Local payments teams across three markets.

A card payment passes through several businesses before the money reaches you. The card schemes run the networks. An acquiring bank holds the merchant account and settles the funds. A processor moves the transaction between them. And at the front of all of it, someone has to sell the equipment, install it, and look after the business using it day to day.

That last part is what an Independent Sales Organisation does. An ISO is registered with a processor to sell, install and support its products under agreed rules. SwiftPay holds that registration with Clover and with Nuvei. We are not the bank and we are not the processor — we are the layer between you and them, and we stay involved after the sale rather than handing you off.

The practical difference is who you deal with when something needs sorting. Go direct to a large processor and support usually means a general queue, a ticket number, and explaining your setup from scratch each time. Through an ISO you have a local contact who already knows which terminals you run, how they were configured and what happened last time.

• The quote, and an honest view on which platform suits you
• The merchant application paperwork, and chasing it through
• Supply of the terminals themselves
• On-site installation and configuration
• Training your staff on the device they will actually use
• Being the first call when something is not working

Most resellers carry one platform. That sounds like a small detail until you notice what it does to the advice: if there is only one product in the bag, the recommendation is settled before the conversation starts. Every business turns out to need exactly the thing that reseller happens to sell.

We are a registered ISO for both Clover and Nuvei. Clover is Fiserv's point-of-sale platform, with a range that runs from a handheld unit through to a full countertop station and self-service. Nuvei gives us the PAX A920 Pro, the PAX A80 and the Nuvei Desk/5000.

So the question we can actually ask is which of these fits how you trade — not whether you will take the one we have. Sometimes the answer is the smaller, cheaper device. Occasionally the answer is that neither platform is a good fit for what you are trying to do, and we would rather tell you that than sell you a terminal you will resent in six months.

We supply, install and support the following devices:

• Clover Flex
• Clover Mini
• Clover Station Duo
• Clover Station Solo
• Clover Kiosk
• Clover Go
• Nuvei PAX A920 Pro
• Nuvei PAX A80
• Nuvei Desk/5000

Which one is right depends on things that are easy to establish in a short conversation: whether payment happens at a fixed counter or wherever the customer is standing, whether staff carry the device around, whether you want customers serving themselves, and how the terminal needs to sit alongside the rest of your setup. We go through that at quote stage rather than after the box arrives.

Because we are registered with both partners, the hardware comes through the proper channel and is supported through it too.

The process is the same in all three markets, and there are no surprise steps in the middle of it.

• Quote — we talk through how you take payment today, what is working and what is not, and put a written quote together covering the hardware and the processing.
• Application — you go through the merchant application for the relevant platform. We prepare it with you, submit it and follow it up, so you are not deciphering forms on your own.
• Hardware — once the account is approved, the terminals are supplied.
• Installation and configuration — we set the devices up on site: connectivity, your products and pricing where that applies, receipts, tipping and surcharging settings where you use them, and anything the device needs to talk to.
• Staff training — we show the people who will actually use it how to run a sale, a refund, an end-of-day, and what to do when a customer's card will not read.
• Ongoing support — after go-live you keep the same contact. New site, extra terminal, a device playing up, a question about a statement: same number.

How long the application takes is not entirely in our hands — the partner runs its own checks and those set the pace. We will not quote you a turnaround we do not control, but we will always tell you where the application is up to.

Plenty of payments companies are vague about where they sit in the chain. We would rather be specific, because it tells you exactly what is in our control and who to call for the rest.

• We are not the acquirer. The merchant account sits with the acquiring bank behind the platform, and that is who settles funds into your account.
• We do not set interchange. Interchange is set by the card schemes and flows through to every provider in the market, us included. Anyone claiming to have removed it is describing something else.
• We do not build the software. Clover is built by Fiserv and Nuvei's platform is built by Nuvei. We configure, install and support them — and we pass real problems back to the people who wrote the code.
• This website does not process card payments and does not store cardholder data. Card transactions run on our partners' PCI DSS certified platforms.

What we do own is everything you can see and touch: the recommendation, the paperwork, the install, the training, and the support afterwards.

SwiftPay is not one company. We operate through a separate local business in each country we sell in — one in Australia, one in the United States and one in Canada. They share the SwiftPay name, this website and the same way of working, but each is its own legal entity.

For you that mostly shows up in one place: your agreement is with the SwiftPay company in your own country, and that is who supplies your hardware, holds your account and answers your calls. It is also why your rights and the law that applies depend on where you trade, which the privacy policy and the terms of use both set out country by country.

Card payments look identical from the customer's side of the counter and are quite different underneath. Operating across Australia, the US and Canada means the platforms are the same but the local detail is not, and the local detail is usually what costs or saves you money.

• Australia — our office is at 5 Charles Smith Avenue, Bungarribee, New South Wales 2767, on +61 466 230 370. The detail that matters most here is least-cost routing: a contactless debit tap can often be routed through the domestic eftpos network instead of the international scheme, and where it can, it usually costs less. Whether your terminal is set up to do it is worth checking, and it is the sort of thing we go through at install.
• Canada — on +1 404 910 8918. Most domestic debit runs over Interac, which sits separately from the credit card networks, so terminals and settings need to handle both properly rather than treating every card the same way.
• United States — also on +1 404 910 8918. There is no single domestic debit network of the eftpos or Interac kind, so the setup conversation is a different one again.

Support runs in local hours in each market, so you are not waiting for an office on the other side of the world to wake up. One email address covers all three: support@swiftpaytoday.com.

A conversation costs nothing and usually takes about ten minutes.

• Australia: +61 466 230 370
• United States and Canada: +1 404 910 8918
• Email, for anything at all: support@swiftpaytoday.com
• Australian office: 5 Charles Smith Avenue, Bungarribee, New South Wales 2767, Australia
• Web: swiftpaytoday.com

If you are after a quote, it helps to have a few things to hand: what you sell, how you take payment today and who with, roughly how many locations and terminals you need, and whether you also take payment online. None of it is essential to start the conversation, but it saves a round trip.

Processing costs depend on your card mix, average transaction size and volume, so a headline rate quoted over the phone before anyone has seen your numbers is not worth much. Give us the detail above and we will put a written quote together that still holds up once you are trading on it.