How to Set Up EFTPOS for your business

By Caitlin Wyllie February 27, 2024 4 minutes read time

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If you're reading this blog post, chances are you're embarking on a new business venture, diving into business ownership for the first time, or expanding your current business. It can be an overwhelming time, with a multitude of tasks to tackle and new suppliers to connect with. To ease the process, we've compiled a detailed checklist outlining everything you need to set up EFTPOS in your business.

At a bare minimum, to accept payment cards in person you will need a merchant facility and an EFTPOS terminal connected to a payment network.

1. A merchant facility

You will need a merchant facility provided by an 'acquirer'. Your acquirer collects funds from cardholders on your behalf and settles the funds into your merchant account. To connect your merchant facility to your EFTPOS terminal your acquirer issues you with a Merchant Number (or Merchant ID).

You can choose to accept just EFTPOS and debit card payments, or if you would like to accept credit card payments your acquirer can also help you get set up to accept Visa and Mastercard cards, and contactless 'PayWave' payments. Accepting credit cards and contactless payments will incur additional merchant services fees.

When it comes to Merchant Services, choosing your bank offers key advantages over non-bank providers:

1. No Hidden Fees: Banks offer transparent, comprehensive pricing ensuring clarity in your transaction costs. If you're comparing pricing for Merchant Services, check for any hidden costs including:

- Cancellation Fees - Check policies thoroughly to ensure clarity on contract terms, break fees, and associated costs. Non-bank providers can charge exorbitant cancellation fees.
- Minimum Monthly Fees - It is common practice for non-bank providers to charge a minimum fee regardless of whether you process any transactions.
- International Card Rates - Non-bank providers may exclude international or commercial card rates from their quotes, potentially leading to hidden costs.

2. No GST on Merchant Service Fees: Banks don’t charge GST on Merchant Service Fees, but non-bank providers do. Check whether the rates shown on a quote are GST inclusive or GST exclusive before determining which quote is better. Non-bank providers may present their rates on quotes as GST exclusive to appear cheaper when actually the bank rate is cheaper.

3. 7-Day Settlement: Banks can process settlements 7 days a week, ensuring optimised cash flow for your business. In contrast, the best third-party providers can offer is next-business-day settlement.

4. Experts in Compliance: Banks are subject to strict financial regulations and compliance standards, which can be advantageous if you are in a heavily regulated industry or want assurance that your payment processing is fully compliant. For this reason, Banks specialise in payment services, offering unparalleled expertise and reliability. They understand the nuances of risk management, providing you with secure and reliable payment processing solutions.

5. Customer Service: Banks provide a great service and are committed to your success. If you have existing business accounts with your bank, it can be convenient to consolidate your financial services, making it easier to manage your business finances. Banks also often provide more flexibility in terms of tailoring payment solutions to your specific business needs, including the ability to negotiate rates.

The following banks can provide merchant services: ANZ, ASB, BNZ, Kiwibank and Westpac.

2. A payment network connection

Your EFTPOS terminal needs to connect to a payment network to shift funds between your customer's bank account and yours. There are two payment networks to choose from in New Zealand: the Verifone network and the Worldline network.

We are the only EFTPOS terminal provider that also operates a payment network (the Verifone network). The great thing about that is that our customers only have to deal with one supplier for both - one contract, one invoice and one number to call when they need technical assistance!

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3. An EFTPOS terminal

If you want to take card payments in-store in New Zealand, you will need to lease or purchase an EFTPOS terminal from an EFTPOS terminal provider. There are over 100 providers to choose from, so it might take some time to find the right provider for you!

To help out, we've crafted this list of questions to ask prospective terminal providers to help you find the right provider for your business. In general, you will want to check:

What kind of technical support do they offer - 24/7, or just business hours?
How do they handle compliance upgrades?
What contract terms do they offer?
What timeframes they have for delivering certain services, for example, swap-outs for terminal faults (Here are ours in case you were wondering!)?
What functionality is available on their devices?

Got A Minute? Get a Quote Tell us a little about what you're after and we'll recommend a payment solution for your business

4. Bonus: A POS system

While it's not an absolute necessity for taking payment, a point-of-sale system can bring big benefits to your business. Depending on the POS you choose, you can track inventory, set up loyalty programmes, pull reporting, and integrate with your EFTPOS machine for faster, streamlined payments and improved reconciliation.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, don't be! You can always shop around and look at different providers for your terminal, merchant facility, network and POS - or you can make one phone call and talk to one of our EFTPOS experts. We can work with your merchant acquiring bank to help get your merchant facility set up and we can offer you advice on which terminal and network you should choose. Our team can even help you find a POS that suits your needs and integrates with your new EFTPOS terminal.