Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: derek west on April 11, 2011, 03:12:55 pm
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taking credit card payments.
based on 2 years, taking cc payment of £100 twice a day 5 times a week with 50% credit card and 50% debit card
total cost to you presuming you don't surcharge your customers which you will do but heres the cost.
the contenders
adalante terminal
adalante mobile phone
payatrader
put these costs in order
£1700, £1900 , £2700. you might be surprised.
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£2700 - payatrader
£1900 -mobile
£1700 - terminal?
just a random guess as you said we'd be surprised. that's a lot just to take payments with a terminal even at £1700
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bang on the button. i was well surprised all though you do pass the cost on for credit card payments to yuour custy which would substantially lower all of them. you might have trouble passing on debit cards surcharges using payatrader as they are the same as credit cards with them.
was gonna go for mobile but think a 2 year plan with a terminal will be my next step when cheques are finally phased out.
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Cash or BACS all the way once cheques stop for me
Mark
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Cash or BACS all the way once cheques stop for me
Same here I think,I have the ability to take Visa,but only over the phone,or with a laptop at point of sale,not something I am going to push though
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i'm with you derek. once cheques go i plan t go with terminal if the price is right and it makes sense. i like every idea for having a terminal, only the additional cost is holding me back at the moment as cheques are working fine. just thought i'd add i've got free business banking until june.
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Same as you Mark - cash or BACS.
Derek
When you add up how much your putting
through with your calculations.....£104,000
then the costs pale a little.
John
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I've been going for just over a year now and have had only about 4 or 5 cheques from domestic customers.All this talk of card terminals when cheques go is just an added cost to me.When cheques go i will just make sure they know it's cash on completion before the job starts.I take BACS for commercial work,but i don't like the idea of a trusting a domestic customer to pay by BACS after the work has been done.
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Same as you Mark - cash or BACS.
Derek
When you add up how much your putting
through with your calculations.....£104,000
then the costs pale a little.
John
see your point john but i see it as a non generater of work and so should be in my bank.
if i charge a surcharge for credit cards but absorb the debit cards it should work out at about £600 for mobile and £1000 for terminals so not too bad.
could do with finding out what type of cards people are using to pay for carpet cleaning, ratio wise
maybe richard or steve have the stats,
cash%
credit%
debit%
usage
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cash handling charges at banks cost a fortune around 45p-78p per £100 and you do have to bank it the inland revenue are not stupid . I wrote an invoice for £780 the other day cost me 18p through my pin machine if it were cash it would of cost around £3.5-4 to bank
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derek last 30 invoices =
16 debit cards
1 credit card
4 cheques ( work on account )
1 bacs (work on account )
8 cash
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I'll wait and see what happens before I go for a terminal, but I can't wait until they do away with cheques, they are a pain IMO!
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Don't have Proper stats to hand but the history of last ten card payments say they were all debit cards.
Steve
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Have you taken into account the extra work it will create by offering people the chance to put it on the plastic ??
Business clients are paying by Bac's but "Jo" public will forget to pay the "cleaner" by offering cards it shows you are an established business.
Cards have won business for us and all you do is increase your price slightly to cover it....say £5.00 per job
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some little fact for you, my granddad designed the font at the bottom of cheques the digital looking numbers.
Will be a shame to see that go from my point of view.
craig
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paul: how do you convince a customer to choose you because you offer card payments? seems odd if a customer will say yes simple because they can pay by card.
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They see the stickers on the van etc or when they are umimg and ahring i explain we take cards as well that seems to seal the deal.A few times they say o well can do this room and that etc. Its all phycological....(spelling not my favioute subject)
We are all salesmen at the end of the day....they see it as offering them time to pay if its a credit card
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What about the credit card guarantee, am i right to believe that Visa / Mastercard offer money back guarantees on items paid for, what if a customer complains 3 month down the road and the payment is refunded ??
Mark
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They see the stickers on the van etc or when they are umimg and ahring i explain we take cards as well that seems to seal the deal.A few times they say o well can do this room and that etc. Its all phycological....(spelling not my favioute subject)
We are all salesmen at the end of the day....they see it as offering them time to pay if its a credit card
If you are relying on clients to take advantage of your services, only if they are able to do it on credit - then I reckon you need to redirect your marketing. There is sufficient business out there to whom a carpet cleaners invoice is relatively insignificant.
Having said that - the practical conveniece of paying with a card, I don't dispute
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suppose i can see what you're saying paul.
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What's these cash handling charges?
I don't get charged for depositing cash.
John
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What's these cash handling charges?
I don't get charged for depositing cash.
John
Who do you bank with? Cash deposits for us is the highest charge
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ive had no bank charges for 3 years now, A&L now santander
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Barclays business account.
John
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Barclays business account.
John
john unless you are on a free banking tariff you are getting charged by barclys for cash handling .
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I with Santander and do not pay to deposit cash.
Mark
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If it's small amounts it gets put in the petty cash box. As long as it's clear in your accounts no problem, large amounts are deposited into a seperate account then one cheque written at the end of the month. Have to say handling much less cash than just a couple of years ago.
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Evalon have just launched a terminal package through Costco, transaction costs are from 1.1% for credit cards, 11p for debit cards.
I will look into it as we are getting asked about card payments more and more.
As for cash banking charges, change your bank, use the post office for free banking, A & L, Co-op all allow banking through the post offices, much easier and a lot cheaper I even get interest on my A&L accounts
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Unless I've missed something my own bank seems to be quite reasonable and importantly with each transaction going straight into my bank account not via a 3rd party bank first.
