Credit Card Machine

A credit card machine — also called a payment terminal or EFTPOS machine — is an electronic device used by merchants to process debit and credit card payments. It reads card data via chip, magnetic stripe, or contactless NFC, communicates with payment networks to authorise the transaction, and prints or sends a receipt. Payment terminals are produced by Ingenico, Verifone, Square, and Stripe and are found at virtually every retail point of sale globally.

A countertop payment terminal is a compact rectangular device typically 6 to 8 inches tall, 3 to 4 inches wide, and 2 to 3 inches deep. A small colour or monochrome display — 2 to 4 inches — shows transaction amounts, prompts, and status messages. A numeric keypad below the display allows PIN entry. A card slot on the front face accepts chip cards inserted face up. A magnetic stripe reader runs along the right or left edge for swipe transactions. A contactless payment symbol — four curved lines resembling a Wi-Fi icon — on the terminal face indicates NFC tap-to-pay capability.

A receipt printer with a roll of thermal paper sits at the top or rear of countertop models. Cables connect from the base to a power supply and ethernet or phone line on wired models. Wireless models carry a battery and connect via Wi-Fi or 4G.

Portable handheld terminals for table-side payment in restaurants are smaller — 4 to 6 inches tall — with a built-in printer and rechargeable battery. Mobile card readers — Square, SumUp, Zettle — are minimal devices that plug into a smartphone headphone jack or pair via Bluetooth, reducing the form factor to a small rectangular or cube-shaped dongle.

Brand identification: Ingenico terminals are identified by their green branding and model numbers including the Desk and Move series. Verifone uses a white and grey palette with VX and P-series model naming. Square readers are small white squares or circles that attach to a smartphone or tablet.

A credit card machine accepts card payment from a customer, verifies the card’s validity and the cardholder’s authorisation — via PIN, signature, or contactless verification — and sends a transaction request to the relevant payment network. The network checks the cardholder’s available funds or credit, approves or declines the transaction, and returns the result to the terminal within seconds. Approved funds are then transferred from the cardholder’s account to the merchant’s account, typically settling within one to three business days.

1. The merchant enters the transaction amount on the terminal keypad or receives it from an integrated point-of-sale system.
2. The customer presents their card — inserting for chip, swiping for magnetic stripe, or tapping for NFC contactless.
3. The terminal reads the card data and encrypts it using end-to-end encryption before transmitting via the network connection.
4. The encrypted transaction request travels through the payment processor to the relevant card network — Visa, Mastercard, Amex — and then to the issuing bank.
5. The issuing bank checks available funds, fraud rules, and card validity and returns an approval or decline code within two to three seconds.
6. The terminal displays and prints the result. On PIN transactions, PIN entry occurs before network authorisation using a tamper-resistant keypad that encrypts the PIN at the point of entry.

Card payment processing before electronic terminals used imprinters — manual devices that pressed a carbon copy of the embossed card number onto a paper slip. These remained in use from the 1950s through the 1980s and required voice authorisation by phone for transactions above a floor limit. The carbon copy slip was the only record of the transaction.

The first electronic point-of-sale terminals appeared in the late 1970s and early 1980s, communicating authorisation requests via telephone dial-up modem. Verifone, founded in 1981 in Hawaii, was among the earliest commercial terminal manufacturers and remains a major player today. Ingenico was founded in France in 1980. Both companies expanded globally through the 1990s as electronic payment displaced cash across retail markets.

The EMV chip standard — developed jointly by Europay, Mastercard, and Visa — was introduced in Europe in the mid-1990s and gradually adopted globally through the 2000s and 2010s. Chip and PIN replaced the less secure magnetic stripe and signature model, dramatically reducing card fraud at the point of sale. The United States was among the last major markets to adopt EMV, completing a partial transition only in 2015.

Contactless NFC payment, supported by Visa payWave and Mastercard PayPass from the mid-2000s, became standard on terminals and cards through the 2010s. Mobile payment — Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay — extended NFC contactless payment to smartphones and smartwatches from 2014, using the same terminal infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically accelerated contactless adoption globally as consumers avoided physical contact at the point of sale.

• Every retail point of sale globally — shops, restaurants, taxis, market stalls
• Merchant services providers — banks and payment processors supply terminals to business customers
• Square, SumUp, and Zettle for small business and sole trader mobile solutions
• Online via eBay for used and refurbished countertop terminals
• Electronic recycling and surplus sales for decommissioned commercial terminals

Cash register: A standalone till for recording sales and storing cash. Distinguished by its larger form, cash drawer, and in older models the absence of card reading capability. Modern electronic point-of-sale systems combine a tablet, card terminal, and receipt printer but the card terminal remains a distinct component.

ATM: An automated teller machine for dispensing cash and checking account balances. Distinguished by its large freestanding form, cash dispense slot, and consumer-facing rather than merchant-facing operation. ATMs and payment terminals share card reading technology but serve entirely different functions.

Chip and PIN reader for personal use: Small personal card readers exist for online banking authentication. Distinguished from a merchant terminal by their minimal display, single card slot, and complete absence of a merchant network connection or receipt printer.

Payment terminals have functional rather than collectible value. Used terminals carry minimal secondhand value due to network re-registration requirements.

• Square Reader for contactless and chip new: $49—$79
• SumUp Air card reader new: $39—$59
• Ingenico Desk 3500 countertop terminal new: $200—$400
• Used commercial terminals: $20—$100 — require merchant account re-registration
• Vintage manual imprinter (knuckle buster): $5—$30 as office curiosity or prop

Decommissioned terminals must be securely wiped before resale to prevent residual transaction data exposure. Terminals are typically leased or purchased through merchant service providers rather than retail channels for commercial use.

Smartphone and tablet-based point-of-sale systems — Square, Zettle, SumUp — have democratised card acceptance for small businesses that previously could not afford dedicated hardware. QR code payment systems dominant in China through Alipay and WeChat Pay represent a terminal-free alternative to card payment that is spreading to other markets. Biometric payment — using fingerprint or facial recognition linked to a payment account — is in commercial trials in multiple markets. The physical payment terminal remains the dominant point-of-sale infrastructure globally and will do so for the foreseeable future despite increasing software and mobile alternatives.

Looking for one? Where to buy a Credit Card Machine →

Looking for one? Where to buy a Credit Card Machine →

• Compact rectangular device 6 to 8 inches tall with display and keypad
• Chip card slot on front face
• Magnetic stripe reader on left or right edge
• Contactless NFC symbol on terminal face
• Numeric PIN entry keypad below display
• Thermal receipt printer at top or rear on countertop models
• Brand: Ingenico, Verifone, Square, SumUp, or Zettle
• Network connection via ethernet, phone line, Wi-Fi, or 4G