entryway. I would like to move it to the office. In which case, we would need to take the card out of the guest's presence and take it to the office. No guests in the office.
But, we don't have anyone needing a pin pad, so that's not an issue.
 
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back.
 
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back..
copperhead said:
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back.
Part of Chip & Pin... you can't walk away with the card and process the charge. You need the card and the owner to be in proximity, they need to be there, physically.
At restaurants locally, they bring a hand held unit to your table now. Or you have to go to the cash to pay. No more taking the card and walking away with it.
 
We were just contemplating going in reverse...the cc machine has always been in the entryway. I would like to move it to the office. In which case, we would need to take the card out of the guest's presence and take it to the office. No guests in the office.
But, we don't have anyone needing a pin pad, so that's not an issue..
You don't need the pin pad.... now. It's coming, see http://www.ababj.com/tech-topics-plus/visa-announces-plans-to-accelerate-chip-migration-and-adoption-of-mobile-payments-2259.html
We were taking guests into our personal and private office to process the charges. Until some guest was gauche enough to actually make a comment about our private space on TA.
 
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back..
copperhead said:
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back.
Part of Chip & Pin... you can't walk away with the card and process the charge. You need the card and the owner to be in proximity, they need to be there, physically.
At restaurants locally, they bring a hand held unit to your table now. Or you have to go to the cash to pay. No more taking the card and walking away with it.
.
Eric Arthur Blair said:
copperhead said:
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back.
Part of Chip & Pin... you can't walk away with the card and process the charge. You need the card and the owner to be in proximity, they need to be there, physically.
At restaurants locally, they bring a hand held unit to your table now. Or you have to go to the cash to pay. No more taking the card and walking away with it.
So are you able to take deposits???
 
The cc machine in on my desk in the Library/office. It is just inside the front door and the stairs to the guestrooms is there. I take payment at checkout (but I am small only 3 rooms to keep track of) in proverbial hope of cash or check.
Our living quarters are across the hall.
 
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back..
copperhead said:
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back.
Part of Chip & Pin... you can't walk away with the card and process the charge. You need the card and the owner to be in proximity, they need to be there, physically.
At restaurants locally, they bring a hand held unit to your table now. Or you have to go to the cash to pay. No more taking the card and walking away with it.
.
Eric Arthur Blair said:
copperhead said:
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back.
Part of Chip & Pin... you can't walk away with the card and process the charge. You need the card and the owner to be in proximity, they need to be there, physically.
At restaurants locally, they bring a hand held unit to your table now. Or you have to go to the cash to pay. No more taking the card and walking away with it.
So are you able to take deposits???
.
We don't take deposits. But yes, we could take deposits. You manually enter and then you have to push "card not present" and of course you have a higher fee for that. You are also not protected from a charge-back.
If you have the card and swipe it and it's chip & pin it will tell you to insert the card into the pinpad to process the transaction. The holder must be there to process. In return for this, we are protected from charge-backs, since the person both had the card and validated the card with their PIN. We don't need to collect a signature and we don't have to worry about fraud.
 
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back..
copperhead said:
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back.
Part of Chip & Pin... you can't walk away with the card and process the charge. You need the card and the owner to be in proximity, they need to be there, physically.
At restaurants locally, they bring a hand held unit to your table now. Or you have to go to the cash to pay. No more taking the card and walking away with it.
.
Eric Arthur Blair said:
copperhead said:
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back.
Part of Chip & Pin... you can't walk away with the card and process the charge. You need the card and the owner to be in proximity, they need to be there, physically.
At restaurants locally, they bring a hand held unit to your table now. Or you have to go to the cash to pay. No more taking the card and walking away with it.
So are you able to take deposits???
.
We don't take deposits. But yes, we could take deposits. You manually enter and then you have to push "card not present" and of course you have a higher fee for that. You are also not protected from a charge-back.
If you have the card and swipe it and it's chip & pin it will tell you to insert the card into the pinpad to process the transaction. The holder must be there to process. In return for this, we are protected from charge-backs, since the person both had the card and validated the card with their PIN. We don't need to collect a signature and we don't have to worry about fraud.
.
Sounds like a great system. US should do it.
 
