You work hard to run your repair shop business. Getting paid for it shouldn’t be hard. Whether your business operates in a shop, at a kiosk, or on the wheels, a reliable, portable payment terminal goes a long way.
You can find a lot of wireless credit card terminals on the market, but which one is best suited for your repair shop?
Let’s evaluate our options.
As you can see, there are two empty bars.
During my evaluation, I will keep updating the bars with the evaluation scores. So at the end, you will know which one is the best wireless payments terminal for your repair shop, and why.
Oh, boy. I am really excited 😁 At this stage even I don’t know which one will win!
Let’s get started!
So, what’s a wireless credit card terminal? (skip if you know)
A wireless credit card terminal uses WiFi or Bluetooth technology, making your customers far more reachable and easing the payments process. In addition, wireless technology provides limitless possibilities for repair shops to facilitate their customers and grow their revenues.
“What if I don’t care?”
If you are thinking this, you definitely need to think the other way around, “what if it matters?”
Trying to get along with an old-school, wired terminal will undoubtedly hurt your business sooner or later.
Probably sooner. Because a wired credit card terminal restricts your mobility, wastes valuable time (remember, time is money), and may even result in the loss of potential customers.
Remember. If repairing skills make you money, a good customer experience will turn you into a bustling business!
Evaluating the wireless credit card terminal
The evaluation criteria is simple. We will judge by usability, security and portability of the payment terminals.
I would suggest you stay with me while we evaluate and choose the winner. 😊
Nevertheless, you can always jump to any of the 7 evaluation criteria listed here.
- Customer Experience (I kept it on top as customer experience is the key to success)
- Automation and Integration
- Secure Payments
- Rates
- Portability
- Advertising
- Connectivity
01 – Customer Experience
Why is Customer Experience Important?
The veterans of repair shop business say that good customer experience stands at the heart of a repair shop business. Listen for yourself at the State of Repairs. You will get the idea of how crucial it is to establish a good rapport with the customer.
Customer Experience with Square Card Reader
Before I say anything about customer experience with this device, picture this:
You are standing in the waiting lounge of a supermall with your customer and going to take a credit card payment from them.
⏰The customer asks, “what’s the amount?”
You tell them the amount, “$450”, for:
- Repair job
- Repair parts used in the repair
- A couple of accessories that the customer bought
- and, Taxes
⏰The customer frowns as they can’t calculate all of this in their mind. It would have been nicer if they could “see” it. Anyhow, you try providing them the breakdown on a printed receipt.
⏰The customer takes a minute, reviews the receipt, and proceeds to complete the transaction.
But right before they are about to swipe that card, you interrupt them and politely ask them for a tip.
You can notice their dull facial expressions.
⏰The other customers are still waiting for their turn as yet.
That’s actually a 💥disaster there if you see.
Did you notice those clocks ⏰ above?
Those are the critical points where Square Card Reader has wasted your and the customer’s time.
You could have completed credit card payments for at least two more customers just in that time slot.
Picking up a Square Card Reader for your repair shop proved to be disastrous for your growth.
It added roughness to the customer’s experience. Up to the point where they’d be thinking, “Next time, I’d better go to a repair shop that’s more quick and professional in dealing.“
And, this is how a bad customer experience just costs you a customer. Probably, more customers. They will tell their friends and family about this frustrating experience.
Or worse, they might post their experience with your shop on social media! 😟
Customer Experience with RepairDesk Payments Wireless Terminal
RepairDesk Payments Wireless Terminal displays upfront the critical information your customer needs to see and keeps sending the transaction data back to RepairDesk.
With RepairDesk Payments Wireless Terminal, your customers can:
- Quickly double-check the complete payment breakdown to see what they will pay for.
- See the amount you will charge them, let alone the items.
- Read your shop’s terms and conditions for the repair
- Easily opt to tip you without any hassle with just one tap!
You can even record customer consent in the form of hand signatures right on the terminal. It’s a lifesaver for a repair shop!
Winning the customer’s confidence is the pillar of customer experience in the repair business. Simply by choosing the right wireless payments terminal, you could easily alter the above-said scenario into a win-win deal.
Square Card Reader might be a very good choice for one-off, small business transactions. For example, transactions that do not involve a variety of goods and services like a repair shop does.
Repair shops have complex business requirements that can only be satisfied with the hardware that automates the processes.
