How Does a Credit Card Imprinter Work?
- In the early days of credit cards, all transactions were recorded manually. The customer would present her credit card to the merchant, and the merchant would fill out a sales slip using the information on the credit card. The merchant would have to write down, by hand, the customer's name, credit card number, expiration date and personal contact information. The slip was then sent to the merchant account provider so that the correct amount of cash could be charged to the customer and transferred to the merchant's account.
- This process resulted in a substantial amount of errors. Human error is impossible to overcome. When writing so many numbers by hand, it's only a matter of time before a merchant mistakenly writes down a seven instead of nine. Handwriting is also a factor. While everyone can usually read their own writing, it can often be impossible to decipher the writing of a stranger. These challenges resulted in incorrect billing and failed transactions.
- The advent of the credit card imprinter drastically reduced the human error factor. Merchants attach a small metal plate to the bottom of their imprinter. The metal plate has raised lettering that contains the merchant's account information. The customer's credit card is also placed on the bottom of the imprinter, next to the merchant's plate.
- A pre-printed sales slip is placed on top of the card and plate. The sales slip contains all of the necessary information for the transaction, with the exception of the merchant's information and the customer's card information, transaction amount and the customer's contact information and signature. The slip is made of carbonless copy paper, which releases a blue ink when pressure is applied.
- The merchant then slides a roller across the slip. The roller is attached to the imprinter and constructed to apply the correct amount of downward pressure on the slip. This forces the slip to press down on the raised lettering of the credit card and merchant plates, resulting in an accurate recording of all account information. The transaction amount, customer's signature and personal contact information still need to be written by hand on the slip.
- Credit cards now come with magnetic strips that contain digitally encoded data. All transactions can be recorded electronically. This almost makes the credit card imprinter obsolete, but not quite. If the merchant's system goes down, or the merchant is conducting business in an area without power, the imprinter is still the best choice.
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