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back..
copperhead said:
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back.
Part of Chip & Pin... you can't walk away with the card and process the charge. You need the card and the owner to be in proximity, they need to be there, physically.
At restaurants locally, they bring a hand held unit to your table now. Or you have to go to the cash to pay. No more taking the card and walking away with it.
.
Eric Arthur Blair said:
copperhead said:
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back.
Part of Chip & Pin... you can't walk away with the card and process the charge. You need the card and the owner to be in proximity, they need to be there, physically.
At restaurants locally, they bring a hand held unit to your table now. Or you have to go to the cash to pay. No more taking the card and walking away with it.
So are you able to take deposits???
.
We don't take deposits. But yes, we could take deposits. You manually enter and then you have to push "card not present" and of course you have a higher fee for that. You are also not protected from a charge-back.
If you have the card and swipe it and it's chip & pin it will tell you to insert the card into the pinpad to process the transaction. The holder must be there to process. In return for this, we are protected from charge-backs, since the person both had the card and validated the card with their PIN. We don't need to collect a signature and we don't have to worry about fraud.
.
Eric Arthur Blair said:
We don't need to collect a signature and we don't have to worry about fraud.
It will be great when we have that too! Currently, some fast food places, and the post office, don't require a signature, but I suspect it's because the amounts being charged are so small they just accept the risk of not getting a signature in order to speed up the checkout process.
 
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back..
copperhead said:
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back.
Part of Chip & Pin... you can't walk away with the card and process the charge. You need the card and the owner to be in proximity, they need to be there, physically.
At restaurants locally, they bring a hand held unit to your table now. Or you have to go to the cash to pay. No more taking the card and walking away with it.
.
Eric Arthur Blair said:
copperhead said:
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back.
Part of Chip & Pin... you can't walk away with the card and process the charge. You need the card and the owner to be in proximity, they need to be there, physically.
At restaurants locally, they bring a hand held unit to your table now. Or you have to go to the cash to pay. No more taking the card and walking away with it.
So are you able to take deposits???
.
We don't take deposits. But yes, we could take deposits. You manually enter and then you have to push "card not present" and of course you have a higher fee for that. You are also not protected from a charge-back.
If you have the card and swipe it and it's chip & pin it will tell you to insert the card into the pinpad to process the transaction. The holder must be there to process. In return for this, we are protected from charge-backs, since the person both had the card and validated the card with their PIN. We don't need to collect a signature and we don't have to worry about fraud.
.
Eric Arthur Blair said:
We don't need to collect a signature and we don't have to worry about fraud.
It will be great when we have that too! Currently, some fast food places, and the post office, don't require a signature, but I suspect it's because the amounts being charged are so small they just accept the risk of not getting a signature in order to speed up the checkout process.
.
Yes. But the customer must have a chip, the card must be read by the chip and they must enter their PIN. Not the paypass nonsense, that has no security whatsover.... So I don't have charge backs if they are processed this way. But it means that I need the physical card and the physical person there to process in this fashion. EMV and it's coming to the US. But for me it leave me with the choice of either moving the CC machine to a place where the guests will be, or letting the guests in to my personal space. A dilemma we are trying to overcome.
 
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back..
copperhead said:
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back.
Part of Chip & Pin... you can't walk away with the card and process the charge. You need the card and the owner to be in proximity, they need to be there, physically.
At restaurants locally, they bring a hand held unit to your table now. Or you have to go to the cash to pay. No more taking the card and walking away with it.
.
Eric Arthur Blair said:
copperhead said:
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back.
Part of Chip & Pin... you can't walk away with the card and process the charge. You need the card and the owner to be in proximity, they need to be there, physically.
At restaurants locally, they bring a hand held unit to your table now. Or you have to go to the cash to pay. No more taking the card and walking away with it.
So are you able to take deposits???
.
We don't take deposits. But yes, we could take deposits. You manually enter and then you have to push "card not present" and of course you have a higher fee for that. You are also not protected from a charge-back.
If you have the card and swipe it and it's chip & pin it will tell you to insert the card into the pinpad to process the transaction. The holder must be there to process. In return for this, we are protected from charge-backs, since the person both had the card and validated the card with their PIN. We don't need to collect a signature and we don't have to worry about fraud.
.
Eric Arthur Blair said:
We don't need to collect a signature and we don't have to worry about fraud.
It will be great when we have that too! Currently, some fast food places, and the post office, don't require a signature, but I suspect it's because the amounts being charged are so small they just accept the risk of not getting a signature in order to speed up the checkout process.
.
Yes. But the customer must have a chip, the card must be read by the chip and they must enter their PIN. Not the paypass nonsense, that has no security whatsover.... So I don't have charge backs if they are processed this way. But it means that I need the physical card and the physical person there to process in this fashion. EMV and it's coming to the US. But for me it leave me with the choice of either moving the CC machine to a place where the guests will be, or letting the guests in to my personal space. A dilemma we are trying to overcome.
.
So, what's the issue with moving the cc machine to the entryway? I mean, if this is what you want to do, why are you not doing it? What thoughts are you thinking that you want to overcome?
Our machine is loud. It's the old clackety clack, not the new, quiet kind. This is why we don't do cc processing in the morning. Everyone is trying to eat and that machine drowns out everything!
 
