Technobiography

Point of Sale Solution: Wireless Credit Card Swiper

June 11th, 2008 | by ka edong |

I was at Bolinao (see Bolinao photos here) last year. When it was time to pay, we couldn’t use our credit cards because the resort didn’t have a credit card terminal, sometimes known as a Point of Sale Machine, Credit Card swiper or in jologs terms, “kaskas”.

The cashier explained that they had just recently received their telephone line (a wireless phone) and that their application for the credit card POS was still pending.

I was thinking those wireless POS machines could come in handy in a place like this where phone lines and internet infrastructure isn’t as solid as in the main cities.

I had seen a wireless POS terminal at a Canada restaurant. But that one was wirelessly “connected” to its home-base within the restaurant.

Here is a wireless Credit Card POS used by PSI to collect seminar investments.

 

This one connects wirelessly via the GSM network, I’m told. It accepts Mastercard, Visa, American Express and JCB. It’s a machine administered by BDO and Equitable-PCI bank.

There’s a little charge (around 10%) that goes to the bank to process the payments. But for the convenience of the merchant, it’s worth it.

It’s a lot better than having a collection of POS machines for each bank or each credit card type, just like they used to have in some malls. Here’s what they have in Makati Med emergency room, a collection of POS machines:

ka edong
strike a POS, there’s nothing to it