What is a Virtual Terminal?

A virtual terminal might just be exactly what our business needs. But what exactly is it?

Well, I suppose if you break it down, it is exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a payment terminal that is virtual and can be accessed via a secure web browser and log in page. It has its advantages for merchants that want to be able to take card payments a certain way and don’t necessarily need physical hardware in order to take a card payment.

A virtual terminal can be accessed as long as you have a browser available, so as long as you have connectivity it can be available on a tablet or even a mobile phone. This negates against the need for a physical terminal and any contract that might come with it.

One other positive for a virtual terminal is that certain ones are acquirer agnostic, meaning regardless of what virtual terminal that you choose to use, you can attach any MID against it.

People often muddle up a payment gateway and a virtual terminal, the difference is pretty clear to those in the know. A payment gateway is something that you traditionally attach to your website to enable the site to take payments. A virtual terminal is a separate product that you can get access to through a browser to physically enter card details into to take a credit or debit card payment.

So what fees are applicable for a virtual terminal transaction?

Although it differs from provider to provider there are usually as series of fees that are applicable for your virtual terminal.

Acquiring fees, these are the fees that your broker or your payments company have given to you to take a transaction.

Virtual terminal rental - some providers, most actually will charge you a monthly rental for the virtual terminal, this can range from £10-35 p/m.

Pence per transaction, some Virtual terminal providers will give you bundles, some will charge you per transaction, but it’s common for each transaction to cost you an additional pence per transaction.

Who uses a virtual terminal?

Companies and merchants that might lean towards a virtual terminal are usually merchants in the below sectors.

Call centres

Debt collection

Takeaway and restaurants

Companies with field reps

Sales

People/companies who only take sporadic payments

Having a virtual terminal at your disposal sounds like a no brainer for any business, so what’s the advantages or disadvantages of using a virtual terminal over a chip and pin machine.

Advantages of a Virtual Terminal

Take a lot of phone payments

Take payments on the move

Send pay by links

Call centre where everyone needs a way to take payments

Merchants that need to keep a live track on the transactions requests

Utilise the secure pay by link option

Disadvantages of a Virtual Terminal

Although a virtual terminal is a very handy asset for a business to have at their disposal, it doesn’t come without its risks and disadvantages.

All transactions are MOTO (mail or telephone order) Not a physical card

This means that all transactions are classed as non secure - usually yielding a fee

Connectivity issues - you are solely reliant on your connectivity being 100%

You are more open to fraudulent transactions as people give you card details without a pin

Acquirers appetite to approve the use of a VT is not as strong as a physical terminal

What Virtual Terminals do we offer at Modern World Business Solutions?

As an agnostic provider of acquiring banks, we take the same approach to our payment gateways and virtual terminals that we do with our acquirers, we want to ensure that we can assist you with the correct solution. Below are a list of virtual terminals that are all certified with different acquiring banks that we link with.

If you would like to speak to someone about the best virtual terminal for your business then please fill out the details below and one of our friendly team will be in contact with you.