Customer Experience Scores
The above listed four benefits will give +4 points for RepairDesk, and no points for Square.
02 – Automation and Integration
How does a payment terminal automate a repair shop?
The best payment terminal that supports automation and integration provides the following benefits to your repair shop:
- Automatically display the invoice amounts and cart items on the terminal – no need to key in the invoice amounts.
- Take customer consent on Terms and Conditions on the credit card terminal and automatically record it in your POS against the ticket.
- Take the customer signature on the terminal and automatically record it in your POS against the ticket.
- Easily take tips from customers and reflect them in your POS to see top-performing employees.
If your repair shop has a Square Card Reader, you won’t have any automation features.
With RepairDesk Payments Wireless Terminal, here’s what automation will look like.
A – Line Items and Invoice Amounts
RepairDesk Payments Wireless Terminal displays the line items (repairs, accessories, gadgets, refunds, etc.) along with the payment (and tax) details.
RepairDesk’s wireless payments terminal automatically fetches these details. So, you do not need to key the invoice amount again in the payment terminal.
B – Terms and Conditions
RepairDesk Payments Wireless Terminal displays the Terms and Conditions that the customer can read and accept before completing the transaction.
You can always configure these T & Cs from RepairDesk POS under integrations.
C – Customer Signature
RepairDesk Payments Wireless Terminal asks for the customer signature, which is also automatically reflected in RepairDesk POS.
D – Tipping
RepairDesk Payments Wireless Terminal prompts the customer to tip while paying for the primary transaction. So, no double transactions are required here.
Moreover, the customer can tap on the prompt to accept or reject the tip. This way, they wouldn’t feel guilty about not tipping.
The embedded tipping facility encourages a smooth paying experience for the customer. And if the customer tips (that they usually do), your staff stays motivated. 😃
You will also be excited to know that RepairDesk POS shows tips as a metric on the employee’s performance dashboard so that you can see your star performers. Thanks to the integration capability of the RepairDesk Payments Wireless Terminal.
E – Card Payments
Both RepairDesk Payments Wireless Terminal and Square Card Reader accept any US-issued magnetic stripe or chip cards bearing a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, JCB, or UnionPay logo. Also, you can pay on both devices in any way like dip, swipe or tap (contactless payment).
But this is something that only you know. Does your customer also know about it?
Well, in the case of Square Card Reader, they wouldn’t know until you tell them because the device does not have any interface.
RepairDesk Payments Wireless Terminal displays the prompt for presenting the card and lets customers know their options.
Again. Thanks to the integration capabilities, your accounts, invoices, and inventory items in RepairDesk POS automatically update in just a snap.
So, if you are already using RepairDesk POS, be sure to use the RepairDesk features to their full potential and keep your hardware upgraded. This way, automation keeps serving you 😎.
Automation and Integration Score
The above listed four benefits will give +4 points for RepairDesk, and again no points for Square.
03 – Secure Payments
RepairDesk understands that customers are cautious when using their cards. Therefore, the RepairDesk Payments Wireless Terminal always asks for your customer’s pin before accepting a payment to ensure financial safety.
On the other hand, Square Card Reader does not ask for a pin. This payment method may be less secure, but Square gives insurance of only up to $250.
But the point is, only ‘you’ know that you are covered; your customers do not know upfront about that. So, it adds a little hesitation for the customers while using the cards on this machine.
Remember, making the customer feel safe is part of a good customer experience.
Secure Payments Scores
+1 point for both RepairDesk and Square for being secure.
+1 point for RepairDesk for being customer friendly
04 – Rates
Square has a slightly higher payment processing rate than RepairDesk Payments. Square charges a flat 2.6% + 10c on all tap, swipe, and chip transactions. If the invoice is emailed and paid online, Square charges 2.9% + 10 cents. In case the credit card is not physically present and the number is entered from memory, it charges 3.5% + 10 cents.
On the other hand, RepairDesk Payments charges a flat 2.5% + 10c. If you process more than $10,000, RepairDesk Payments can offer you a custom rate as well.
Both Square and RepairDesk Payments do not charge extra fees for PCI compliance, non-PCI compliance fees, bank fees, statement fees, and other expenses. However, RepairDesk Payments does charge a small $20 chargeback fee.
Learn more about payments integration here:
- RepairDesk Payments vs. Square: Which Repair Shop Payment Processor Works Better?
