The Basics About Manual Imprinters And Imprinter Plates

Manual imprinters, also known as knuckle busters, give the impression of days past when merchants used to look up credit card numbers in a book to make sure they were valid and credit card slips had to be mailed into your bank if you wanted to get paid. Despite the advances in credit card machine technology manual imprinters still play an important role in accepting credit card payments. Many business cannot operate without one and others can reduce their losses due to chargebacks with one.

Mobile Merchants

Not every business has the luxury of having their customers come to them to make their purchase. Sometimes you have to meet them halfway and this means not having access to electricity or a telephone line. Without one of these two critical elements a typical credit card machine will not work. A wireless credit card terminal may be a viable alternative but is cost prohibitive to most merchants. These business, where the merchant is face-to-face with their customers but cannot process their credit sales in real time, are called "mobile merchants".

Mobile merchants will need to use a manual credit card imprinter to capture their customers' credit card information. Their imprinted sales slip not only acts as a receipt for their customers but also captures all of the information required to process that sale at a later point in time.

Unable to swipe the credit card through the magnetic stripe reader

Retail merchants typically process their customers' credit cards through a credit card terminal or POS system of some kind. But occassionally a credit card is not able to be processed by swiping the credit card through a magnetic strip reader. This may occur if the magnetic strip on the back of the credit card has been worn out or demagnetized, or the magentic stripe reader is dirty or broken.

In these cases the cashier should use a manual imprinter to imprint the customer's credit card. Why? Because if the customer disputes the sale through a chargeback the merchant will have proof that the credit card was present at the time of sale. Without the imprinted credit card slip the merchant would lose the chargeback. This means they lose their money and their merchandise.

Tips for using your manual imprinter

Save your imprinted credit card slips for at least six months
Customers may file a chargeback with their credit card issuing bank for up to six months after their purchase is made and in some cases they will have up to six months after the service is performed to file a chargeback. If a chargeback is filed your merchant account provider will request a copy of all receipts associated with the transaction. This includes any imprinted copies of the customer's credit card that you created with your manual imprinter. As a result you should always save your imprinted charge slips for at least six months although saving them for a full year is recommended.
Capture your customer's signature
Capturing an imprint of a customer's credit card is only half of what a merchant needs for chargeback protection. A valid signature of the cardholder is also required on the receipt for their transaction. A credit card slip with their imprinted credit card and signature protects you from most chargebacks.
Use an imprinter plate to save time and guarantee important information is present
Each and every imprint must contain important information about a transaction to be considered valid. Some pieces of information such as the total amount of the sale and the date of the transaction will vary but your business name and merchant ID number will rarely, if ever, change. To ensure these important pieces of information are always present on your credit card slips you should use an imprinter plate. They attach securely to your imprinter and guarantee your important information is always included on your imprinted credit card slips. It also makes your life easier because you don't have to handwrite this information for each and every sale.
Provide a method to contact your business
A common reason chargebacks occur is a customer feels a need to contact the merchant but is unable to do so. Had they been able to reach the merchant their questions would have been answered or a solution may have been found that would have addressed their concerns and avoided the chargeback. Providing a telephone number for your customers to call would be ideal although an email address would work as well. Putting this on your imprinter plate would ensure it is provided on every credit card slip you use.

What should my imprinter plates say?

The purpose of imprinter plates is to make the life of the merchant easier. Credit card slips need to have certain information on them to be compliant and handwriting this information for each and every imprinted credit card is time consuming and tedious. Imprinter plates allow you to put common and important information on your slips each time you imprint your customer's credit card.

What most merchants do not realize is that imprinter plates can also be used to display optional information about their business. Displaying a method to contact or to do more business with you is never a bad idea. Below are some suggestions as for what you could put on your imprinter plates.

Your Business Name
Your business name must be on your credit card slips. This one is an obvious choice and usually occupies the first line of most businesses' imprinter plates.
Your Business' Visa and MasterCard Merchant ID Number
This is the unique number assigned to your merchant account by your processing bank.
Your American Express Service Establishment Number
This is the unique number assigned to your merchant account by American Express. This is only necessary if you accept American Express.
Your Discover Card Service Establishment Number
This is the unique number assigned to your merchant account by Discover Card. This is only necessary if you accept Discover Card.
Your Telephone Number
Your Website Address
Your Physical Address (if you own a retail store)
Your Email Address
Your Name