Accepting credit/debit card paymets

[ernest1]

<p>Does anyone have any experience using Intuit's GoPayment app? It's pretty decently priced at 12.95 a month and was thinking about trying it out?</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Is this for face-to-face transactions? If so, do you have an Android phone, or an iPhone, iPod touch, or an iPad? If so, check out <strong><a href="http://www.squareup.com">Square</a></strong>. No monthly charge. Free card scanning hardware. Money is transferred to your bank within a couple of days, up to $1000 a week. More than that is held for a while, unless you make arrangements with them to run a credit check (as most merchant accounts do, anyway).<br /><br />For some types of activity, it's an ideal solution. Mostly, it doesn't cost you anything up front or monthly, and the per-transaction fee rates make sense for many scales of use. It's not for everyone, but it's for a lot of people. I couldn't be happier. I use it as an alternative to a PayPal business account for certain kinds of transactions (it's nice to be able to just swipe-and-charge, in the field, on the fly ... and customers have fun signing the screen on my iPad and getting an e-mailed receipt with a map of the transaction location, etc).</p>

[ernest1]

<p>I have an Iphone4. I just started researching this and havent seen the Square yet. I will definately check it out. Thanks Matt!</p>

[wclark5179]

<p>I don't take credit cards for my business. Works for me. Clients don't seem to mind when I explain the costs that would be reflected what I charge them as there are things like interchange fees and the fees to the name on the card. Just another reason why my photography prices are quite a bit lower than others. And I'm really busy.<br /> For our TCPPA PayPal seems to work quite well. I do have a setup for the TCPPA with Wells Fargo and rarely use it.</p>

<p>Do you need to take credit cards?</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>I'm finding - when selling art prints directly to strangers, or working events, etc - that credit/debit cards are responsible for over 90% of sales. By that, I mean that these are people that do not carry checks, and don't have that much cash in their pockets. <br /><br />When it's a planned shoot or other service, it's a lot less critical - but some people really like to rack up those airline mile points or prefer the back-end accounting/reporting that comes with using a card to pay for services. If I can't tolerate the couple percent payload that comes with accepting cards, I'm doing something wrong with my pricing. Not to mention, it's nice not to have to deposit a check and wonder if/when it will actually clear. I've never had a charge-back or other problem with a single transaction, ever, while taking a payment card.</p>

[aura_jane]

<p>Matt, thanks so much for the info. I came to photo.net today with just that question in my mind. Looks like exactly what will work for me. I LOVE photo.net!</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Glad it was helpful, Aura. Just remember: you need to think carefully when the dollar amounts involved start exceeding $1000 per week. Beause Square is essentially taking a gamble that your customers won't be asking for a chargeback (a refund) of money you've charged them and possibly already spent, they have limits on how quickly they'll push more than $1k a week into your checking account. I get bank transfers from Sqaure within two business days of the card swipe with my customers, but haven't had a reason yet to charge more than $1k in a given week. If you're doing bigger-ticket sales, you need to either work out a higher limit with Square, or be comfortable floating without the immediate transfer past that first $1k in a given week. It's been ideal for a lot of my typical sitting fees, print sales, and market sales.</p>

[ernest1]

<p>I set up a Square account and love it! It is super easy and will be even more so when I can just swipe a card and not have to manually key one in. I will be mainly using it for art show sales and as an option for clients who would like to charge instead of writing a check. I love that it handles cash as well, takes one more burden or receipt writing off my shoulders! </p>