Accepting Credit Cards

I am wanting to start offering my customers the option to use credit and, maybe debit cards. I don't really expect to use this over 5-10 times a year. Can you guys advice me of a cheap way of doing this without needing terminals and contracts and all that BS that costs more money. I don't care if I have to call in the cards by phone. Would be nice to be able to clear checks electronically, but I can live without that. Thanks

Randy, you might look into Square Up. It's a service that allows you to swipe a credit card on your smart phone. There are no minimums or maximum charges. There is no monthly service fees. You don't have any contract or obligation. The fee is a reasonable 2.75% on each transaction. Its about .5% more if you key in the numbers instead of swiping.

I signed up last week online. It was painless. They sent me the tiny card swiper (free) two days ago. The bank account is still in the process of being verified so I haven't actually tested the card, and process, yet but it seems simple enough.

I don't think I'd accept payment for any large amount because I fear the ability of the customer to take back the funds with a bogus claim but I will use it for smaller repair contracts.

Back in the day when time wasn't like it is today. I excepted credit cards. This is from my memory ... Some one didn't want us or allow us to charge the percentage, I believe it was in an agreement with the processing company ?. It was long ago enough I don't remember.Credit cards sales worked well for quite awhile. B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day

tinner666 Said: Since I deal with this on my retail sauce site, I have some knowledge. Not much though. Does it concern you that 180 days after the charge, the client can dispute the charge, and the bank can and will back-charge your account the same day? This can happen a week before youre aware of it, unless you start bouncing checks before then.

Just food for thought.

Ditto........we've never had that happen but it's always an "option" for a customer to do. You're not going to get a very good transaction fee with only that many deals. We pay close to 3% for Visa and MC and it's better for Discover. Stopped taking American Express because they charge a monthly fee for the priviledge of accepting their cards. We also now charge the 3 points to the customer if they want to use a card. It's clearly spelled out on our estimate page so there are no surprises. We used to just absorb the fees but found out they were costing us over $10K a year........that's money right off the top. Now the customer will write a check instead so it's mission accomplished.

JET

Be careful using PP for 'services'. It's against their TOS, and you have ZERO defense in a dispute. PP is for mail order retail only in which shipping records are used for disputes.

Since I deal with this on my retail sauce site, I have some knowledge. Not much though. Does it concern you that 180 days after the charge, the client can dispute the charge, and the bank can and will back-charge your account the same day? This can happen a week before you're aware of it, unless you start bouncing checks before then.

Just food for thought.