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back..
copperhead said:
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back.
Part of Chip & Pin... you can't walk away with the card and process the charge. You need the card and the owner to be in proximity, they need to be there, physically.
At restaurants locally, they bring a hand held unit to your table now. Or you have to go to the cash to pay. No more taking the card and walking away with it.
.
Eric Arthur Blair said:
copperhead said:
Deposit taken early, balance on arrival. We take card into our office and return to central hall where they sign.
If they must be with their card, they can follow - this is when I wish we had the machine in the entry. I just wonder what these people do at restaurants where the waiter takes the card to the back.
Part of Chip & Pin... you can't walk away with the card and process the charge. You need the card and the owner to be in proximity, they need to be there, physically.
At restaurants locally, they bring a hand held unit to your table now. Or you have to go to the cash to pay. No more taking the card and walking away with it.
So are you able to take deposits???
.
We don't take deposits. But yes, we could take deposits. You manually enter and then you have to push "card not present" and of course you have a higher fee for that. You are also not protected from a charge-back.
If you have the card and swipe it and it's chip & pin it will tell you to insert the card into the pinpad to process the transaction. The holder must be there to process. In return for this, we are protected from charge-backs, since the person both had the card and validated the card with their PIN. We don't need to collect a signature and we don't have to worry about fraud.
.
Eric Arthur Blair said:
We don't need to collect a signature and we don't have to worry about fraud.
It will be great when we have that too! Currently, some fast food places, and the post office, don't require a signature, but I suspect it's because the amounts being charged are so small they just accept the risk of not getting a signature in order to speed up the checkout process.
.
Yes. But the customer must have a chip, the card must be read by the chip and they must enter their PIN. Not the paypass nonsense, that has no security whatsover.... So I don't have charge backs if they are processed this way. But it means that I need the physical card and the physical person there to process in this fashion. EMV and it's coming to the US. But for me it leave me with the choice of either moving the CC machine to a place where the guests will be, or letting the guests in to my personal space. A dilemma we are trying to overcome.
.
So, what's the issue with moving the cc machine to the entryway? I mean, if this is what you want to do, why are you not doing it? What thoughts are you thinking that you want to overcome?
Our machine is loud. It's the old clackety clack, not the new, quiet kind. This is why we don't do cc processing in the morning. Everyone is trying to eat and that machine drowns out everything!
.
Two things... It seems very commercial to have the machine out in the hall where the guests are. The second is that we usually don't print anything other than the CC receipts. So we usually enter amounts from the screen, then enter the payment into the system and then send the guests a recipt in email. So we are thinking about processing with a tablet, so that we can do all the processes at the same time. Or maybe install a touch screen PC in the hallway, so we can process on that and use it for an information base for the guests.
I was trying to come up with a way to sort of keep the machine discreet, I guess. Especially after someone already wrote up a nasty review saying we keep everything in the entryway. (I guess I'm still traumatized by that nastiness.)
 
Be careful having it out in public, there is a REPRINT LAST RECPT or REPRINT ANY RECPT button that if not password protected will work for anyone and printe the full cc # on it.
 
Be careful having it out in public, there is a REPRINT LAST RECPT or REPRINT ANY RECPT button that if not password protected will work for anyone and printe the full cc # on it..
None of receipts ever has the full CC number on it, not ours and not the guest's. It has the approval code, the last four digits, the amount and the guest name.
 
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