Accepting Credit Cards

I started accepting credit cards about 2 years ago or so. I use both PayPal and Square, and both allow me to either swipe the card or manually enter the CC info, right from my iPhone. There is a fee of about 3%. The exact percentages differ on each program but the main difference is the time it takes for the money to be deposited into my bank account. If I'm not mistaken, the percentage is slightly higher with Square, but I get my money faster. With Square, the money is deposited on the next business day. PayPal takes 3-5 business days to deposit my money.

I don't get paid with credit cards that often, but I do eat the fee.

My wife uses Square for her business, cost just under 3% per transaction, but you get your money the same day no bounced checks:-@ . I understand Square now has charge back protection for merchants.

> I don't get paid with credit cards that often, but I do eat the fee.

I don't get paid by credit card, but I do multiply every estimate I make by 15% before I send out the proposal to account for "unseen contingencies" or as a former Secretary of Defense once put it the "unknown unknowns". That would cover the credit card fee. 😉

> Also; there is like a 2-4 percent fee for each tranaction, plus a little bit; do you add this to your fee or just eat it?
>

You add that 3-4% to your proposal and offer a discount of the same amount for payments made in cash.
Jim

:good:

That is spot on!!!

Don't do the credit card thing yet, but always a little discount for cash payment and that is discussed up front with every client.

You save a little and I get paid upon delivery, works for both sides.

Randy

I haven't started accepting cards yet, but I have been told to be careful about how you handle the fees. It can be illegal to charge the credit card fee to the client. The way to handle it is as some have stated here; figure it into your fee and offer the client a discount for paying with cash or check.

I was reluctant to do CC, but now I love it. I use Square, and the fees are nominal, and depend on if you have a card to swipe or input the info manually. Most of my clients are out of town, so we enter it over the phone.

1) its a great way to weed out price shoppers. If you want on my schedule, I need your cc info!

2) I eat the service charge. I figure it's waay cheaper than paying someone to track and send out mulitiple invoices. Plus, you get 98% of your invoiced amount within a few days, as opposed to 30-60-90 days... well worth it.

3) if it's more than a few grand, I'll tell the client we will bill them 50% when the field work begins and 50% when it's ready to pick up.

check with your bank though, they may have an in-house CC service that's even better than Square.

Andy

I agree with what Andy said. to me its worth 2.75% not to chase money around.

I started with Square which had a 3.5 percent rate on keyed in transactions. I have recently switched to Amazon's new Amazon Local Register which only charges a 2.75 percent rate on keyed in transactions. I like it so far.