What is a good credit card service company?

[kevin_break]

<p>I've been using Intuit QuickBooks to run visa and mastercard for a couple years.<br>

Now my accountant tells me my copy of QB is going to expire. (?!?!?)<br>

She says I need to buy a new copy for several hundred dollars, and I'm wondering if there's an online service that I can use instead.<br>

I google online credit merchandising and I keep finding bad feedback on them (like charge.com)</p>

<p>I have a USB credit card reader, and I only use QB for that, nothing else. I don't need QB (at least not for now) for their other accounting stuff.</p>

<p>If I had an iPhone I hear "there's an app for that" but buying one of those is still being pricey.</p>

<p>Advice? TIA.</p>

[mikael_karlsson]

<p>Kevin:<br /><br />Do you need to be able to swipe actual cards or do you just need to be able to enter data on a virtual terminal? I use PayPal to accept credit cards and it works great for me. I don't do a lot of credit card transactions so for me it wouldn't be worth it to go with a merchant account.<br /><br />Have you talked to your bank? If they offer merchant accounts they should be able to cut you a good deal if you have a good relationship with them.</p>

[Spearhead]

<p>If you are just doing online or phone, you can use PayPal for a virtual terminal account. If you need to do a physical swipe, most banks have reasonable deals, but I'm not sure if they can use the USB reader. However, if you're taking payment on the USB reader, it sounds like you have a computer there and can use a virtual terminal program, from PayPal or another provider like authorize.net.</p>

[darylann]

<p>Another vote for PayPal!</p>

[josh_marcel]

<p> I wouldn't vote for Paypal but for small transactions it's not worth it to get a real service.</p>

[kevin_break]

<p>I will look up authorize.net, I have used PayPal and since I have experience with them, I think they're the spawn of the devil.<br>

I had an 800$ chargeback a month after a client, something about her card had expired after being charged, but not at the TIME it was charged, and eventually I got the money back from PayPal, but all three times they handled it they took out like, 30$ish.<br>

I will also ask my bank, that was so obvious I hadn't thought of it.</p>

[Spearhead]

<blockquote>

<p>I wouldn't vote for Paypal but for small transactions it's not worth it to get a real service.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Was your experience with PayPal's consumer business or with their merchant services business? The merchant services business is very different than simply having a PayPal user account and is similar to other services that offer merchant account, virtual terminal, and gateway capabilities.</p>

[brucecahn]

<p>Beware of merchant service credit card agreements. I have had a few in the last decade and never found one that was fair and priced reasonably. The bank problems of recent years have led to much higher fees. They also sneak in sucker charges at every opportunity. I finally gave up looking for a fair and honest company and just take Paypal. Paypal can be tricky, but at least they are not trying to rip you off.</p>

[kevin_break]

<p>In answer to the previous question, I swipe the card and type up the invoice in front of them, sliding the card, printing or emailing the receipt. They still have to sign.</p>

<p>There are more than a few times I got/shot a job because I could zip a credit card for the client.</p>

 

[kindle_bit]

<p>you need to swipe your card</p>

[ccommins]

I also use Paypal virtual terminal, its great at shows, I take a laptop or my iphone, very user friendly.

[buri]

<p>Kevin,</p>

<p>What credit card scanner do you use? It is secure. I have only taken cash or check (risky..but I get their info) for a while because I am worried that buying a credit card reader (like this: <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16838185001&Tpk=USB%20credit%20card%20reader">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16838185001&Tpk=USB%20credit%20card%20reader</a>) wouldn't be secure.</p>

[kevin_break]

<p>I use one from ID Innovations, simple USB attachment.<br /><br /><img src="http://evertek.com/imageshare/H/300x300/HEN3331-12U-PB-R-unit.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br /></p>

[kisa_koenig]

<p>Have you checked out http://www.squareup.com yet? Sounds promising...</p>