Credit Cards

[bcxprint420]

Does anyone charge an additional fee to a customer who is paying by credit card? If you do charge a processing fee, have you had customers question it? It is definitely the trend at a lot of other businesses in our area, but we haven't gone that route yet. Credit card processing does add up each month!

I definitely charge a fee unless they are out of state or otherwise not able to get to my shop. Then i do not charge the fee. Dont forget without the banks making this possible i would not have these jobs at all so i def do not want to punish them for choosing me for their business.

 

[Aardvark Printing]

Does anyone charge an additional fee to a customer who is paying by credit card? If you do charge a processing fee, have you had customers question it? It is definitely the trend at a lot of other businesses in our area, but we haven't gone that route yet. Credit card processing does add up each month!

I give my customers the option to use Zelle. So far it's free. A surprising number are happy to use it.

 

[Lux]

How many people track their total monthly CC sales against the total merch service fees to find the actual cost of cards as a percentage. I was at 3.2% for September. I have used Heartland to process for the last 12 years. They were good for several years, but they were bought by a company called Global and turned to s**t. I think it is time to jump ship. Originally Intuit/quickbooks processing was very expensive, but now it looks to only be a few tenths of a percent higher than what I am paying and might be more convenient. What actual percent including all fees are people paying when calculated at the end of the month?

 

[FireSprint.com]

How many people track their total monthly CC sales against the total merch service fees to find the actual cost of cards as a percentage. I was at 3.2% for September. I have used Heartland to process for the last 12 years. They were good for several years, but they were bought by a company called Global and turned to s**t. I think it is time to jump ship. Originally Intuit/quickbooks processing was very expensive, but now it looks to only be a few tenths of a percent higher than what I am paying and might be more convenient. What actual percent including all fees are people paying when calculated at the end of the month?

We do. The last 12 months we were around 2.92%. We take every single little fee they charge us, against the total revenue processes through CC and calculate that.

The cost of processing depends greatly on the types of cards your customers use. Debit cards are fairly cheap, corporate rewards cards, and AMEX are alot more.

On the other side of the coin (since the well has already been poisoned) make sure you are getting a MINIMUM of 2% cash back on all your purchases through your credit card. Otherwise you are leaving money on the table.

FNBO has the evergreen card which is 2% cashback (In points that can be redeemed for cash) with no fees. CapitalOne Spark also has 2% cashback with a $200 annual fee I think.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

If you are a platinum preferred tier with bank of America, you can get 2.6% cash back.

 

[Lux]

On the other side of the coin (since the well has already been poisoned) make sure you are getting a MINIMUM of 2% cash back on all your purchases through your credit card. Otherwise you are leaving money on the table.

FNBO has the evergreen card which is 2% cashback (In points that can be redeemed for cash) with no fees. CapitalOne Spark also has 2% cashback with a $59 annual fee I think.

Ha! A year after I realized an $18,000 institutional job cost me over $600 in merch services because it was paid with Corporate Amex I made sure that we only use points cards to buy expendables and equipment. And that specific client will now pay us via check. I would rather wait 30-60 days to get paid and get all of the money then loose anything to merch services. If I do not have a relationship with a client I still would rather take a credit card then worry about not getting paid. Yep, you have opened a can worms, now I need to check to see if we can get a better cash back/points option.

 

[FireSprint.com]

If you are a platinum preferred tier with bank of America, you can get 2.6% cash back.

This looks promising. I think there is an annual fee.

I also noticed that Chase ink has 2% cash back on all purchases and 2.5% cash back on purchases over $5000 with a $200 annual fee.

So far, if you put less than about $50k a year on a credit card, the FNBO evergreen seems to be the best option I have seen with 2% and no fees.

 

[Stacey K]

More and more small businesses in my town charge an extra fee and have a minimum purchase with a credit/debit card.

