View Full Version : Credit Card terminal
Hi
I am thinking of getting a ''mobile'' credit/debit card terminal through my bank, despite the layout, so I can offer this facility both on my website and at shows. However I'd appreciate any comments, good or bad, from people who are already set up to accept payments this way.
Thanks
Bea
Seahorse
03-04-2006, 03:07 PM
As in one of those hand held credit card swipey things were yuo push your 4 digit number in?
Try www.teneric.co.uk its a business forum, they may be able to help.
swirlyarts
03-04-2006, 03:16 PM
I think it's a great idea! Although I was brought up by my parents to avoid credit cards like the plague I love them and I think it would encourage more people to buy things at craft fairs etc. It's such a faff having to think about what cash you will need for the day etc and should be more secure for you than accepting cheques. I personally would be inclined to buy things from a seller who accepts credit cards and it would offer the option of spending more money!! Out of interest - how much do they cost to get and do you have to have a business account to get one?
Lynsey
0103media
03-04-2006, 03:25 PM
Hi
I am thinking of getting a ''mobile'' credit/debit card terminal through my bank, despite the layout, so I can offer this facility both on my website and at shows. However I'd appreciate any comments, good or bad, from people who are already set up to accept payments this way.
Thanks
Bea
I posted about this before but basically the market near my parents in Ludlow have a share scheme with one device that whom ever want's to use it can and pay a small fee its use.. This then shares the cost of buying/renting the card reader/sender..
Might be worth ask some of the guys that run the fairs to offer this. Would make them a little extra £...
:D
nattynetty
03-04-2006, 05:05 PM
...so I can offer this facility both on my website and at shows...
I'd be really interested in finding out more about this too as it seems to be really difficult to get any info on this.
However in my investigations i found that if you're going to use this to take payments on your website then you need to get your own SSL (gold padlock thingy) which will cost yet more money! I may be completely wrong on this so feel free to correct me anybody.
And still I can't figure out how to do smileys etc on this new forum......
0103media
03-04-2006, 05:22 PM
However in my investigations i found that if you're going to use this to take payments on your website then you need to get your own SSL (gold padlock thingy) which will cost yet more money! I may be completely wrong on this so feel free to correct me anybody.
SSL is very very important if you need to take credit card and not use a 3rd party..
The cost of ssl is dependant on your hosts was looking at my account and I have it as part of the price already..
And still I can't figure out how to do smileys etc on this new forum......
:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: hehehehe
thank you all!
I've heard about the share scheme but as I want to use it at different fairs and for my website, I ruled it out. I also want to be able to allow people to phone me to give me their number over the phone, hence avoiding people to input their cc details on the website. I do have the facility on my website to take cc details in a secure area, and I can retrieve the info once I am ready to take the payment on the procesing machine.
It seems there is an outlay for the machine of about £150 to £250 then it's
- either a monthly charge + %age per transaction
- or fee per transaction and usual %age card charge...
I am not 100% certain the above is correct but that's the idea.
I understand you don't need to have a business account to have a payment processing machine, it's like a separate bank account.
A few banks offer this system.
:-( (can't find these any more?)
HSBC says I still needs a business account with a bank (not necessarily them...) to get the credit card processing machine!
Onto Abbey now as I read they do free business banking!...
Bea
0103media
05-04-2006, 02:50 PM
Onto Abbey now as I read they do free business banking!...
Bea
FREE ??????
Really ?
My business account is with hsbc and omg is costs..
nattynetty
05-04-2006, 03:43 PM
Hi Bea
I think most banks do free business banking when you first open up a business account
Barclays usually do 12mths free but I've got 18mths as I'm an existing customer I'm guessing others will do something similar.
swirlyarts
05-04-2006, 04:06 PM
We've got a free business account with HSBC but I think it was because we are new customers and it was a new company that we've set up - I don't think they offer it to existing customers/businesses. It might be worthwhile being a bit stroppy with them though and say that you are taking your custom elsewhere - it's amazing what a bit of stropping can get you (Just ask my 2 year old!!)
Lynsey
FREE! YES!!
I looked at it this afternoon and Abbey is free ''forever'' up to a certain limit (£1,000 cash in, 100 cheques, etc, after you reach the limit, it costs), i.e. great for small businesses. So is Alliance & Leicester, but more so it seems (unlimited cheques, etc). Just visit their website for more info.