- 5 Payment Integrations to Choose from for your Cellphone Repair Store Software
Rates Scores
+1 point for both RepairDesk and Square for good rates.
05 – Portability
Square Card Reader
Square Card Reader is a Bluetooth-based wireless payments terminal that is easy to carry while on the move. It’s a pocket-sized (2.6 x 2.6 x 0.4 inches) payments processor powered by Squareup payments gateway.
RepairDesk Payments Wireless Terminal (LUXE 6200m)
RepairDesk Payments Wireless Terminal is a WiFi-based wireless payments terminal that is also easy to carry while on the move. It’s a mobile-sized (5.3 x 2.6 x 0.6 inches) payments processor powered by Blockchyp (created on blockchain technology).
Don’t forget, RepairDesk still supports the other terminal (LUXE 8500i) that needs a network cable to work.
Portability Scores
+1 point for RepairDesk for portability
+2 points for Square for being better at portability.
06 – Advertising
Why do repair shops need advertising?
Your upsells are the second primary source of revenue. Upsells help you make a couple of hundred bucks on top of your repair job.
For this, you need avenues (possibly free ones) to promote your accessories, gadgets, and even refurb cell phones.
Don’t lose an opportunity. Especially when it’s free 😉
How do wireless payment terminals play their part?
Wireless payments terminals are perfect for advertising your products to customers who cannot physically see your shop.
Even if they see your shop, their eyes cannot scan the entire shop and find their interest. They are not EVE from the WALL-E animation🤔
When making payments, customers offer their full attention to the terminal. So that’s the right time and avenue to cash their attention and show them what exciting offers you have got!
RepairDesk Payments Wireless Terminal
On RepairDesk Payments Wireless Terminal, you can add promotional images, video clips, and slideshows.
Square Card Reader
On the other hand, on a Square Card Reader, you cannot advertise your promotions. Unfortunately, this means a lost opportunity to cash your customer’s waiting time.
Advertising Scores
+1 point for RepairDesk and 0 points for Square.
07 – Connectivity
Why does connectivity matter?
Connectivity is one of the most overlooked features when buying a POS payments terminal. Sadly, you realize this soon after buying the cheapest and most marketed product.
When you bring it to your shop, and it refuses to connect with the operating system of your POS – it’s an awful experience.
Connecting with POS
That’s the reason the devices of both Square and Repairdesk Payments provide connectivity to both iOS and Android operating systems.
RepairDesk Payments Wireless Terminal is a browser-friendly device, so it can connect to any hardware on which your RepairDesk POS runs.
Connecting with other pieces of hardware
Connecting payment terminals with other hardware (like cash drawers)
You cannot directly connect them with your external hardware like cash registers, receipt printers, etc.
Square offers a separate device for connecting with other pieces of hardware. It’s called Square Stand, which comes with an additional cost.
Connectivity Scores
+1 point for both RepairDesk and Square for connectivity with POS
0 points for both RepairDesk and Square for connectivity with other pieces of hardware.
Which wireless credit card terminal is best for your repair shop?
Hardware is the backbone of the infrastructure of your repair shop. Therefore, it is crucial to buy the proper hardware that supports your pocket and business requirements.
Always research forums, youtube reviews, and feedback websites to learn about these features. Doing research helps you select the best payments terminal for your cell phone repair shop.
So, here are the final words on both the payments terminal separately.
Square Card Reader
Square Card Reader has been on the market since 2009 and is one of the most sought-after bluetooth payment terminals due to its:
- Compact and portable
- Flat rates
- and a variety of payment options.
But it lacks so many other features like automation, integration, and an interface. These facilities will critically challenge the customer experience and the growth of your repair shop.
Square is made for every business. You need a payments system that is specially designed to work for your repair shop business.
RepairDesk Payments Wireless Terminal
RepairDesk Payments Wireless Terminal precisely addresses the payment needs of the repair shops and offers a handsome list of benefits:
- Compact and portable
- Customer friendly
- Secure
- Easily Configurable
- Supports business growth
- Integrated with RepairDesk POS (a point of sale software specifically designed for repair shops)
Here are the evaluation results 😃
Based on the above evaluation, and if we check back on the scoring bars also, 🎉RepairDesk Payments Wireless Terminal 🎉stands as the best choice for your repair shop.
