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Credit card sales?

ams

New Member
How many of your customers want to use a credit card or bank card to pay for their signs? 5 out of 10? 7 out of 10?

Or if you don't accept credit cards, how much ask if you accept it?
 

ams

New Member
That's what I figured, that means I should probably get a credit card machine as soon as possible. Do you guys have a pay per charge, or a monthly fee?
 

tcorn1965

New Member
Hey all, If you have a android or iphone (check website for your phone) you can accept cc payments from this free app https://squareup.com/. they even send you a card reader that plugs into your headphone jack for free. You get the money next business day. You get charged when you use it, 3.76% so if the charge is $100.00 pass the cost to customer $103.76...Nice when you are on the job and can take cc payments on the fly. This app was created by the gentleman that created twitter.

Terry
 

Locals Find!

New Member
Paypal is simpler easier and less cost overall. You can bill anyone anywhere with or without a paypal account all they need is email or access to email.
 

2972renfro

New Member
I rarely carry cash anymore. I cannot imagine not accepting credit card payments. Between credit and debit cards the number will only increase

Paypal is nice but don't rely on it 100%. If a buyer ever disputes anything you could have your account frozen until it is resolved. Then you are stuck
 

FatCat

New Member
Hey all, If you have a android or iphone (check website for your phone) you can accept cc payments from this free app https://squareup.com/. they even send you a card reader that plugs into your headphone jack for free. You get the money next business day. You get charged when you use it, 3.76% so if the charge is $100.00 pass the cost to customer $103.76...Nice when you are on the job and can take cc payments on the fly. This app was created by the gentleman that created twitter.

Terry

That looks interesting, especially since I just got a droid. Anybody else using this? How long and what has been your experience?
 

Locals Find!

New Member
Hey all, If you have a android or iphone (check website for your phone) you can accept cc payments from this free app https://squareup.com/. they even send you a card reader that plugs into your headphone jack for free. You get the money next business day. You get charged when you use it, 3.76% so if the charge is $100.00 pass the cost to customer $103.76...Nice when you are on the job and can take cc payments on the fly. This app was created by the gentleman that created twitter.

Terry

I don't claim to be a mathematician here, but if you try to charge a customer 103.76 your going to get charged 3.76% on the 103.76. So you will end up with $99.85. While you have reduced what you are paying out down to $0.15 for the transaction your still paying. While your math may seem simple in your mind it just doesn't work in reality.

And as Far as paypal goes I see a lot of people saying you have to watch out for chargebacks. Well, I hate to burst the bubble on that myth. However, all CREDIT CARD processors have the same charge back policies they are mandated by Federal Law. Paypal is no different than any other processor in that regards. The big difference is no monthly fee and your money is made available instantly into your paypal account rather than days later.

I believe, there is even a Merchant Member on Processor offering discounts for Signs101 members now thanks to Fred working out a deal for us all.
 

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
I don't claim to be a mathematician here, but if you try to charge a customer 103.76 your going to get charged 3.76% on the 103.76. So you will end up with $99.85. While you have reduced what you are paying out down to $0.15 for the transaction your still paying. While your math may seem simple in your mind it just doesn't work in reality.

That is what's going to happen. That's what all of them do, very hard to have it set up for the customer to "eat it".

It does make sense for it to be this way as the processors are providing a service to the business. I don't nitpick the customer to death on the little things like that. If someone is trying to do that then for some reason they are very very concerned about their financial stability. If you have a tidy profit margin figured in(which you should) that 3.xx% should just fall under the category of "cost of doing business".
 

binki

New Member
We went through Sam's Club which uses First Data. Costco has a similar program.

We were taking checks through it but unless you have a large check volume then spending $20 a month for that service, telecheck, is not worth it. After a year with FD our Credit Union started offering merchant services and they gave us a pretty good offer. We sent it to FD and they cut our rates below what our bank was offering.

Here are a few tips.

Buy the CC machine if you are going to have one. A lease is not worth it.
Nearly all of the merchant accounts have a several year plan with a cancellation fee.
Set up auto close. It works great for us.

Here is what to expect to pay:

25c closing fee per day that you have cc sales.
10-19c per transaction fee.
1.5% to 3% transaction fee (sales tax is counted in this).
Monthly statement fee, somewhere between $20 and $35

Depending on how you do the transaction you may have higher fees per transaction. Take a cc over the phone and you will pay more. Call for help and you will pay more.

Our cc machine asks for sales tax info on corporate cards. If we don't put it in we get banged pretty hard for extra fees.

You will also need to be PCI compliant for MC/Visa charges otherwise you will be assessed a fee for that. We go through a quarterly automated test that is performed by FD and an annual self assessment. Basically your connection has to be secure and cannot be hackable by some standard. You also cannot store cc numbers in the clear.

Services like PayPal have a merchant service for $30/mo plus 2% per transaction. They are high compared to other services.

Overall we are very happy with FD. They have great customer service. They are always there to help. They matched prices of other services and the money shows up in our bank account within 3 business days without a hassle.
 

Fred Weiss

Merchant Member
Paypal is nice but don't rely on it 100%. If a buyer ever disputes anything you could have your account frozen until it is resolved. Then you are stuck

so any CC company will freeze your entire account if there is a dispute?

That has not been my experience, either with PayPal or any other processor. Only the amount that is disputed is frozen ... not all your funds.

To PayPal's credit, in the very few disputes we have had in 25 years of accepting credit cards, they are noticeably fairer and even handed in these matters. Our former in-house credit card processor treated us like we were guilty until proven innocent in more than one case.
 

Locals Find!

New Member
That is what's going to happen. That's what all of them do, very hard to have it set up for the customer to "eat it".

It does make sense for it to be this way as the processors are providing a service to the business. I don't nitpick the customer to death on the little things like that. If someone is trying to do that then for some reason they are very very concerned about their financial stability. If you have a tidy profit margin figured in(which you should) that 3.xx% should just fall under the category of "cost of doing business".

+1
 

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
Actually there is one way to perhaps even it all out.

If you would normally charge 100, but to offset that CC use fee you have to charge 103. You charge everyone that 103. Not just the CC users, but the check/cash paying customers as well. Then it might even out in the wash. That's not directly affecting the one actual user of the CC, but that would be about the only way to transfer the cost to the customer.

I have to say though that the only check users that I get are my business clients that order frequently and pretty good size orders. All the others prefer to pay by paypal.

You just have to see where you demographics are.
 

Farmboy

New Member
I believe if you want to add a charge you had better make sure to charge it as a "Credit Card Lost Cash Discount". I believe it's illegal to past the processing fee's along to the customer?
 

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
I believe if you want to add a charge you had better make sure to charge it as a "Credit Card Lost Cash Discount". I believe it's illegal to past the processing fee's along to the customer?

Passing it off directly to the customer is illegal I believe and like I mentioned before, very hard to do for the individual customer.

However, hiking your prices for everyone, regardless if they use a CC or not isn't illegal. Just the way stores do things. If it happens to wash the 3% charge then I guess it just happens to wash the 3% charge.
 
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