I told HSBC that I didn't open a business account with them because I can get free banking elsewhere. Well the guy wasn't fighting for my business !
Most banks do indeed offer 12 or 18 months free, but sorry guys, I think it's a con to attract customers, then the charges appear and, ouch! That's why I waited over 1 year before ''having to'' open a bank account.
However Abbey and A&L use different card payment provider:
- abbey = Streamline
- A&L = euroconex
I tried to find out their charges but they won't tell me until I have a business account! How stupid is that!
I think they might adapt the charges depending on the turnover of the business, number of transactions, etc...
liz15a
05-04-2006, 11:57 PM
I have a business account with A+L and it is free. You are supposed to be charged £5 a month if your transactions for that month are less than 1k - I was expecting to pay this as most of my earnings still go directly into my personal bank account, but I havent been charged anything yet, infact I've earned a few pennies in interest so far!!
I'd be very interested to know more about the hand held cc machine - I want one for the same reasons as Bea, especially as I have just booked a stand at the big Stitches show at the GMex in September! Need a till too!!
So anymore info on this issue greatly received
0103media
06-04-2006, 09:56 AM
I have a bussiness account with hsbc and have to save the service has been great for me with no problems.. I have a personal barclays account and had issues in the past with them but of late barclays have been great..
The other day barclays stopped some from robbing me of £3k when a resturant took me card away for about 30mins (sure it was them)
Anyway the other thing to remeber is that all your banking charge go against tax so i'm not moving as the amount of time it would take to sort all my stuff out omg..
Hope that helps :D
swirlyarts
06-04-2006, 10:02 AM
If you have a Makro card then they do quite cheap tills - not sure how they compare in price to other places as I've never had to look for them but the prices seemed reasonable. If you are a business then you can join Makro for free and claim the VAT back - as long as it's for your business - can't do it with the wine we bought the other day :-(
Hope this helps
Lynsey
Liz
I need a till too but I thought I would do with a small calculator that prints double (1 copy for the customer, 1 copy for me) and that can work on batteries - hope you know what I mean. And I would just use a money box, you know, the one that locks and has compartments, Stationery stores have them (I already have one from previous craft fairs)
I hadn't though of Makro. JTF is quite good too but their stationery supplies is very limited unfortunately, however the household stuff is a bargain and I only needed three wholesale invoices to open an account.
I am looking at stationery companies for the calculator that prints, I buy my Dymo labels from euroffice as they were the cheapest I could find and had the labels I needed, and they have these calculators from about £20. Cash register at euroffice start at about £115. NB euroffice prices are ex vat...
Coming back to Abbey and A&L, it's really much the same. I posted on a start up forum and opinions were really mixed.
My website already integrates SSL, so that's covered. I lost again at least two sales this weekend because of Paypal not working properly! Paypal is great for ebay but it seems the link doesn't always work for people wanting to pay this way on my site. I notified the website people a few times about this but they seem to think it's Paypal. Is anyone else having this kind of problem?
As for taking card payment using a terminal, I found this http://www.chipandpinsolutions.co.uk/ and thought it sounds great. Just need to find out what their fixed fee is now!!
Got this through the National Market Traders Association website.
:)
liz15a
10-04-2006, 11:52 AM
I get lots of uncompleted paypal sales which is why I also offer Nochex aswell. I dont know what goes wrong with Paypal, I've tried and tested it myself several times via my website and never had a problem. If you ever find out let me know too!
Just about to have a look at the link you sent. I also contacted A+L last week and they have passed my info on to Euroconex who Im waiting to hear from, so if I find out anything useful on this subject I will pass it on.
I get lots of uncompleted paypal sales which is why I also offer Nochex aswell. I dont know what goes wrong with Paypal, I've tried and tested it myself several times via my website and never had a problem. If you ever find out let me know too!
In a way, I am glad I am not the only one!;) I might just keep Paypal for ebay once I am fully set up as this is not good business.... The sales that went through Paypal this weekend were less than the sales that didn't go through! :mad:
I think I am going to sign up with Abbey. I already have a Cahoot account (part of the same goup).
It seems you don't have to sign up with the Payment processing people that your bank refers you to, from what I gather (which means you don't have to go with Euroconex if you don't want to).
