Magnetic strip technology is often used to make credit cards, transportation tickets, employee badges, and ID cards. Clearly, we use magnetic strip information daily, but what do you know about it? How important is it to a business? And how can you decide what to look for in quality magnetic stripe readers?

Magnetic stripe cards store necessary data by changing the magnetism of magnetic particles made of iron on a strip of magnetic matter on a card. However, you do not need to know what a magnetic stripe card is made of to know that it is instrumental to having a popular business, be it a retail company or restaurant. Most people use credit cards daily to purchase products, along with ID cards to verify identity and buy age-restricted items. This signifies that having magnetic stripe software that is able to read such cards is crucial to a business's survival. If your business can benefit from such a product, here are the facts to know before buying one:

1. Know the difference between low-coercivity cards, which require a lower amount of magnetic energy to record information, and high-coercivity cards, which require more energy and are therefore harder to erase. An easy way to tell the difference is that low-coercivity stripes are light brown, while most high-coercivity stripes appear almost black. Card readers can read either type.

2. Figure out what you want the magnetic stripe reader to do. Do you desire one with a printer attached, or can it be separate? Do you need a portable magnetic stripe reader? How big do you need the screen and buttons to be? Deciding on the aspects that are important to you will allow you to stay within your budget.

3. Decide which type of card reader you need. Do you want one that requires you to simply swipe the card, or do you want one into which you insert the card and promptly remove?

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• If you are wary of the price of magnetic strip technology, realize that the ability to accept credit cards or quickly scan licenses will far outweigh the costs. You are simply missing out on a huge amount of potential customers if you cannot accept credit cards, and you are wasting precious time by manually checking IDs. You will find that the technology should pay for itself almost immediately.

The official source of Magnetic Stripe is the Magnetic Stripe page at Business.com