Charge Card Options

[Martin Boekers]

I know this may not be in the right area, so if it needs to be moved
please put it where it should be.

The guy that invented Twitter is from St. Louis, he has been working
on developing a easy to use charge card system designed that anyone
can accept carge cards at any location. All you need now is an IPhone,
IPad or a Droid I believe.

They did extensive testing at an event in St. Louis this weekend.
It was successful! The reason I am posting this here is, I know
many on this forum do events and craft fairs etc. and may not
have access to a charge card machine at those locations.

It seems like a neat idea and may open up sales if you take charge cards also

You can read the article that ran in the local paper this weekend.


http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_e234e055-665c-599e-9279-fc01325cad14.html


Marty

[Mike Null]

Marty

I've been able to do that for years with a standard phone--land line or cell. That is the way I handle all my transactions right now.

[Scott Shepherd]

I saw this about 6 months ago, Square, it's called. They were giving the reader to you for free to plug into your cell phone jack. I started signing up for it and hit something in the questioning I didn't like. I don't recall what it was, but I would suggest you read the fine print really close, as that's what caught me and caused me to stop the application process.

It's legit, but there was something there that didn't make me happy.

[Martin Boekers]

We had issues a few weeks ago with the phone line connected to the card reader. We could call
it in and that just put a hold to their acct for the money, we still had to run the card through
a reader (or enter the number) when we got back online. They wouldn't accept the transaction by phone alone.


It seems that this is geared towards a quicker transaction then dialing in. It then sends
an email to the card holder for their records. I don't know if anyone still uses the slide machines
from the old days. I had to dig that out when our line was down:(

It may be easier to set up an acct than to go through standard Master Card
Visa accts, may be cheaper I don't know, may accept all major cards,
not sure on that either.

He developed this because of issues he had on locations selling glass.

I find it intrigueing so I thought I'd toss it out.


Marty

[Gary Hair]

My square is on its way as I type. I signed up a couple months ago when I first read about it. I really like the lack of monthly fee or minimum and the fairly low transaction fee and percentage. I bought an Ipod Touch just to use Square. They have had a fairly tough time getting all of the readers out to the people who signed up but it seems that they are catching up to the demand. What remains to be seen is how well they handle the transactions and deposits although I have high hopes they will do well.

I don't have much call for credit card payments and there was no way I could justify the minimums or monthly fees that most merchant accounts have with them, even in the name of "customer service". I can absolutely say that I have not lost one sale due to not accepting cards but it will be nice to have that option now.

I really like the fact that I don't need a phone line to use it with my Ipod, just a wifi connection. If you have an Iphone or other phone that it works with, you don't need wifi, it connects using your phone. Truly a go-anywhere credit card terminal.

Gary

P.S. I'm not affiliated with them, their website is squareup dot com

[Gary Hair]

I started signing up for it and hit something in the questioning I didn't like.

It could have been that they ask for your SSN? Even though I signed up as a business and the deposits go to my business account, they still need my SSN along with my EIN. I was hesitant to give it out, but everything I have seen about them is positive and they seem legit so I gave it to them, hopefully I won't regret that decision. Even if it were a "traditional" merchant account you would still have to give up your SSN, so it's not unusual to ask for it.

Gary

[Scott Shepherd]

That's probably it Gary. It's a company account, so I'm not giving them my personal SSN and I don't think at the time there was a way around it. It might have changed.

[Dan Hintz]

I have always done my processing using a net connection (which will work from a cell phone if I happen to be mobile, but I have never needed that option). People can order themselves using an e-cart, or I can use a virtual terminal directly to the processor. I'm not really sure why any B&M store would use a phone line for CC processing, yet I see it in a surprising number of places (Sally's Beauty Supply comes to mind right off of the top, and they're a large national chain)... you know all of those places have net connections, and it costs more to use a phone line connection to them.