You would still need a Merchant account to use the terminal from www.chipandpinsolutions.co.uk
Other thing to think about when using the terminal is when your attending events.....is the phone signal strong? if not then the terminal will not work.
My husband had a merchant account with RBS for both his website and for doing shows but over the 2 year period he had it he decided it wasn't paying for him. He contacted RBS to cancel the account and he was told that he'd have to pay £200 + any monthly charges due in order to cancel.
I mention this as food for thought only because he wasn't aware of it, it was in the contract is the smallest text ever.
Very interesting indeed! chipandpinsolutions have a 3 year minimum contract but the fee is the same every month, whether I use the terminal or not. However I am sure it will even itself out over slow and busy months. There might be some other hidden charges (I know of the £75 + vat set up fee), but I will certainly check everything before I sign, thanks to your advice!
As for the signal strength, again good point but they claim they have teamed up with 3 networks after researching which would be best for them with priority to Vodafone using GPRS technology (getting technical now! hehe).
I will get the Merchant Account when I open my business account.
This thread is getting more interesting by the day!! Thank you all for your input!
liz15a
10-04-2006, 09:00 PM
Yes good point there, I did read somewhere in all the info I trawled through today that a contract for a terminal would be for 3 years - I think this may have been the same site, so yes I can imagine there are hefty charges for breaking out of it early - I will have to find out more on this....
Sam@gorillacrafts
17-04-2006, 08:40 PM
Well I looked into it and the cost was a tad high
As the moment I use Paypal and Nochex both on my own site and via eBay and never had any problems
raspberrybloom
03-05-2006, 02:20 PM
Hi,
Has anyone sorted this out yet?
I am starting to look at it now. (I lost a sales today because I couldnt take cc details over the phone as Nochex wasn't working).
I need to get a merchant account first. Think I may look at Alliance and Leicester as their rates look cheaper.
As for the gateway there are loads of options. I think I may go with either Secpay or protx (cheaper fees than Worldpay) to process my online payments. They both give you a virtual terminal so you can right down credit card details at the show and process them when you get home. Don't forget to shred them!
It looks like its going to cost an arm and a leg whichever way - I hope I can justify it.
Lou
liz15a
03-05-2006, 03:02 PM
I'm just in the process of sorting this out still.....
I received an application from A+L which looking extremely complicated and didnt give me any info at all that I could see (not that I've really looked at it properly!) so I've not done anything with it - I didnt really want an application from them, just some info!!!
I've just spoken to Streamline today as they can offer a mobile terminal which is just the thing for doing craft fairs etc. You dont even need a phone point and it processes the transactions in real time so you know straight away whether the payment has been accepted or not - the idea of processing card details when you get home seems a bit risky to me - your goods have long gone by then......
They have a large one off set up fee and then charges per transaction which are different for both credit and debit cards. Then of course theres the mobile terminal cost - you can rent or buy these, so I need to find out more about the options available.
Hi Lou
BTW it's me on the other forum where you posted too today about this - hope to get some answers soon.
It seems you can't get a Merchant Account with anyone. Does A&L do Merchant Account? I'll have to check them now!!
I never thought of taking the details by hand and then input once you get home. However what if there is a problem with the card?... That's why I wanted the chipandpinsolutions terminal - to do it there and then.
I suppose you could set up a form for the customers to write down the details including address and phone number.
Bea
raspberrybloom
03-05-2006, 03:32 PM
just.b - of course!
I have a A+L form but haven't looked at it properly.
I hope you don't have to submit business plan and other supporting material.
It all seems so complicated!
just.b - of course!
I have a A+L form but haven't looked at it properly.
I hope you don't have to submit business plan and other supporting material.
It all seems so complicated!
Just checked A&L but they use euroconex so the merchant account wouldn't be with A&L but euroconex.
I have asked a quote from the Co-op as they seem to do a merchant account... They take 2 days to reply.
All you need is your business bank account and some business details (est turnover, card transactions, etc)
And, yes, it's blooming too complicated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :mad: Well it is if you want to find the best deal! Otherwise just knock on Barclays door!!:eek: :p
raspberrybloom
03-05-2006, 04:45 PM
I have just looked at this:
http://www.velocitymerchantservices.com/
not sure whether they do a mobile terminal though.
I've been talking to A&L today about setting up a merchant account.
