As parts of the country slowly and cautiously begin to reopen amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses are doing their best to keep operations fulfilling consumer needs, while ensuring their employees and customers are safe. When it comes to safe payment acceptance, we want to make sure businesses are armed with the right knowledge so they can feel as comfortable as possible going through their day-to-day.
If your business is continuing to operate during this outbreak, there is payment technology available to accept payments safely as your employees and customers keep a distance.
Payment methods that can reduce the risk to employees and customers during COVID-19
Contactless Payment Options for Social Distancing
Mobile Payment Acceptance for Curbside Pickups and Deliveries
If you are a business that has adapted to offer your services and products curbside, mobile payment acceptance is perfect for you right now. As you bring purchases directly to the car windows of your patrons, a mobile solution like an app and credit card chip reader that connects to your phone will allow you to bring payment acceptance alongside you, right in your pocket. Just make sure to sanitize your phone often throughout the day!
Virtual Terminals for Phone Orders
As a business, you may be accepting payments over the phone before your customers arrive curbside for their pickups, or before your employees bravely make deliveries. If that’s the case, a virtual terminal is a great browser-based solution that allows you to accept credit card information securely over the phone, so you don’t have to handle the risky physical transfer of credit cards. It’s important to make sure your business continues to handle credit card data securely, so using a solution like the CardPointe Virtual Terminal ensures all transactions are protected by tokenization and that the data is never stored on your business’s computer or network.
NFC or Contactless Payments
At a time when we are all giving each other extra space, contactless payments like Apple and Google Pay allow your business to avoid the transfer of credit cards between customers and employees.
To learn more about how contactless payments can help your business stay safe, the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) has published a comprehensive guide about how they can be used.
Hosted Payment Page for Accepting Online Payments and Donations
If your business or non-profit is closed or has postponed events that are crucial to the sustainability of your operations, adding a hosted payment page to your website is a great way to collect payments and donations virtually. Your customers and donors are not leaving their homes, so this is something simple they can do right from their living rooms. All they have to do is input their credit card information directly into your hosted payment page and your business is able to securely accept the payment.
Safer In-Person Payments
Keeping Points-of-Sale and Payment Terminals Clean
As a business, you’re probably already wiping down commonly used surfaces, especially at check-out counters. It’s equally as important to keep your points-of-sale and payment terminals sanitized. By following a few best practices for cleaning payment equipment, businesses can help protect the health of their employees and customers.
Sanitizing Supplies
- Lint-free cloth and warm soapy water
- Disinfecting wipes
- Alcohol wipes
POS & Terminal Cleaning Tips
- Be sure to unplug your equipment before cleaning and avoid electrical connections and card reader slots
- Gently wipe down the screen, keypad, cords and stylus with one of the above options
- Clean the equipment several times throughout the day, paying extra attention to the most-frequently touched areas and buttons
- Never spray or apply cleaning solutions, aerosols or liquids directly on your equipment because moisture can cause damage
- Never use solvents, abrasives or other harsh chemicals that may harm the equipment
One thing we do know is that we will continue to work through this moment in history together. For more information that may help support your business during this time, check out our list of additional resources. If you have questions about how CardConnect’s solutions can help your business, please submit them in the below form or give us a call.