[derek west]

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.

[Adam P]

£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

[derek west]

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.

[markpowell]

Cash or BACS all the way once cheques stop for me
Mark

[M.Acorn]

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

[Adam P]

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.

[JandS]

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

[Deep Cleaning Solutions]

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.

[derek west]

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

[richy27]

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

[richy27]

derek last  30 invoices  =

16 debit cards
1  credit card   
4 cheques  ( work on account )
1 bacs (work on account )
8 cash

[Colin Day]

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!

[Steve Chapman]

Don't have Proper stats to hand but the history of last ten card payments say they were all debit cards.

Steve

[Paul Heath]

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

[Craig - CW Window Cleaning]

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

[Adam P]

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.

[Paul Heath]

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

[markpowell]

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

[elliott cleaning]

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

[Adam P]

suppose i can see what you're saying paul.