Two types of account available
1/ £150 set up fee, £20 monthly rental for terminal, Visa/Mastercard etc are charged at 2.25%, Debit cards are charged at 28p per transaction. What you get is a terminal that you keep in one place (shop, home, office etc) you get a back up system that means the manual paper system that you can take to fairs/events and feed in the info when you get back to the main terminal. (mobile terminals are not available and they don't know if they ever will)
2/ Website based.
£150 set up fee, a monthly charge from a company that will give you the secure page that will take secure online payments for you. (I can't remember how much that was). Visa/Mastercard etc. are charged at 2.35% and Debit cards are charged at 36p per transaction.
I'm already with the A&L for my business account.
liz15a
04-05-2006, 08:51 AM
I spoke to Streamline yesterday and they were very helpful. Their costs seem to be dearer than A+L based on what Fran has quoted so I dont know what to do now..........ahhhhhhh (pulling my hair out)!
This is based on getting a merchant account and a mobile terminal.
£200 set up fee,
£34.50+VAT monthly rental for mobile terminal on 12 month contract, or £29.50+VAT for a 36 month contract (includes line rental charges), or
£550+VAt to purchase machine, then 9.95 per month for line rental.
Visa/Mastercard etc are charged at 2.65%, Debit cards are charged at 40p per transaction, business credit cards at 3.55%.
I'm also already with the A&L for my business account but I really want the mobile terminal as this is the only one that doesnt need a phone point I believe, all others seem to need a phone point on the vicinity which is useless if your fair is in a field!!!! Please feel free to correct me on this point if I am wrong, but I've read about many terminals and they all need a base unit or the actual machine to be plugged in somewhere.
liz15a
04-05-2006, 08:56 AM
Bea, what was the monthly fee for one of the chipandpinsolutions terminals, did you find out?
Yes, it's £35.99 / month + set up fee of £75+vat. Includes 500 transactions per month and airtime and is totally mobile (CP or CNP = customer present or customer not present).
However you still need a Merchant Account to use their services which means you will have another account for instance with Streamline or Barclays, etc... where the money will be transferred...
I know, they couldn't make it more complicated if they'd tried!!!
You can also hire terminal form 123send for shows if you have a Merchant account set up.
I am trying to get info from the Coop Bank as they seem to have a cheaper merchant account and further discount if you are an NTMF member....
I got cheaper rates than yours from Streamline but my account is with Abbey and they have special rates. A&L is teamed up with Euroconex for their Merchant Account. You may want to try euroconex direct (should be in your paperwork).
Right, here is my update! :D
I've gone with Streamline and 123send for the mobile terminal. In the end there wasn't much choice of Merchant Accounts. Streamline have teamed up with Abbey so I get special rates. and I found out through Streamline that 123send is cheaper (only slightly) than chipandpinsolutions!
I read that the Co-op bank had a merchant account facility but when I talked to them, not only did they want 5 years trading but they have their merchant account with HSBC :confused: , hence it would go through HSBC.
I would advise anyone to just go with the merchant account provider the bank (where your business account is) suggests. Quite simple in the end - not! :rolleyes: :p
raspberrybloom
21-06-2006, 02:47 PM
We have finally got our Merchant account with Fashosts.
It's all set up though we haven't put it live on the website.
I am supposed to do this that and the other when a transaction comes through and it really confusing me.
The customer service dept will soon hate me!
It's sooo complicated, it's unbelievable, isn't it!
Can't believe my last post about this was beg' of May!!! :eek: I am still not set up with my machine... 123send sat on my application for over a week because it wasn't all filled in properly, and the guy actually said it happens a lot as their instructions are not clear! Anyway I got some cheaper rates with 123send as I joined the FSB just before signing.:) Maybe I'll be set up by July.:mad: I rang them today to make sure things were going smoothly as they took the money for the set up fee. I think chinandpinsolutions may have been quicker, but now I have better rates with 123send, I'll stick with that.
I also upgraded my Nochex account to a Merchant account so I can take international payment.
raspberrybloom
21-06-2006, 05:02 PM
Spoken to customer service and I think I am sorted now.
I can only take payment in GBP but I think they can still use their card. Maybe I will just check!
Now we just need to ensure that the sales keep coming to payment the monthly fees!
