Startup Idea: Offline Credit Card Processing for Outdoor Recreation Business

Startup idea to develop a solution for an offline credit card processing system. The software or app should be capable of storing credit card data offline and then process the transactions when the device is back in the network range. This solution is aimed at assisting outdoor recreational businesses that often remain outside of cell range during operations.

I own a business in the Outdoor Recreation field. We run rafting and trekking tours in summer and fall, and snowshoe and XC-ski treks in winter.

Because we are often out of cell range when we head out to put-ins or trailheads, and we often have clients show up at these locations, one area where an app/software would help is in having some sort of credit card processing where the data is stored on the smartphone and is then processed automatically when the smartphone of the guide is once again in range of a tower.

This sounds easy, yet, to this point we have not found any app or software solution where this can happen for us. While it is understood there is always a risk the credit card may get rejected upon getting into a tower/zone, we would still relish the app that can at least process and store the transaction for when the smartphone gets into cell range/zone.

Currently our solution to this problem is to bring a very archaic had credit card swipe machine and use the old carbon copy processing sheets. This is not very fun for there guides, and because we deal with all weather, we have lost a couple of credit card slips to snow and rain.

Submitter: (view contact info), Erik.