I want to receive payments

EFTPOS

An EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of Sale) terminal accepts both credit cards and debit cards. There are two types of fixed countertop terminals - both accept cards with magnetic stripes and chips:
 

1. One is a standalone device
2. The other integrates with your existing point-of-sale hardware.

What about contactless payments?

Many recently issued credit and debit cards increasingly contain near-field communication (NFC) technology. This allows customers to simply hold their compatible card close to the terminal to effect payment (up to an agreed limit). No signature or PIN is required.

Receiving your daily takings

At the end of a trading day, you 'settle' the terminal to access that day's takings. Depending on your bank, you may have a fixed time every day when your accounts settle or (like Westpac), you could have more flexible (instant) settlement options. A monthly, as well as a transaction fee, usually applies.

Mobile EFTPOS

For even more portability and convenience, there are mobile EFTPOS terminals that don't need to be connected to power or phone lines.

These units run off rechargeable battery packs and use mobile data (using your bank's preferred network provider). You take the sale straight to your customer for instant payment - at their table, home, market stall or wherever your business operates.

Electronic funds transfer or BPAY®

If your business issues invoices, a straightforward way to accept electronic payments is to include your bank account number and BSB on the invoice. Customers enter these details to transfer funds from their account to yours. It's inexpensive, but can be messy when it comes to account reconciliations.
 

BPAY® is another method for accepting electronic payments. No more chasing bouncing cheques as you receive cleared funds direct to your nominated account.
 

Fees similar to credit and debit cards apply, but it means you don't have to give your account number out to too many customers. Plus, payment reports can be imported into your accounting software for easier admin.

Online payments

Customers are increasingly looking online to research and complete a whole range of purchases and payments. The challenge is to provide the most convenient payment methods that best fit the product or service offered and the technical resources available.

No website, but still want customers to be able to pay online?

Westpac Hosted PayWay allows customers to securely pay by credit card online via a Westpac hosted payment page.

PayWay Virtual Terminal lets your staff process payments online that have been received via order forms or invoices.

Plug-and-play Online Payments

For the smaller eCommerce business, an off-the-shelf option that takes care of payments in a secure environment could be the way to go. This plug-and-play solution is hosted externally to your site, and is ideal if you just want to give customers the convenience of paying bills online, including regular (i.e. periodic) payments.

Fully integrated eCommerce

If you are taking many online payments and have a gun developer working on your site, you will want to investigate using an API (application programming interface). There is Westpac's own PayWay API, or you can opt for an approved third party payment gateway (an intermediary between your shopping cart and the bank that securely processes encrypted payments). Either option will allow your website or software to seamlessly talk directly to the bank's credit card processing functions for real-time, straight-through payment authorisation.

With this approach, you need to be mindful of securely managing card information that will meet the Payment Cards Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). If you’re after a solution which already complies with these standards, you should consider a Plug and play solution.

Virtual Terminal

If your customers don't physically present a card when you make the sale, you don't need to have a physical EFTPOS machine taking up desk space. You and your staff can process payments via a secure web page, much like a customer would if buying from a website. The funds will be set up to sweep to your nominated business transaction account.