Credit Card’s

[Kevin.Beck]

we got a pdq machine, when we bought the shop, you`ll get loads more business from people ordering by phone.

1 thing that i would recomend, some companies offer a cheque service, can`t remember the right name for it.

Basically when someone wants to pay by cheque, you ring this company up, if they ok the cheque and it bounces they will pay you what you have lost.

there are costs for these services, but we find most of our transactions are now card or cheque.

cheers Kev

[Timmy Mallet]

I belong to an association on the agricultural side of my business, they have secured a deal with Barclays Merchant Services for all their members. The rental is £15-00 a month with different rates for the type of card used, so what you have been quoted sounds a good deal. As far as the additional charges go it depends on what profit margin is in the sale, you will usually find that a 2.5% charge is applied on some online ordering sites mainly due to the competitive prices offered, but this has disappeared mostly now so the percentage must have been applied in the price. As far as telephone ordering and paying by card and someone else picking the goods up be cautious, there have been instances of fraudulent transactions taking place with stolen cards. To be fair Barclay Merchant keep you updated every month with security issues and are in the process of doing away with signatures on credit card receipts by the customer having to type a pin number in rather than a signature. There is also a requirement for postal/carrier orders to be sent to a verified card holders address.

Just remember that if anything goes wrong with a transaction, you are responsible to prove the goods were supplied to the said person, if you cant they just take the money back out of your account.

Timmy…..

[Robert Lambie]

yep… you seem to have got a not bad quote there mate.
my set-up was charged to me last week at £280+vat monthly charge i think is £18.
the rate though is not low. starts out at somthing like 3.8% and then will drop depending on the traffic to the shop. this is only intialy, first quarter maybe and is because the shop is also a new business. it is also because of the nature of my machines clients. it is “only” for the internet. much higher risks!
i have been told that interest rates and the amount of online traders may suffer due to the amount of fraud on the net. more and more banks are simply putting you through third parties to deal with your credit cards.
what im also told is that over the next year or so you will see only a handful of companies, all specialising on internet credit. but connected in some way to the high street banks.

security? well there is a few ways to keep fraud down. the good thing is i am only dealing with company to company. our trade is not high risk. vinyl is not a brand of goods like a gucci watch you could easy sell off if you aquired using a stolen card.
i have purchased software also.. by typing in a postcode it will link the person, the address and other details. so its just a case of you having to marry the person to that address or the company to that address before allowing transaction to go through.

[Martin Pearson]

Robert, I can understand the percentage on each transaction being a little higher due to internet fraud but the set-up charges seem to be high as well and I cant see any reason for this. I would have thought with the amount of business the shop is likely to do the banks would have been far more generous.
As for having a machine I had one when I first started and we hardly ever used it, I can understand why Kevin has one as he does a lot of sales through the web and in that instance it is the difference between gaining or losing a sale.
Most of my customers are more than happy to pay by cheque, I suppose its because the money takes a little longer to leave their account !!
I do agree though Neil that nowdays a lot of people expect you to take plastic and it can be more convienient for them. Good luck in finding a reasonably priced supplier.

[Robert Lambie]

i agree martin it is high..
to be honest i didnt have much time to shop around other than on the net and most of those were the same or higher.. not under your nose higher but had little clauses here and there..
our company has a great relationship with our bank so when i decided to open the shop the manager recommended his “brother” so you can see were i was going there… if we are like you say, “and i personaly hope so” doing good business online the interest rate will come down. so i didnt bother really continuing to shop for better deals..

we like you said as a sign company. dont really get asked for credit card fascilities and we dont have one.
only recently we did 600 small signs for rolls royce of all people..
they said they rather pay by credit card so we get paid instantly rather than go through there system of 4 months!!! 😕 😕
we sorted it in the end.. 😉

[Neil Kelly]

I was contacted by The UK Trades Confederation they are offering a no set up fee deal with a monthly terminal rental of £13.00 a month and less than 2% commision its a deal they have arranged as a buying group with Nat West streamline also some great deals on couriers under a fiver on packages upto 11Kgs with Omega and discount on Insurance also a free Legal /Tax Advise Line and legal document service
there is an anual membership fee but the potential savings/benefits could easly cover it im meeting with a rep on Friday.

Has anyone heard of them before it all sounds to good to be true
Il let you know how I get on

http://www.uktc.org/trade/membership-benefits.htm
020 8842 4442

[Martin C]

I have online Credit Card facilities with Worldpay for my Boxing Equipment site…..

http://www.warriorboxing.com (Plug, Plug if anyone wants a punch bag to hit when your’e a little frustrated!)

I’ll be honest I don’t have the latest figures in front of me but my recollection is £175 per year, no monthly charge….but the commission rates can vary. As well as taking orders from around the world off the web you can input customer card purchases and within seconds receive confirmation (NOT clearance) or otherwise that the card is ok. A wrong postcode, different address to the cardholder will flag up an imediate caution message by return e-mail.

[MARTY]

HI EVERYONE !… NEW TO THE BOARD SO THOUGHT I WOULD STICK MY TWO PENNITH WORTH IN.

WE HAVE BEEN TAKING CREDIT CARDS NOW SINCE DECEMBER AND FIND IT WORKS QUIT WELL WITH WHAT WE DO.

WE DO ALL THE USUAL SIGN STUFF VANS, FASCIAS, ETC BUT WE DO A LOT OF NUMBER PLATES, CAR GRAPHICS AND BOY RACER STUFF.

MANAGED NOT TO FOR YEARS BUT BECAUSE WE HAVE SHOP PREMISES PEOPLE SEEM TO EXPECT YOU TO TAKE CARDS NOWADAYS AND WHEN WE GIVE PRICES WE HAD TO GIVE THE SPILL ABOUT NO CARDS.
WE STARTED TAKING CARDS BECAUSE OF SEVERAL LARGE COMPANYS WE DEAL WITH.
THEIR EMPLOYEE HAS BEEN ISSUED WITH A CARD BUT IF YOU DON’T TAKE THEM THE INVOICE HAS TO GO INTO THE SYSTEM AND WAS TAKING MONTHS, IT COST MORE ON THE PHONE CHASING THE CHEQUE THAN IT DOES FOR THE COMMISION CHARGE. NOW WE GET PAID AT THE TIME OF COLLECTING THE GOODS.
THE DEAL IS WITH LLOYDS CARDNET. £150 SET UP FEE. 2% ON CREDIT CARDS 25P ON DEBIT CARDS NO MATTER WHAT AMOUNT.
£17 PLUS VAT ON THE MACHINE PER MONTH NO SERVICE CHARGE, NO MINIMUM AMOUNT.

HOPE THIS IS OF SOME HELP.

[MARTY]

Sorry about the all capitals Syndrome to many years in the sign trade..!!!
Just forgot.