Taking Credit Cards

[mizgeorge]

The paypal virtual terminal is the same as the one they use for the iphone app, and means having a paypal merchant account - which is a lot more expensive to run than their normal a/c. You also have to make sure you comply with all their rules (distance selling regs, returns, full address on website etc etc).

That said, I suspect this will be the route I'll go down before too long.

[Di Sandland]

Yes, I just read through it George and, you're right, its a merchant account - albeit a little less stringent in the setting up process than the usual ones.

Not for this time but something to think about for the future.

[Petal]

Are you a member of the NMTF? I'm sure I saw something in their mag about using one of their credit card thingies inexpensively at events. Is this for the NT event soon? Have you asked them if they will be 'lending' it to stallholders for no extra charge ? (If you don't ask, you don't get - ask anyway and you never know, they might be willing to do something for you and the other traders at the event?).

BTW, I found the threads you were looking for here, but you may have already have had your questions answered ... just in case you haven't, here they are:-


http://www.cooksongold.com/forum/how...-payments.html

http://www.cooksongold.com/forum/bus...-payments.html

Let us know how you get on Di.

Love

[Di Sandland]

Cheers Petal - I emailed the event organiser (yes the NT event) at about 4 o'clock but she's out of the office today, back tomorrow. She's usually extremely helpful, so we'll wait and see what she says.

I just think this is an issue that effects all of us and, as George says, its a nonsense really that small businesses are not covered and, therefore, miss out on opportunities.

x

[Boo]

This is a problem I have and I know I've lost sales because I couldn't take cards at fairs and something I'm interested to learn more about, hence follwoing the thread rather than contributing anything useful.

FWIW - the mobile broadband dongles work great - that's how I'm here now - in a caravan in very rural Cumbria, on my netbook. You're reliant on there being a good signal where you are - and inside buildings the structure can interfere with it, but I pay under £15 a month for a 15GB mobile broadband account - I don't even get close to using my allowance. I use mine here with a powered wireless router which has my dongle in it near the window where there is a strong signal and my netbook just latches onto the wireless signal.

[Di Sandland]

Hi Boo - keep on enjoying that holiday!

It seems this credit card thing is a real problem, eh?

[Ominicci]

...watching with interest....

[EmmaRose]

on going problem this one....some venues/ shows offer a central card point now and you pay a percentage fee per sale to them, this works best. Otherwise it is a terrible problem. Small retailers used to be fine with the little manual swipe machine. My old company gave up c.c. when they phased them out as the charges for new machines/ rental etc couldn't be justified....
Em

[Di Sandland]

Well, just as a matter of interest, here is the response from the event manager:

The nearest cashpoint really is Barnstaple. You could always take a name and address and card details then ask them to post a cheque? Then you've got details that you could use to buy things on the internet with if they don't pay up!?

Okay, so at least she has a sense of humour

[caroleallen]

I bit the bullet several years ago and signed up with Adelante to use their mobilepos system which worked fairly well but meant I still had to swipe people's cards in the old-fashioned way to give them a receipt. I've now got a mobile terminal from Adelante which is much easier to use.

I've also got a "dongle" but got myself into difficulty with taking card details at a show once when I charged the wrong amount and then couldn't work out how to give a refund, which was really embarrassing.