Sponsored by Total Merchant Services

By Rieva Lesonsky

Does your small business accept credit and debit cards? If so, you know that lots of change is afoot in the payment acceptance world.

First, apps that turn mobile devices like tablets and smartphones into card readers made it possible for businesses to accept payments anywhere. Apple Pay, launched earlier this year, is already transforming the way consumers pay for products. And as of October 1, 2015, the U.S. adopted the EMV (Euro, MasterCard and Visa) standard for payment cards.

EMV payment cards store the customer’s payment information on an embedded chip instead of a magnetic strip, and provide a higher degree of fraud protection for cardholders. However, they do require retailers to have EMV-compliant point-of-sale (POS) systems. If you haven’t yet installed EMV-compliant POS terminals, you could be at risk. Why? Instead of credit-card issuers being responsible for credit card fraud, small business owners not using EMV technology will be held liable if any payment card fraud occurs in their businesses.

Already some 34 million U.S. consumers pay with digital wallets using near-field communications (NFC), such as Apple Pay and Android Pay, and that figure is expected to more than double by 2018.

But there’s a disconnect between what customers want and what small business owners are doing. Just 4 percent of small and midsized businesses accept digital wallet payments, and only 7 percent plan to start doing so in the near future. In addition, only 31 percent of small and midsized business have EMV-compliant terminals.

What’s holding small business owners back from adding technology that could protect their businesses and boost their sales? Half are worried about the cost of new POS terminals, while 25 percent say the time needed to understand the technology and train employees is holding them back.

If that sounds like you, the Groovv Terminal One, available at the Apple Online Store, might be the affordable, simple solution you’re looking for.  A powerful ‘smart’ terminal and payment service, the Groovv Terminal One allows small businesses to accept all forms of electronic payments, is NFC and EMV ready, and integrates easily with POS solutions via the Groovv API.

There’s just one piece of equipment to install — the Groovv Terminal One device itself, which is small and lightweight. It accepts Apple Pay and other contactless NFC payments, EMV chip cards and magnetic stripe cards. The Groovv Terminal One provides virtually instant activation, a first of its kind for POS terminals. Just plug it in and start accepting payments in minutes.

Developed in cooperation with Apple, the Groovv Terminal One is available exclusively at the Apple store online and in select Apple stores nationwide. The best part? You can get the Groovv Terminal One for free after a $99 rebate. Groovv is also waiving the processing fees for the first $20,000 in Apple Pay transactions for the first year—an offer they say is unprecedented in the industry.

The Groovv Terminal One has an affordable payment plan with transparent pricing, no term contracts, no minimums and no hidden fees. It’s also backed by award-winning, 24/7 customer service from Total Merchant Services, a leader in the payment industry.

“There are so many barriers for an SMB to get EMV ready and accept mobile payment systems like Apple Pay,” says Joe Kaplan, Total Merchant Services CEO. “With Groovv Terminal One, we remove those barriers by offering merchants a smart terminal that’s easy to use and affordable.”