credit card machine?

[SangerLawn]

I have about 60 residential customers and around 10 large commercial properties. Most of my residential customers pay me on the spot. I just started online bill paying last year and the customers that use it love it. I checked into a credit card machine and not sure it is worth it. It would primarily be used for commercial properties that want extras done and want to pay the company card. It would also come in handy for new customers that just want something basic done. The machine isn’t cheap, I am looking at one the attaches to my cell phone, plus they charge every time I would use it.

Does anyone else use a credit card swiper and is it worth it?

[PROCUT1]

All I can say is stay away from quickbooks service.

[Grass Happens]

My experience is from the retail side of things, but when I was an office manager at the lawn mower shop, I had to sort through all the numbers, and the what not:
Besides being charged a "swipe fee" you are also charged one of three rates:
1. Standard rate. John Q. Public swipes his regular card.
2. Corporate cards and Government Purchasing Cards. This rate is higher. They spare the card holder the interest rate and make you help pay the difference.
3. "no swipe" This rate is the highest, and is used when the card number is manually keyed in.

I heard once, perhaps a lie, but probably not, one of the big wigs that helped Visa become the giant processing house it is today, say that: to be a successful business, you shouldn't take his, or any other cards.
I'm going to dig around and see if I can find this quote. It does seem that there are successful merchants that take cards, but when you figure the rental fee for the equipment (~50/mo), the swipe fees, the rate fees, statement fees and the "bail our bank out of the hole fees"; taking cards can take a hefty chunk out of your bottom line.

[SangerLawn]

I didn’t realize it was that bad but I had a pretty good idea that it wasn’t good lol…thanks for the info

[Economy Landscaping]

I just canceled my credit card service. It started cheap and every year it when up a few bucks. It was nice to have just in case a customer didnt had a check or the funds to pay at the time. Getting pay with credit works great, but the fees with it suck!

I changed to another company... 10 bucks a month plus the regular credit processing fee. It wasnt that bad, but i wasnt using it at all. To be honest i when a year without touching it.

D.

[txgrassguy]

I have what's called a merchant terminal - the card data is entered manually through a secure window on the computer in my office.
Crescent Processing charged me a one time set up fee of $60.00 and the charge rates are 1.5% up to $1,000 then down to a total maximum of .65% due to the large charge $$$ I generate.
Quite frankly I cannot imagine the entire monthly billing cycle the way I used to have it organized.
Generate an invoice, print the invoice, mail the invoice then wait up to three weeks for payment, check for correct payment then deposit the $$.
Now all I do is email an invoice, enter the numbers kept on file and the $$$ is in my bank account.
The service fee the processor charges is offset by two factors:
1. the lack of a time delay while acquiring the funds and
2. I simply increase the charge by the processing amount to cover any losses.
Customers love this service, I love it, the bank loves it and my girl friend absolutely adores how much more money I have each month.

[bohiaa]

Like you I found it not worth the money. Most of my customers want a paper trail.
I have only had 1 HOT check and the person payed it off as soon as they discovered it was hot.

My belife is that credit card scanners are more for retail, and NOT for our type of service.

[TNTurfGuy]

If you don't have a TON of customers paying via card/electronic check, Just use PAYPAL, it just requires an email address to your client, you can even create the invoice right in paypal and send it via email, then they can pay via card or electronic check. No Monthly Fees, No minimums etc etc... you will pay a higher percent on charges using paypal.com (https://www.paypal.com/us/mrb/pal=RZCBCPZNKRXNS) but you don't have to sign any contracts or meet any monthly minimums. You DEFINITELY want to sign up for a BUSINESS ACCOUNT it gives you extra features that you'll need. We had a machine and got tired of the BS $10 statement fee every month $25 minimum service charge plus we were under contract for 2 years, now we just fill out an invoice on site, log on at the end of the day reference the invoice number left at the job and email the reminder, they pay via e-check or credit card and we direct deposit to our account.

If you are a big operation it might be better to sign up for a virtual terminal but if not try paypal.com (https://www.paypal.com/us/mrb/pal=RZCBCPZNKRXNS) and see how it goes.

TN Turf Guy