How to Choose the Best Card Reader for Your Small Business | Nayax (2024)

• 20/06/2024

Editor’s Note: This blog post was originally published in March 2023 and was updated for accuracy.

What Is a Credit Card Reader?

A credit card reader is a point of sale (POS) that accepts and processes payments for your business. Card readers are able to decode credit or debit card information that can be found on the card’s magnetic strip or in its EMV chip. Card readers are a secure and convenient way for business owners to accept cashless payments, and are necessary in today’s world with fewer and fewer consumers carrying cash.

Why Do You Need a Credit Card Reader?

It’s absolutely imperative for businesses to accept cashless payments nowadays. Not only do fewer people carry cash around with them, but customers demand a seamless, frictionless payment experience that allows them to simply tap and go. If you don’t offer this kind of experience, your business will get left behind. Credit card readers are a way for you to accept the most popular payment methods such as credit and debit cards, prepaid cards, EMV contactless payments, NFC mobile payments, and more. Giving your consumers the option to choose their payment method will ensure that you never miss out on a sale.

How to Choose a Card Reader for Your Business

So, you know you need a card reader for your business, but there are thousands of different card readers on the market. How do you know which one to choose?

The first question you need to answer is: what kind of business do you run?

If you run an in-store or in-person business such as a shop, restaurant, beauty salon, or other business, you’ll need more than a card reader: you’ll need a proper point of sale (POS). There are three kinds of POS to choose from: countertop POS, mobile or handheld POS, and hybrid POS. To know what kind of POS you should choose, you’ll need to answer questions such as: how large is your business? Where do you usually interact with your customers? Check out our guide on how to choose the best POS for your retail business here.

Learn how to choose the best retail POS

If you run an automated or unmanned business, you’ll have different considerations to make, notably security and reliability. If you’re not present at your business to perform the transactions yourself, you’ll need a dependable device.

The first question you need to answer here is what kind of unattended business do you run? If you run a vending business, check out our guide to choosing the best vending business card reader here.

Learn about the best vending card reader

If you run a pulse machine business such as a laundromat, massage chairs, an amusem*nt business, a car wash, or kiddie rides, keep reading.

How to Know if It’s the Right Fit

The first thing to consider is if the card reader is the right fit. You’ll want something compact, but with an intuitive touchscreen interface to provide your customer with a good experience. You also want to make sure that your card reader can be easily installed on your machine, or retrofitted onto your machine if you have an older model. If you run a car wash, you also need to consider that your device needs to be waterproof and weatherproof.

Reliability & Security

As we mentioned above, you’ll need to ensure that your card reader is both reliable and secure. You won’t be at your business 24/7, especially in a small business where you are one of few employees, but you want to make sure it’s running properly. With telemetry technology and a mobile management app, you can receive alerts about sales, machines, and more in order to stay on top of your business. And you’ll want to make sure that your card reader accepts EMV payments, offering your customers an added layer of security.

Ask us about our card readers

Multi-Pricing and Loyalty

And of course, the icing on the cake, you’ll want to make sure that your card reader has features that can help you boost your sales. Features such as multi-pricing give you the option to display several different prices on your device’s screen. Nayax’s VPOS Touch and Onyx card readers can display up to 6 different prices, which give your customers more options and help you increase your average transaction value. For example, you can offer a different price for a cold wash or hot wash at your laundry business or offer a bundled price for a wash and dry, upselling your customers and encouraging them to spend more by providing them with added value.

Nayax Credit Card Readers

Nayax manufactures two card readers, the VPOS Touch and the Onyx. These readers can be easily retrofitted on any machine, have plug & play installation, color touchscreens, and accept over 80 forms of payment in over 50 currencies. These reliable devices are also weatherproof and use telemetry technology to help business owners better manage their operation. Together with Nayax’s management and loyalty platforms, Nayax provides unattended operators with and end-to-end solution to grow their business.

Want to learn more about what Nayax can do for you? Contact us here.

Tell us about your business & how we can help you grow.