

Don’t be distracted by sales representatives who try to insist you must use the terminals offered by their company.

Although you’ll pay interest if you can’t pay it off right away, you’ll still come out ahead. None of these are great options, so it’s best to just not lease the equipment in the first place.Īlways, always purchase your own equipment – even if you have to use a credit card. Finally, you can buy the terminal from the leasing company – but they’ll charge you way more than they’re worth and often won’t even put the leasing fees you’ve already paid toward the cost. You can decline to renew your lease and return the terminal, but now you have to find a new way to process credit cards. You can renew your lease and just keep paying for the use of the terminal, but that’s a never-ending money pit. What happens next depends on the company you’re working with, but there are a few possibilities. The terminal is yours to keep, right? Wrong! The terminal is still owned by the leasing company. You made it to the end of your lease and paid your fees diligently every month. While it’s true that a terminal purchased through your credit card processing company will definitely be compatible with their systems, you should also know that in many cases you can purchase any terminal you like from a third-party and it can be reprogrammed – reputable companies will even do this for free! For starters, they may claim you HAVE to buy a terminal through them in order for it to be compatible with your merchant services account. What they won’t tell you, however, is that many of these perks aren’t nearly as great as they seem. The leasing company’s sales representative will try to entice you with all kinds of “perks” if you agree to lease a terminal with them. Save your money in the long run by coughing it up at the beginning. Be aware, too, that you’ll likely end up paying far more than the terminal is worth due to sales tax and a monthly insurance fee. Plus, if you try to break your lease early you may find yourself on the hook for the rest of your fees all at once. This means that once the leasing company has your information, they’ll just keep billing you – even if you’ve shut down your business and returned the machine. Most leasing agreements have two things in common – they run for several years and you can’t cancel them, no matter how much you want to.

Leasing a terminal is not the right answer – here’s why. Hefty upfront costs could tempt you in the direction of leasing, but don’t be fooled. Whether you want a small mobile device that attaches to your phone or a large POS that can perform all kinds of functions in addition to swiping credit cards, you’ll likely be faced with the choice to buy or lease. Unless you sell your products and services totally online, you’re going to need a credit card terminal to process transactions.
