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taking credit cards
having read through thed boards over the past few weeks, i see that alot of you take deposits upto 50%
it is something that i will certainly start doing as there are some proper idiots out there who think you will wait forever and a day for your money.
i have accounts going back a few months to the tune of a few grand and it is now time to start seriously debt collecting.
does anyone use a credit card swiping device like they use in shops?
if so how much do they cost per month approx.i’ve got the bloke from cardnet coming wednesday but i’ve been told it works out quite expensive if you don’t use it much. is this true.
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10 Replies
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we`ve got a PDQ machine.
Yes is does cost to take plastic. Can`t remember off hand the figures. But it is well worth it.
First add a few % to your prices to cover it.
The biggest plus of a PDQ, is you can take payment over the phone.
How often have you quoted over the phone, then finished with ” I need a deposit of XYZ or payment in full, before I can start the job” . To which the customer replies” I`ll have to pop in tomorrow” Never to be seen again.
With a PDQ machine, they can give you their card details there and then.Most businesses have credit/debit cards nowadays too.
The trend today is to carry less cash and use cards more..
There`s various companies that can supply you with the facilities. One thing I wish I had gone for a company that did checks on payment by cheques, if they ok the cheque and it bounces, they pay any losses.
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I get about 40% of my business from on-line card payments, but I decided it wasn’t worth the outlay for a swipe machine.
My costing exercise a wee while back suggested that I would need to have a more substantial card throughput than mine is, to make it worthwhile, probably £1,000 per week+ card income.
I found that it’s not just the monthly lease on the swipe machine, you also have to have a mimimum fee income, or you will pay a minimum charge to your bank. Depending on your circumstances you will pay a % of the amount collected on credit cards (2%, 5% or even higher apparently, depends on how the bank sees you as a risk)
If you take card numbers & info you may also have an additional responsibility to be registered under the Data Protection Act if you arent already registered.
In the end I set up a PayPal facility and a NoChex facility. Both work well, I pay 3% for each transaction, but there is no minimum fee income, no machine to lease, I don’t get or hold customer personal information in my files, etc. and I get the cash in the bank hassle free. 🙄
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I recommend paypal as well as you can get paid before doing the job!
Suits me.
And you can easily move the money frompaypal into your account.
cheers
Joe -
Was looking at Paypal, is there any other costs involved, like transfering your money to the bank or is that free.
Is it 3% on any fee?
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Hiya
It costs 50p a transfer, whether it’s £50 or £500.
Set up is simple, and once you have accomplished a few transactions (12 I think) you can get listed in the PayPal directory. I get a few website customers from there each week.
Hassle is with debit cards (same as NoChex) the customer has to wait for 2 to 3 days to get “verification”. Most of my customers use credit cards so this poses no problems for me.
Have a great day
Alan
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paypal no longer charge the 50p to transfer monies from your paypal account to your bank account, as long as the amount is over £50.00.
They have said that UK business is brisk and dropped the fee.
Dan
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Yeah – I received an e-mail at weekend. Good stuff.
(hot)
Now they just need to drop the % fee ……. (:)
Regards all
Alan
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There are two types of paypal account one where you pay a % fee, this is for commecial business and one were you don’t pay any fees.
So if your not taking may CC you don’t need to pay the fee, but if you start using it alot paypal will upgrade your account and you’ll have to pay the fee
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Hi,
Only experience i have of Paypal is through ebay.
If a customer phones to place an order what are the procedures to get the dosh?
Do you just ask for card details etc?
James
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Hiya
Once you yourself have a PayPal account, you can send anyone with an e-mail address a PayPal payment request.
If the customer doesn’t have a PayPal account already he opens one.
He can pay your request immediately if he has set up his account with PayPal with a debit or credit card.
If the customer doesnt have a PayPal account already he can pay your request immediately if he is regsitering a credit card.
If he wnats to use a debiot card it may take 3 days before he can process the payment, as they have to go through a bank account verification process.
You pay a % to PayPal – its deducted from the amount they collect for you – and when you wish you can transfer the funds to your bank account.
Transfers to UK bank accounts are now free if the amount transferred is over £50.00; you oay a flat 25p if it’s less than £50.00
The % to PayPal is around 3.8% I think.
No minimum volumes, no monthly rental, no hassles.
Kind regards
Alan
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