Credit cards 2.85%
Debit 30 pence
Each transaction 3 pence
Hire per month £43
(min charge per month £20)
(initial set up charge £130)
Going on Dereks submission of 2 transactions per day that would cost me £1416.40 in the first year but £1286.40 for subsequent years because the set up fee only applies to the first year.
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Don't forget you can still accept payment by cheque-it's just that there is no guarantee function.
Most people don't have the £250 cheque guarantee card and depending upon the size of your average order then many jobs will be over the guarantee limit of £100. I know most of mine are.
Then there are the businesses that firstly don't have cheque guarantee cards for their cheques and secondly they and anybody else who posts you a cheque wouldn't have a valid cheque card guarantee number on it in any case as the number has to be written on by the payee in the presense of the issuer.
I accept many, many cheques without taking a card number. My view on it is that cleaning carpets is not everybodies highest priority and if a client is strapped for cash then cleaning carpets is probably not their number one concern for the spending of their hard-earned. So if they are having carpets cleaned they can probably comfortably pay for it without stretching the old finances.
The only time I really will consider a card is when an outgoing tenant is wanting to pay by cheque. Then I do insist on seeing they have a card before we start. But there again this type of client will almost invariably by paying you by cash without you even asking for that payment method.
taking payment by cards and the rental of equipment is still relatively expensive so don't forget you can still take cheques for payment at least until 2017.
Rog
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Evalon have just launched a terminal package through Costco, transaction costs are from 1.1% for credit cards, 11p for debit cards.
I will look into it as we are getting asked about card payments more and more.
As for cash banking charges, change your bank, use the post office for free banking, A & L, Co-op all allow banking through the post offices, much easier and a lot cheaper I even get interest on my A&L accounts
got a guy coming tuesday, sounds good at the mo, will let you know.
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Hi,
Sorry to join this topic at such a late stage but I wondered how you calculated that Payatrader would cost £2,700?
The cost would be £1404 a year as follows:
£1000 per week in takings (£100 twice a day for 5 days, in your example)
This would attract a rate of 2.70%, so £27 per week
52 weeks = £1404.
Once you've joined Payatrader* there are no monthly or any other recurring fees. The only cost is is one-off joining fee & if you don't use the service it costs nothing. Rates are 2.3% to 2.90% based on weekly turnover that automatically adjust to give you our lowest rate. ???
* Costs £74 to join using the "Cleanitup" discount code.
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taking credit card payments.
based on 2 years, taking cc payment of £100 twice a day 5 times a week with 50% credit card and 50% debit card
total cost to you presuming you don't surcharge your customers which you will do but heres the cost.
the contenders
adalante terminal
adalante mobile phone
payatrader
put these costs in order
£1700, £1900 , £2700. you might be surprised.
Derek is using 2 years in his example so you are 1404 x 2 = £2808
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I am with payatrader, and had objections at first, but now thinks it's great.
No fees if I don't use it, and when I do I pass the cost onto customer.
I just tell them it's plus 3% if they don't want to pay it no prob, they can pay cash cheque or BACs. So there are plenty of options for them, however to my supprise the 3% does not bother most people or at last if they want to pay buy card it does not stop them.
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Sorry Derek didn't spot the 2 years.
I guess we are comparing different services & features mind. With Payatrader you have multi-channel payments capability (all included) which means you can take a payment online at your website, by telephone using our virtual terminal, by mobile, by email and 24/7 contact centre. Even your employees can take a payment on your behalf!
As Craig says, quite a few of our members just pass the charges on.
Best
Linda
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I cant see what all the fuss is about...most people prefer to pay by cheque if not cash.
Over the years, I have had just a handfull of custys ask if I accept card payment.....perhaps one in a thousand.
Cheques are not to be phased out...for the time being they are here to stay.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14122129
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I agree, I've been asked twice this year when I said I didn't they just nipped out and got cash while I was cleaning.
Shaun
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I agree, I've been asked twice this year when I said I didn't they just nipped out and got cash while I was cleaning.
On the button ;D
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Cash or Bacs all day long.
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HSBC Global Iris....best thing we did.
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I'm quite surprised how much they cost per year I can't see how it would enhance my business sales for the money it potentially would cost me or potential loss in sales I would rather spend £1404 on advertising somewhere I'm sure that would bring me a better return.
Shaun
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Cheques may be here for a while but the guarantee cards aren't !
When the banks stopped guaranteeing cheques I had about four bounce on me in one month, that's what made me go the cards route,
Wouldn't go back now, anybody who has a cheque would have a debit card so I just tell them to use that, take a couple grand a month on cards now, money in the bank, simples
Steve
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use it for tenants that are moving out of town who might be hard to find if a cheque bounces , or landlords that don't live in town and what to 'send me a cheque' when i finish or people who can't find their chequebook.
i have'nt used it for a while but its nice to have the option when i need it
Ps; its good if they want a reciept, as it emails them a reciept
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I insist on cash for end of tennacy although I did one on Saturday where the owner was in Australia and she Bacs me the money first.
Perhaps it depends on how you want to work, I prefer my £1404 and so does my missus.
Shaun
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In 12 years Ive been asked maybe 5 times if I accept credit card. Once was by a famous rich person who didnt have a cheque book either!!
I just dont think people expect a tradesman coming into thier home to offer a card option and the 2.5% fee IMO would be a pain to mention and add on during the sale.
Anyway last I heard cheques are here to stay.
Mark