Payment Processing for Canadian Retail Stores

Retail is judged at the busiest moment, not the average one. The requirements that follow from that are narrow and specific:

• Throughput at the counter: the terminal has to stay fast when four people are waiting, which is why a fixed countertop terminal exists for high-volume checkout counters.
• A printed receipt: customers still ask for one, and the PAX terminals print on the device without a separate printer.
• Returns handled in place: a refund is processed on the same terminal, at the same counter, rather than through a separate system.
• Every payment type: Interac debit, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, contactless tap and mobile wallets including Apple Pay and Google Pay.
• A mix of channels: many stores sell in person and online, and the two should not require two providers or two sets of statements.

The common thread is that nothing at the counter should send a customer or an employee somewhere else to finish the transaction.

The three terminals Tap2Pay provides answer different retail layouts:

Fixed countertop terminal

Built for a high-volume checkout counter that stays put. The right choice when the queue is the constraint and the terminal never needs to leave the till.

PAX A920

A compact portable Android smart terminal with built-in receipt printing, accepting tap, chip and swipe. Suited to a small shop where the same device serves the counter and the floor.

PAX A920 MAX

A larger screen, a built-in barcode scanner and an all-day battery. Useful where staff scan items away from the till, or where the terminal moves between the counter, the stockroom and the sales floor.

Many stores run more than one: a counter terminal at the main till for speed, with a portable device for the floor, pop-up events or a seasonal second counter.

PAX smart terminals run the MAXSTORE app ecosystem, which turns the payment device into a small business tool rather than a card reader:

• More than 11,000 business apps built by over 3,500 developers across 100+ countries.
• Apps for inventory, loyalty and reporting sit on the same device that takes the payment.
• Device management is handled through the platform, so terminals can be updated without a technician visit.
• The A920 MAX adds a built-in barcode scanner, which suits stock checks and item lookup away from the till.

This is what separates a smart terminal from a plain card reader: the hardware you already need at the counter can also run the tasks you would otherwise do on a second device.

Retail sales are uneven, and the parts of a processing bill that do not scale with sales are exactly the parts that hurt in a slow month:

• Fixed monthly charges do not shrink when the store is quiet, so statement fees, PCI fees and monthly minimums belong in the comparison alongside the percentage rate.
• Tap2Pay does not charge monthly minimums, hidden fees or surprise line items, and there is no long-term contract or cancellation penalty.
• Compare on three months of statements that include a peak month and a quiet one, because a single strong month flatters any rate.
• The card mix shifts with the season: holiday traffic and gift-card periods bring more rewards and commercial cards, which cost more to accept than a basic consumer card.
• A low average ticket raises the effective rate, because per-transaction fees take a larger share of a small sale.

A retail statement review should therefore be run twice: once on the busiest month, once on the quietest.

A shop that adds an online store should not end up with two processors, two statements and two ways to reconcile a day’s sales:

• One merchant account covers in-person card acceptance and online checkout.
• The e-commerce payment gateway connects a website to the processing network, so customers pay by card on your checkout page.
• The virtual terminal covers phone orders, special orders and remote invoices from any computer or phone, with no hardware.
• Transaction reporting for in-person and online sales sits in one place, which simplifies daily reconciliation and bookkeeping.