Steer way clear of First Data proprietary credit card machines. They're grey and always have a model starting with "FD" as in "FD50" and "FD100".
These machines are made exclusively for and supported solely by First Data. Which means if you spend hundreds of dollars buying one or worse, thousands of dollars leasing one and then they start messing up your merchant account, increase fees, add hidden mark-ups, re-up your account for another year automatically after your three year service contract expires, etc., you will NOT be able to choose to go to a better payment processor because the machine can ONLY be used by First Data.
Also, if you get a competitor walking in the door and they tell you if you leave First Data and go with them and they tell you they can program your FD terminal... THEY are processing on First Data too.
First Data has thousands of independent sales groups selling for them under many different names. They have no say in how First Data services your account or the lease. They only sell the service and reap the profits with no accountability since they get paid whether or not you leave the contract.
Do yourself a favor. Do some research on who your signing with. Go to their web site. If you see at the bottom they are a "registered ISO of..." they are not a payment processor and have NO accountability after the sale.
Banks either sponsor or own processing companies.in this economy, the strength of the bank behind the scenes should be a clue as to the support you get on the merchant service account. When possible, use a bank-owned processor to ensure they have to follow the more strict federal audit requirements, security practices, and regulatory compliance measures banks must follow but small independent companies do not.
And when you do find that your bank OWNS its own payment processing company, do some checking on the terminal equipment you're being offered to ensure that if you decide to leave for greener pastures, you can use your machine with at least 3 other processors like PaymenTech (Chase) or Elavon (US Bank).
Otherwise you'll end up with a contract with a company you never heard of before but signed because the deal looked good only to learn you can't leave your contract unless you pay off your lease because the machine can only be used with that company's single processor.
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