[Martin Boekers]

I have always done my processing using a net connection (which will work from a cell phone if I happen to be mobile, but I have never needed that option). People can order themselves using an e-cart, or I can use a virtual terminal directly to the processor. I'm not really sure why any B&M store would use a phone line for CC processing, yet I see it in a surprising number of places (Sally's Beauty Supply comes to mind right off of the top, and they're a large national chain)... you know all of those places have net connections, and it costs more to use a phone line connection to them.

We have a dedicated phone line for the charge card reader. I know there
are different levels of service with the banks on this, so maybe that's why
we are on a phone line. Some of my vendors use the 3 digit code on the back
because they get charged extra if they don't.

I guess to a point that's good(phone line) as it has only been down
once in my 5 years here:)

Internet connections here aren't quite as quick or reliable.
This is geared more to the user that is more mobile, one who does events, craft shows, flea markets etc.

Iv'e done charity golf events before with many silent auction items, taking
charge cards made more bidders, and higher realized sales, but it was
always a pain in the$%# to set-up and wasn't cheap either!

I maybe wrong but I don't think you have to be a business for this
service. Not sure if you can manually enter a number or not. They talked as if you sold some thing on Craigs list for ex.
you could charge their card when they pick it up.

The pluses are no monthly fees and typically cheaper than a standard
card charges. I does give an option for many users. He created it because
it was something he felt was needed when he sold glass art from
his studio.

[Kathy Madan]

I still use the dedicated phone line card reader for a couple of reasons:
A: the machine is paid for and it works just fine
2. I could have gone to an internet option thru my POS system, but with the new laws with PCI compliance, then I have to be really careful with all those cc #s. If your computer gets hacked, then so might your card info. Can't hack those old fashioned phone line machines.
C. If for some reason the computer goes down, I can still run credit cards.

I will have to go see this low fee, no monthly fees stuff and compare to my current bank. CC fees are always a struggle. Can't live without em, can't live with them.

[Joe De Medeiros]

most of the Canadian artists I know use one of these POS terminals.

http://www.moneris.com/en/ProductsAndServices/Products/MobilePOS/%7E/media/Images/content%20image_/mobile8300_front.ashx?h=197&as=1

it works on the GSM cell network, and works with all credit cards and Interac (debt cards), it costs me about $65 a month. There is a front slot for the new chip cards.

[Bill Cunningham]

My bank supplies me with a number, and I just call it, and key in my merchant number and bank number, the transaction code, the creditcard number, and the amount. I get the approval number back, and it goes directly into my account. In Canada, we also have a service called email Interac. Where the customer goes to their online banking site, and generates a email money transfer through the Interac system to my email address. When I get the notification email, I click the link, and choose my bank. I then log into my normal online banking and answer the security question/answer I supplied my customer with, and the amount goes into my account.. The best part, is there is no cost on my part.. It costs the customer $4.00 to do the transfer, and sometimes I will just tell the customer to deduct the $4.00 from their bill. In many cases, four bucks is a lot less than the credit card companies would charge me in transaction fees.

[Curt Harms]

I still use the dedicated phone line card reader for a couple of reasons:
A: the machine is paid for and it works just fine
2. I could have gone to an internet option thru my POS system, but with the new laws with PCI compliance, then I have to be really careful with all those cc #s. If your computer gets hacked, then so might your card info. Can't hack those old fashioned phone line machines.
C. If for some reason the computer goes down, I can still run credit cards.

I will have to go see this low fee, no monthly fees stuff and compare to my current bank. CC fees are always a struggle. Can't live without em, can't live with them.

I'll bet #2 is a big one. Remember the T.J. Maxx parent co. fiasco? They were using either no encryption or WEP so it was easy to hack but still.................

[Dan Hintz]

Some confusion seems to be creeping in here. There should be no credit card numbers stored on your system or transmitted to it, so PCI compliance at your end is irrelevant. Your e-cart should be secured with an SSL certificate, so PCI compliance should be with your processor front-end only. I think my processor charges me about $100/yr or so for compliance checking, so if anything gets screwed up it's not my concern... I pay to be compliant, it's up to them to make sure it is.

