Accepting credit card payments a few ???

I may need to take visa or MC in a small buisness as payment. Any of you do it? It would be nice if you could use the old "knucklebuster" as i may need it portable. Starting to get popualar here, for stuff like the plummer, lawn service, firewood etc. One guy got like a 2% rate said it keeps money moving instead of waiting for "check is in the mail" This would be for a small scale give me your thoughts. Btw some farm stands are doing it too.

Almost 10 years ago now, I was a remodeler. Had a job at a local JCPenneys store. My friend, who authorized the work, as he was a manager there, said to accept credit, or else wait 6 weeks for a check. OK fine, thought it would be a good selling point for other customers. Found a real good rate, 1.5 I believe-BUT-there was a $32 minimum per month charge. NEVER came close to using it enough to justify the monthly charge. Also, had to buy the equipment ($100, if I remember right), had to scan the card 'live' to get that rate-which meant I had to be plugged into a phone line at the scan (or else pay 5%), etc. Was the second worst business decision I ever made-first was thinkin I should go into business in the first place! Greg

only been in business since 05 so relatively new at it. only deal in cash and checks. small town, everyone knows everyone. population about 7500, been here like forever. bad check results in no more business done with that person, no bad checks in 4 years.
just mumblin
larry cook

How about Pay-Pal? East to transfer if both are members.

Talk to your bank first,,, give them the first shot at your business

Never sign agreement on the spot walk away from it and give it a few days,,, think first react second

credit card companies are as crooked as they come

I will give the bank access to my account but not a credit card processor

3 year deal with a processor lasted 3 years,,, got into that and wanted the bank to stop them from a automatic withdraw,,, never could stop it had to wait the 3 years out

Never could figger out why I had to pay a fee,,, looks like they would pay me a few to make them money

I charge a 3% shop supplies "and or" fee on my tickets,,, it helps to cover "and Or" expenses wink wink

Only got questioned a few times and the "and or" is the key,,, "cost of doing business"

I contract out to the USPS,,, they pay by credit card and its ran thru their processor,,, their processor deducts a 3% fee from my check,,, I got a call from USPS about my "and or",,, I questioned their 3% fee and was told it was the cost of doing business,,, so I replied my "and or" was the cost of doing business (grin) Never got questioned about it again

I use to do all my credit card thru a local bank,,, thats all I did with them and did my business account thru a different bank,,, I would withdraw my credit card account dry weekly are if I did a large job,,, this was in case if I did have a charge back it would B hard to do a charge back if nuttin was their to charge back,,, the bank closed up and have never been able to get another bank to just Handel CC's

Lucky me I have never had a charge back,,, came close one time tho on a $4500 job

I used to accept C.cards . Pain and headaches . I used to have a "shop supplies " listing on my invoices. Got rid of it . People questioned it from time to time, I explained cost of doing business etc. Found it easier to just raise my shop rate and do away with SS charge. Been over 10 yrs now ,,don;'t miss it . Also been over 10 yrs since accepted credit cards, don't miss them either . If you let people know upfront , they will have cash or check .

The economy has CC use way down, I have had a few regular CC customs come in with CASH lately

I never make a CC transaction seam convenient,,, I also am the only one here that can accept a CC

I probably should quite the CC practice,,, I moved out of the fast lane in 92 and just never dropped CC's,,, got into the Ebay tractor parts deal for 3 years are so and I spec CC have cost me more than I made of'em

Theirs still nuttin wrong with adding the cost of doing business to a invoice,,, folks don't realize a business gets nailed rite hard from every end just cuzz they operate as a business so why not pass the cost along,,, why hide it

May B external_link will take over the CC racket,,, mite b a way to balance the budget

its illegal to charge a customer the processing fee,,, part of the contract

if yo accept CC you are spose to post it and hang the CC co. signs,,, not me till they pay me for the advertisement

Sometimes i wish I had never stated take'n CC's,,, its rape i tell ya,,, rape,,, the chicago mob would teat ya better

I've been taking Visa and Mastercard for 17 years now. Considering I sell all over the US and Canada by phone, I believe it's a wise decision. The discount rate I'm charged for each transaction is fully tax deductable and it is just 'engineered in to the cost of the product. I also take cash, checks, MOs and PayPal. I have a C-card terminal but don't need to have the card present, but do need the 3 digit security code from the back of the card to finish the transaction. Surprisingly in all those years I've only had maybe a dozen cards declined. I estimate 95% of my business is done by C-card.
A friend of mine opened a gun shop a few years after I opened my fabricating shop. He sold a lot of ammo and other small stuff. He blatently rufused to consider taking C-cards. His attitude was 'if their money is good the bank will give them cash'. His wife more or less took over running the business and hung out the Visa and Mastercard sign and before too long they had challenges keeping even the big ticket items in stock. (he still won't give me a real good deal on an AR though!)

Thats what I do if someone wants to use a CC. Probably 15-20 percent of my sales are CC. Probably added a dozen customers when I started taking them.

My wife's business started taking cc about 10 years ago. We were losing customers not doing it. But recently we have seen more cash than before, but still the cards are 30% of the renenue.

My wife's business started taking cc about 10 years ago. We were losing customers not doing it. But recently we have seen more cash than before, but still the cards are 30% of the renenue.

This is an interesting post. I have been running all of my orders through pay pal, which is kind of a hassle. Is there a monthly fee for having a credit card machine? Sorry for butting in on your post.
Kevin Meier

My monthly fee was $17.95- plus a percentage on each transaction. I'm a lawyer, deal with landlords, property management companies and property sellers- they all seem to have money, and would just as soon pay by check so it runs through their books properly. I wasn't using it enough to justify it, so quit recently.

I think it would be imperative to have if you're selling at retail, and especially if you're selling by phone or website, and shipping stuff. Plus, a lot of folks have caught on to the bonuses the CC companies give for volume run through your card- Wife and I pay for everything by CC, we get cash back from Discover (usually 300- 400 dollars a year), and because we never carry over a balance, not a penny paid in interest. Free money is always attractive.

Also am surprised at how many people I see paying for 2 bucks worth of junk food at Safeway with a card.

If you watch at shows you will see many of the people who accept CCs have a portable CC scanner that has built in cell phone.

Loacal bank said: 10 month fee plus, 1.7 % of each transaction.