If you are working on a touch screen, kiosk or vending project that needs to use credit cards, you may have found available off-the-shelf solutions are not a great fit. The typical offering includes a reader and a box with a cellular connection, relatively high monthly and transaction fees, and an obscure hardware based interface you have never heard of like “MDB” or “Pulse” – two standards with their origins in the 1970’s and 1980s! And worst of all, many of these solutions do not incorporate Chip card technology making the practically obsolete. In addition, you can forget about a web like “shopping cart” experience, because MDB and Pulse do not support anything close to that.

After doing multiple “one off” projects for clients, and based on our experience commercializing these types of systems, we have put together a set of offerings so you can rapidly incorporate a PCI compliant, software integrated solution that you can quickly incorporate into your modern project.

Credit Card Hardware

Our solution starts off with two hardware options – one with a small footprint and capability of supporting Chip/EMV and Magnetic Swipe transactions and another just like you see on vending machines today, except that it supports EMV/Chip, NFC (Apple and Android Pay), Magnetic Swip and includes a two line display.

Software

Our software consists of easy to use Python Modules that will work on Linux (nearly all flavors including Android), Windows, or MacOS – basically anything that can run Python. Typically, this would run on the same board or computer that is controlling your hardware and screen. In some cases, you may need inexpensive hardware to run the solution and a custom hardware interface and touch screen design – we can provide this too.

Connectivity

If your solution already has 3G, 4G, or other internet connectivity, we can piggy-back our solution on top of that. CTO Services has also negotiated cellular rates on behalf of many companies, so that we can also help you choose a suitable embedded or USB modem as well as offer you wireless service at volume discounted rates.

Back End Support

We offer a complete turnkey backend solution for automated settlement of credit card transactions, or you can deal with our certified merchant directly acting as the Merchant of Record and dispersing money as needed directly. Our offerings range from a turnkey solution with back end settlement, to licensing you the source code up front and providing you the necessary support to integrate the solution on your own.

Pricing

We provide transparent pricing on a cost + basis – that is interchange which all companies have to pay plus a certain amount per transaction. In all cases this will be less expensive than what you can get with other solutions.

Connectivity and back end support is priced separately depending on needs.