Touch Tone Capture

Touch Tone Capture (TTC) Merchant Account

Touch Tone Capture offers merchants a simple and affordable alternative for low volume merchant account processing. Using any touch tone phone including your cell phone, you dial an 800 number that connects you to an interactive voice response unit where you use your telephone keypad to enter the authorization request. This service is accessible 24 x7x365. The service is full featured system and supports sales, returns, force, authorization only, and voids.

There are no terminal equipment or system costs. You use a manual hand imprinter to make an imprint of the cardholder's card and get an authorized signature. This is a very safe method when combined with getting an immediate approval code using the Touch Tone Capture service. The downside is you pay card not present rates for keying transactions instead of swiping the card's magnetic stripe. However, this is the best method, if your sales volume is low.

For a low sales volume merchant, the Touch Tone Capture service works equally well for card present and card not present transactions. Touch Tone Capture can be used by mobile merchants, for example a plumber or a doctor making house calls may opt for the low cost convenience of processing their credit card sales using the touch tone keypad on their mobile phone. Touch Tone Capture is an excellent alternative to investing in a wireless terminal.

It is recommended that TTC merchants get imprints of cards, so Vantage provides a special package that includes a new manual imprinter, a custom merchant plate, and 200 sales drafts for only $35. Obtaining manual imprints of all credit and debit card sales and safely store imprinted sales drafts for easy retrieval can prevent losses from chargebacks and fraud by proving the card and cardholder were present and authorized the sale with a signature, date and approval code.

All merchants should understand that card transactions are a convenient form of payment, not a guaranteed form of payment. Using TTC when the card cannot be imprinted (the card is not physically present at the point of sale) is risky because all the rules and regulations are written in favor of the cardholder and all risk of fraudulent sales are placed upon the merchant. The key is to know your customer and gain a comfort level with the transaction.

Start with Touch Tone Capture and then as your volume grows upgrade to a Virtual Terminal, Wireless or other payment technology. Talk to a Vantage Payment Analysis for a personal consultation.