I can now take payments over the phone, but as I am just using a mobile (expensive for people to call me) I am thinking I should get a second landline installed (I live with mum and dad and they won't appreciate RB calls on their phone) but it costs £124 (excl VAT) to get one installed. Best check with my sister, before I go ahead with anything.
Who thought it would all be so complicated!
GOT MY PAYMENT TERMINAL TODAY AT LAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Only been waiting 2 months for it!
Bea :D
liz15a
27-06-2006, 09:50 PM
well done you!! Hope mine arrives soon too.......
Let me know how you get on with it!! I hope you find it easy to use and it increases sales for you :-)
Glad to hear you got going in the end.................I'm still trying to sort things out.
If you can remember I went with the A&L route which sounded good for me but! I've just been turned down for my merchant account and the reason for this was that they don't support any mobile terminals and as a result I'd be using the old paper swipe machine (which I was told would be fine) and this means that technically it's a mail order transaction and therefor when I get home and put through the slips at the main terminal at home, the customer is not present and in their eyes it's too risky.
NOW! I've just joined the National Market Traders Federation and going down the route with Chip & Pin Solutions where they offer a great deal in connection with the NMTF on the Merchant account set up with the mobile terminal. I've decided to purchase my terminal too.
Fingers crossed this time, 10 - 14 days after they get application in.
Fran
I put on the website last night that I now accept manual processing for card payments, and I had one telephone order and 2 website orders choosing manual processing so far! That's a good start.
Every week I had people asking me if I took card payment over the phone. Some people don't like Paypal, others don't want to use Nochex because they've no idea what it is, so leaving their card details for me to process seems the best option.
I need to put it on my ebay listings now as well, although I get around 90% of transactions paid through Paypal on ebay.
The terminal is very easy to use and comes all set up, even with correct time and date! The instructions are clear and easy to follow - I'll try for real tonight.
Fran, good luck! The chinandpinsolutions was my second choice, had I not joined the FSB. I am also a member of the NMTF.
I've got CP and CNP (customer present and customer not present options, so, as well as mail order, I can also use the terminal at fairs and people put in their PIN code.)
In order to get the deal with C&P I had to join the NMTF, which was fine except now I have 2 lots of insurances LOL but your right I've had a few sales through the website where the customer has emailed to say "could I take the payment over the phone etc" Well! hopefully soon I will be and will be able to.
The 29p per debit /switch card transaction and the 1.95% on visa/mastercard had no competition that I could see. Having said that they will charge a min of £20 per month. So for me during the winter months when I'm not doing events, then it will feel costly. I'll be paying £11 + VAT per month to C&P in addition to that. I'll have the mobile unit for events and also the CP and CNP options at home too. I've also went for Vodaphone because some parts of Dumfries and Galloway are terrible for reception with o2 etc.
I think Paypal and Ebay go so much Hand-in-Hand and no-one thinks twice about it..............funny old world we live in!
Well I've put my first three transactions through tonight, and it was a dream, so easy... very pleased!
Yeah!!!! at last I've got my merchant account, I'll be up and running before the end of next week with my mobile unit.
Fran
borsabella
18-04-2007, 10:51 AM
Could I just ask how many people use the chip and pin machines at craft and gift fairs? Are they the norm or do most people just take cash and cheques?
From reading this post I dont think that I could afford to have one when just starting out. I had enquired about doing a three day event in December but would I be ok just accepting cash and cheques or for larger events do most people expect to be able to use chip and pin machines?
Sorry for the garbled message, I hadnt realised that the charges were what they were (if thaht makes sense!!!)
Could I just ask how many people use the chip and pin machines at craft and gift fairs? Are they the norm or do most people just take cash and cheques?
From reading this post I dont think that I could afford to have one when just starting out. I had enquired about doing a three day event in December but would I be ok just accepting cash and cheques or for larger events do most people expect to be able to use chip and pin machines?
Sorry for the garbled message, I hadnt realised that the charges were what they were (if thaht makes sense!!!)
I take my card machine to the bead fairs but Cash is still King!! I get very few transactions on the machine during the fairs, and also hardly any cheques.
HTH
Bea
borsabella
20-04-2007, 11:05 AM
I take my card machine to the bead fairs but Cash is still King!! I get very few transactions on the machine during the fairs, and also hardly any cheques.
HTH
Bea
well that is good to know; i didnt realise that they would cost so much and I dont have a business bank account either. Thanks for your reply
C x
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