Accepting Credit Card Payments

I am one of the "waiting" for my square to show up. 98% of my business is cash/check so maybe it will open more doors, or allow those that can't afford me to do so with credit. All the while not dropping monthly fees even if there is no use. We will see...

 

Waiting on my square as well. I can accept manual now.

Terry

 

we just have a poccm (plain old credit card machine)

 

Great post

Well, now I'm gonna have to break down and get a SMART phone, just so I can start using Square for credit card payments!

 

Pretty sure the next wave of phones will have a card reader built in. Prob a spot on the face of the phone that you'll just have to swipe the card over.

 

I had one through Sam's club. The fees and minimums ate up all the profits and then some from using it. I have been without for about 6 months.

My accountant tells me that I can process cc's from my computer through Heartland Connect. It is a transaction fee based program as well. As it is, If I take a check written on a foreign bank to my bank, it will cost me $35 and take as much as 90 days to clear. If I can process checks as well as cc's it will make life much easier.

 

I have recently made the switch to mobile credit card processing on my Android (evo). I use an app from a company called paynet systems. You can key in a credit card transaction from anywhere or use their bluetooth card swiper to get a better rate (key-in cards have always cost more for me).

So far it has been great, funds are deposited into my account in about 2 days, and the only monthly service fee is $10 and ONLY $10, all other fees are taken out of each deposit for each transaction. I have used it in the field plenty of times now and I am happy with the service thus far....

 

Doyle... do you have to have a minimum number of transactions or some other stipulation for that rate???
that sounds to good to be true!

oops.. just re-read that... you still have all the regular transaction fee & percentage charges correct?

 

I got mine through Sam's club. There is only a $20 fee OR 1.75% of all transactions, wichever is higher for each month.

 

I've been using PayPal and e-mailing the customer an invoice.
Only have one regular customer that pays me this way, so it's fine for me.

 

+1 for paypal. I bill all my customer through them. Its great. Its secure, and best of all I don't have keep track of and keep secure people credit card numbers. Also, no equipment to buy or lease, no statement fees etc.. and with the debit card they issue I can pay my suppliers really easy.

 

Yes, there are still all of the transaction fees and percentages that are taken out of your money before it is deposited into your account. The rate is 2.19% I believe for key-in transactions, with the bluetooth swiper it is less (1.59%), then every transaction also has a $ .30 transaction fee as well.

The $10/mo is the statement fee, on top of everything else. It is costing me less money to use this merchant account than my previous swipe machine, and another good thing is that you are only required to sign a 6 month contract. The other account that I had they required me to sign a 3 year contract, and lease their stupid terminal for $25/mo PLUS $20 statement fee and all the transaction fees....

 

I don't think some cat plugging my credit card info into his cell phone would fly with me. I'm kinda old fasioned I guess.

 

Then you would just have to cough up some cash then. Otherwise, over the phone no one even knows the difference, and it is just as, if not more secure than paying online or over phone in any other situation.

 

Hmm, Not necessarily my only option as a customer. I could also say no thanks. the customer may see it as there are lots of other sources out there.

You are right about over the phone. Doesn't matter either way. Also may be even more secure.

I might be a paranoid freak of nature... There might also be others like me that would snatch that card back from you and roll on out too. I'm not trying to bust the party, just saying the way I view it for your consideration.

 

Understood. In this day and age, I, the merchant would be liable anyway, not the customer. I see it as a convenience that I offer to my customers and they can take it or leave it, I would rather not take credit cards at all, but I do like getting paid quickly. The bluetooth swiper does make it seem a little more secure also, as you don't even see that the data is being sent through a phone.

 

I have to agree.

 

Sam's club started charging me an additional $39/yr on top of the $5.95/mo processing fee and 19.95 minimum and a per transaction fee. It all adds up so the low 1.75% turned into more than 10% for me.

+1 for me too on this one. PayPal Charges less than 4% on each transaction world wide. The security is much better than I can provide with a terminal. The one draw back is that most businesses don't want to use it because it is hard to fit into the business model. It don't allow use of PO's and invoices the way most companies keep track of things. I suspect that will change though as it gets used more by businesses. As it is now, It is not compatible with QuickBooks so down loading records is very difficult.