Education on accepting credit cards.

[imported_never gone]

Again, perhaps it's different in the USA, but here in Canada, there's generally 2 types of transactions, qualifying and non-qualifying. Visa, Mastercard and Amex get their own respective rates, but they're all the same. A Royal Bank Visa doesn't get a different transaction rate than a BMO Visa, or a TD Canada Trust Visa. If that's the case in the USA, then you as a retailer have (or should have, I would assume it's legislated) the right to request all the rates from your merchant provider. I would assume that most reputable merchant providers would give you this in a table format, but I could definitely understand that you'd have to poke around and ask for it, it wouldn't be something the merchant provider would send you without you asking.



No, I would not charge a customer for wax if I didn't wax. Your analogy is flawed here. I said there might not actually be a direct COST to batch closings. I didn't say it was free. There are systems that merchant providers had to invest in, those systems cost money. For me, I can look up my all my transactions online with deposit confirmation numbers within 15 minutes of batch closing. That system, web integration, etc, cost a lot of money (I'm in the IT industry as well, so I don't say this out of ignorance). So while there might not be a direct dollar fee from credit companies like Visa and Mastercard, there is still a "cost" to providing these services. Say you bring your vehicle to a detail shop and the detail is $300 for an interior and a wash and wax. The employee that did it made $50 in wages. Do you really think the employer made the other $250 and can put it in their pocket ? Have you thought about cost of supplies, COA (cost of acquisition), electricity, heat, alarm system monitoring, Workers Compensation Board fees, Employment Insurance fees, etc. ? And even still, you as the retailer understand (or are supposed to understand) the costs associated with your transactions when you sign your merchant account agreement. In other words, read the fine print and ask questions if you don't understand something. I did, I was careful, and I haven't been burned as of yet.



I can appreciate that you're trying to help the folks here, but in all seriousness, all people need to do is shop around, read carefully before signing anything, and ask questions if they don't understand something. What you're doing here is making people afraid of accepting plastic when they shouldn't be.

I fully understand there's costs of doing business and I have no issue with businesses wanting to cover those costs. What I have issue with is saying it's for something that DOES NOT have a cost associated with it, why is this hard to understand?? Maybe you should charge a wax curing fee? I don't believe it's honest and it's not the way to do business. There's NOTHING wrong with making money, just be honest, give great service and if you want to make a little more money then just charge a little more, since they're going to get it anyway, and just be honest as to why you charge what you charge. Most don't mind paying as long as they know what's really involved. It's easy to say merchants should "just ask questions" but where are they supposed to learn what to ask about? Nothing I'm writing about should "scare" anyone because I have talked a lot about the main things merchants should ask to protect themselves to make sure they are getting fair deals.

 

[Greg Nichols]

I honestly feel that Square (www.squareup.com) is the best option for mobile or low-volume fixed-location detailers. The "rate" is a tad bit higher than most, but the lack of contracts, monthly fees and equipment costs (they send the reader for free) more than make up the difference. And the service could not be simpler, IMO. I use it and unconditionally recommend it.

I have them, I like cash but some clients want to use credit. I can't beat the flexibility for me as a mobile detailer.



Cheers,

GREG

 

[EcoAuto]

As far as credit card processing I use either Intuits Go Payment or Square for iPhone. I do a lot of detailing where the customer pays later and the card and I'm unable to swipe, when doing this I use Intuit Go Payment as the keyed rate is lower than it is for Square. I love Square for it's simplicity. They e-mail you per transaction how much customer paid and how much you get out of it

"You accepted $34.00 from a card ending in####

As of this payment, your Square balance is $32.91."



Then at the end of day they send you an email how much they are depositing total from that day. Takes 1-3 business days to receive funds.



Intuit on the other hand annoys me because they deposit the total amount in your bank acct then withdrawal the transaction fee.



Square has only been around for about a year and is really making a great impression on CC market. Also the readers are free which is great as the Mophie card reader for iphone is $180 or so. If I need another Square card reader all I do is contact Square and I get a new one sent for free.



Squares rates are flat and simple, while yes a little higher..as other members have said it's not bad for low volume detailers. That being why I keep Intuits go payment for right now. Sorry this is like a rant and kind of all over the place just my .02...now I need caffeine..haha

 

[WAS]

I fully understand there's costs of doing business and I have no issue with businesses wanting to cover those costs. What I have issue with is saying it's for something that DOES NOT have a cost associated with it, why is this hard to understand?? Maybe you should charge a wax curing fee? I don't believe it's honest and it's not the way to do business. There's NOTHING wrong with making money, just be honest, give great service and if you want to make a little more money then just charge a little more, since they're going to get it anyway, and just be honest as to why you charge what you charge. Most don't mind paying as long as they know what's really involved. It's easy to say merchants should "just ask questions" but where are they supposed to learn what to ask about? Nothing I'm writing about should "scare" anyone because I have talked a lot about the main things merchants should ask to protect themselves to make sure they are getting fair deals.