 

[CanuckSigns]

There is a pizza shop near me that adds $0.75 per transaction if you pay by card, even debit. In Canada, the debit system is completly seperate from visa/mastercard, and it's a flat rate of $0.06 per transaction, doesn;t matter if it's a $1 sale, or a $40,000 sale it costs 6 cents to process it, I pointed this out and the owner all of a sudden forgot how to speak english...

 

[binki]

A local burger joint is charging 3.9% for credit/debit/apple pay. I don't go there anymore. This is some processors pushing this crap. It doesn't cost 3.9% for a processor fee. If it does, you have the wrong processor.

 

[caribmike]

I add a hidden 3% to every invoice to cover credit card transaction fees. As a business owner, I try to pay for everything I can with my Citi AA Mastercard because I love the air miles. I'm a AA Executive Platinum level and use my points to travel extensively and often get seat upgrades and other perks. The other day, I used my points to fly one of my kids from Australia to Miami and back for a 6 week visit in May. My biggest business credit card purchase was last year for $27K on a $49K resale order. I pay off my balance every month without fail.

 

[caribmike]

There is a pizza shop near me that adds $0.75 per transaction if you pay by card, even debit. In Canada, the debit system is completly seperate from visa/mastercard, and it's a flat rate of $0.06 per transaction, doesn;t matter if it's a $1 sale, or a $40,000 sale it costs 6 cents to process it, I pointed this out and the owner all of a sudden forgot how to speak english...

Fellow Canuck here (dual citizen). I never criticize other businesses for doing stuff that I do at my own business. I'm in business to legally make as much money as possible and I don't care where it comes from. In Canada, you have to suck every penny you can out of a transaction just to afford the outrageous taxation and over-regulated nanny-state.

 

[JBurton]

I add a hidden 3% to every invoice to cover credit card transaction fees.

I prefer to put mine between the tax line and the grand total...

 

[CanuckSigns]

Fellow Canuck here (dual citizen). I never criticize other businesses for doing stuff that I do at my own business. I'm in business to legally make as much money as possible and I don't care where it comes from. In Canada, you have to suck every penny you can out of a transaction just to afford the outrageous taxation and over-regulated nanny-state.

That's certainly an opinion...

 

[Notarealsignguy]

I prefer to put mine between the tax line and the grand total

Doesnt that throw off your sales tax report?

 

[JBurton]

Doesnt that throw off your sales tax report?

Honestly I don't know where it lands in billing, my point was to not hide it. I'd think after the tax line is ideal, since that is what the transaction cost will be calculated on, but I'm unsure.

 

[JamesLam]

Even the government and school board jobs are being paid for by cc. But at least the offices call in within a day or two of getting the invoice. What is a real killer is a client holding off for 30 to 60 days or more and then dumping you with a cc and associated fees. So we pay it up front by financing a client and then get rinsed covering cc fees. We're being hoodwinked.

Bring back cash please. Banks don't get 2.92% or whatever off of each transaction so a dollar is always worth a dollar regardless of who you hand it off to and how many times it changes hands.

 

[2B]

We a VERY vocal about the CC services charges and using plastic for payment will have a processing fee added.
Just this week had a project that was paid by CC, which added $172.33 in processing to their invoice. They knew the processing amount and still refused to pay by check

We STRONGLY encourage payment by Physical Check, some try to use ACH but even that has a fee from the bank

 

[Scotchbrite]

Our fee is applied on transactions over $2,500. We had 1 person spending about $10,000 that asked if we could run their card 4 times for $2,500. They insisted that NO ONE uses checks anymore. We actually accommodated them because it was about a 2 month project and we had them pay $2500 to start and then $2500 each month following that.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I had to sub out a sign down in Florida today. The sign company I called gave me a bid on the high end but I am busy so I didn't shop it around. I told them fine. They send me an invoice and it won't take my ACH info. I asked to use credit card and they want an extra 4%. That little 4% pushed me over the edge so I shopped around and within 15 minutes had price from their competitor 25% less AND they didn't charge me a CC fee!

I told the original company to forget about it. If they would of shut up about the 4% they could of got away with charging me 25% more.