T.J. Maxx (and others owned by parent TJM Companies) were transmitting their credit cards over open-air WiFi systems unencrypted from registers to servers in the back room, which means someone sitting outside in their car could use an antenna to capture the traffic. Transmitting that kind of data (particularly unencrypted) is just dumb on several levels. They were not even close to being PCI compliant in their handling of data, especially from the fact that they kept full credit card data on their local servers... that's a definite no-no for all of the major CC companies, PCI compliance aside, and is grounds for immediate termination of contract (though no one would be stupid enough to cancel their contract with TJM due to their sheer volume of transactions).

Not including transaction percentages (and yearly PCI compliance fee mentioned above), I think I pay about $35/month for the entire CC processing setup. No, I don't have a handheld terminal, but not having a storefront means I don't have a need to swipe cards. People either order online or they give me their info over the phone. Where I am, the chances of the internet going down are about the same as a phone line going down (nearly zero), so the phone line does not offer me any real extra security... even if it did, the net would be back up in a few hours anyway. Should I be so unbelievably unlucky as to have the net go down, I can process cards through my smart phone.

[Jim Beachler]

I was very interested in this setup as a backup when doing art shows. Then I noticed that if you charge more that $1000 in a week, they can keep your money for up to 30 days before they give it to you. This is what made me drop the idea. I can charge 5 to 7 times that much in a weekend and do not want to wait 30 days for my money to get to my bank. In this day of instant communication (such as Twitter) you would think that it could there much faster than that.

[Martin Boekers]

I think that $1000 limit is until you establish yourself and business trends.

Not sure though, You must do very well at the shows!:D
Most here complain about no one buying.

This card does have quite a few pages of "the Agreement"
never setting up a charge account, I don't know how many
or few are standard in the industry.

I do understand where your coming from with the transaction speed.
Banks always seem to deduct things from your acct "instantly"
but not so quicky with reimbersals:o

Marty

[Dan Hintz]

I was very interested in this setup as a backup when doing art shows. Then I noticed that if you charge more that $1000 in a week, they can keep your money for up to 30 days before they give it to you.
Says who? You need to look for someone else... I get my money deposited within 24 hours of the transaction, regardless of transaction amount.

[Martin Boekers]

The whole idea of this card was NO monthly fee, NO internet connection, NO
dedicated landline, NO extra equipment (outside of a cell phone to set it up)

minimal cost and percentage per transaction. (less then setting up
through a bank). It wasn't designed for storefront businesses that do thousands
of dollars a week. The typical flea market vendor, craft show vendors, artists.
rarely do that kind of business. (the guy who developed this is a glass
artist and is an owner of a studio in St. Louis. I'm sure he has access to
traditional methods of payments at his shop.) In attending craft shows
and art events he saw the lacking of a cheap, easy, available method to
advance his sales by making charge card sales available for people to
purchase his work. That's how all this evolved. There was a
niche market for "mobile" vendors to handle charge cards.

Just as with any business there is a give and take on how things work,
many business accts are net 10 or net 30 to start with some longer.
If that doesn't work there is always the option to turn that work down.
Yes, from what I understand, amts charged over $1000 may take up to 30 days to transfer funds.

Also what I understand, as you establish business with them your
availability to those funds will be transferred sooner than 30 days.
No different with a charge card now you use to by things, the more you spend, while not
costing them too much money on returns and making payments the
higher they raise your credit limit. The more you use this device with little costs from
refunds etc the quicker they'll pay you back after you reach the $1000 spot.

If this doesn't fit your needs than by all means forget about it, but from
a handful a folks that I've talked with, it just what they were looking for
to increase their sales.

Does anyone not pay a monthly fee to a card company for their service?
Did you have to buy a card reader and pay for a separate phone line?
Now the big question can you take it with you to use at an event without electric or phone service.?

I just tossed this out as I felt some would understand the possiblilities
of a service such as this and find it useful.

Marty