What I'm trying to tell you is that there IS a cost, even if it isn't a direct monetary one (ex: fee from Visa or Mastercard). There's a cost to the systems to provide those services, and the systems that let you look at your account and get reports. There's a cost to the customer support folks you can talk to if you have issues. There's a cost to the technical support folks you can talk to. And the list goes on. You give me an analogy of charging a wax curing fee. If wax took 6 hours to cure in my shop, you bet I'd be charging more for it to compensate for that extra time inside. Like I said, it's called business, and some peope just don't understand it. They think that just because (for example), their car is sitting in your shop, it doesn't cost you money (and they're right, it doesn't "directly" cost you money, but there's other factors, everything from lost additional revenue because that bay is tied up to electricity to property taxes).



Where do new merchants learn ? Google ? There is such a vast resource pool available to research this topic, it's rediculous. I spent a few hours researching merchant providers when I wanted to get a POS machine, and I found everything I was looking for. I even still have my spreadsheet I made with all the different rates from all the providers I contacted and compared. Your info is great (that of which is correct and un-biased), but none the less, it has a tone to it that makes people sketchy about the whole idea of accepting plastic. You say you've been in the industry for 14 years, yet you sound bitter and angry. I assume there's a reason for that, and I have some ideas on what it is, but I'm not trying to sling mud here. What I am trying to do is shed some different light on the whole merchant account scenario, and that it's "not as bad" as you make it out to be.

 

[imported_never gone]

What I'm trying to tell you is that there IS a cost, even if it isn't a direct monetary one (ex: fee from Visa or Mastercard). There's a cost to the systems to provide those services, and the systems that let you look at your account and get reports. There's a cost to the customer support folks you can talk to if you have issues. There's a cost to the technical support folks you can talk to. And the list goes on. You give me an analogy of charging a wax curing fee. If wax took 6 hours to cure in my shop, you bet I'd be charging more for it to compensate for that extra time inside. Like I said, it's called business, and some peope just don't understand it. They think that just because (for example), their car is sitting in your shop, it doesn't cost you money (and they're right, it doesn't "directly" cost you money, but there's other factors, everything from lost additional revenue because that bay is tied up to electricity to property taxes).



Where do new merchants learn ? Google ? There is such a vast resource pool available to research this topic, it's rediculous. I spent a few hours researching merchant providers when I wanted to get a POS machine, and I found everything I was looking for. I even still have my spreadsheet I made with all the different rates from all the providers I contacted and compared. Your info is great (that of which is correct and un-biased), but none the less, it has a tone to it that makes people sketchy about the whole idea of accepting plastic. You say you've been in the industry for 14 years, yet you sound bitter and angry. I assume there's a reason for that, and I have some ideas on what it is, but I'm not trying to sling mud here. What I am trying to do is shed some different light on the whole merchant account scenario, and that it's "not as bad" as you make it out to be.

Seriously man just give it up already. THERE IS NO COST WITH BATCHING OUT! It takes a few seconds to batch out for which there is no cost, I'm sorry that's so hard for you to grasp. Technical folks, reporting and everything else you mentioned is what's covered in a monthly service fee and the rest of the profit is in the mark up. Batch header fees, PCI Compliance fee, yearly membership fees, club fees etc are all PURE PROFIT. So you would charge a wax curing fee if it took "6 hours" because that's seems justified which I wouldn't totally disagree with. What if your wax cured in 5-10 seconds? Would you still feel justified in charging a wax curing fee? You know the answer is no. When I detail a car, all my costs and profit are built into what I charge, same as processors, so I don't need to add fees and then lie about what they are. You apparently are ok with that and you're obviously not going to agree with me and that's fine.



I would love for you to add to the education of merchants on the subject and post up something on Google that honestly explains what merchants need to be aware of. As for me being "bitter and angry" I only feel that way towards the companies that purposely deceive merchants because they know there's really no way for merchants to know the whole truth about the industry(even if they look on google), so they take advantage of that. Then you come on here and actually justify some of those practices so yeah, it's annoying because you're coming from a place where you really know nothing about the subject, especially about the industry here in the US. You make statements based on assumptions, not actual knowledge so again, it's very annoying. It's like if I knew nothing about detailing besides from washing my car once in a while and then try to tell you about detailing.



So to everyone that's been following this, if your processor or future processor wants to charge you one of the fake fees I mentioned above, if you call them on it ironically enough they will usually drop the "fee" because again, they aren't really fees to them, they're just profit points. Accepting credit cards really isn't a scary thing as long as you know what to ask and I have talked about most of the things you need to look out for in my earlier posts. You should be caution because processors unfortunately know that the vast majority of merchants won't have a clue about this stuff and therefor they take advantage of that. With a little bit of knowledge you will for sure better equip yourselves to get the best deals possible.