craft shows

[dennis kranz]

How many of you take credit cards and does it make a differance.
Dennis

[Greg Just]

I don't because of the cost and the fact I don't do too many craft shows. I think it would help sales.

[Jess Wetherhold]

I pay around $25 a month and 1.9% but in total the fees average about 4% of my sales. Sales doubled after I started accepting cards.

[Jim Silva]

I take cc's but it's my business's account, not one set up specifically for my woodturnings. I've found though, that having cc accepted greatly increases sales especially for the higher priced items.

[Allen Neighbors]

I only make one craft show per year. It lasts for a full week, so it takes the wife (quilting) and I that long to get enough stock. We don't accept credit cards, due to ignorance of how to go about it, but I doubt if it would help us any. Where we sell, I've only been asked one time if I accepted credit cards. In that one week, we nearly sell out everything we take.
Judging from what others have said, it would probably pay you to get set up for cards, if you're going to do a number of shows.
Just my .02. :)

[Brian Effinger]

There was a thread very recently in Off Topic that asked the same questions. There were some good and interesting answers there, so you may want to check that one out.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I did take them at one time but the expense for me anyway outweigh the reward. I did not see my sales go up enough to warrant taking them.

[Jamie Straw]

Dennis, to evaluate the value of credit card expenses to your business, you'd want to look at the cost as a percentage of your overall sales, not just the CC sales. You probably won't know until you've used (allowed) them for a year whether it's worth the cost or not. If your sales go up 25% or more, and you can attribute that to the availability of CC payment, that's your answer. Obviously, you want to get the best per-sale and per-month charges you can find with the following caveat.....

**Most important thing**....make sure you know exactly what kind of contract you're getting into! Many small business people have discovered the hard way they were locked into a long-term contract they couldn't get out of. The fine print is pretty painful to read and understand, but essential. If I can find the name of the company I used the last few years I was in business, I'll pass it along. They were very reasonable, and excellent customer service.

**tidbit** You can buy pre-owned CrCd swiping machines, through eBay or even through the processing company you choose. The new ones are exhorbitantly expensive, pure profit for someone, who know who?:eek: