credit card machine

[Selina]

Have searched for info about a card machine but the thread I found is 4 yrs old. does anyone have any more up to date info about having one please. I nearly lost 2 sales on Sunday because I didn't have one but luckily the guy went to the cash machine and someone lent the other lady the money!! The enquiry I have made so far gave a price of £545 plus vat to buy the machine plus £130 set up fees and then £12.50 per month on a 12 month contract. The only thing that is good about that is the £12.50 a month there is no way I can afford over £700 just to get started!! Any info appreciated, Selina

[greannancrafts]

I am afraid that is about right.

We did negotiate the price of our machine, so got it a little cheaper,there is also airtime at £8 per month, and service charges each month.

Then there is the fee paid for credit cards and debit cards.

There are places you can hire them from for big events, though that does work out expensive.

You will also need a merchant bank.

Jane

[Fiona_JMD]

Snap! LOL

I too have been looking nto the feasibility of this. I get different answers from different people about the effectiveness of them - some people say that most people will expect to pay cash at a fair and then others say, oh people now adays expect you to take cards.

I can say hand on heart that I have never lost a sale because I didnt have a machine, however I may have got the oh you take cards, well I will have that as well - I just never know but I cannot afford to try it and see what if.

I checked with 123send today and they have a £50 start up fee (this is based on a long term machine hire - 3 year contract) and they insist on a business bank account - more money. They expect a minimum of £20 in fees - so if you dont take in enough sales to generate the £20 then you pay it anyway.

[Selina]

I've been doing some more searching around on the internet and wondered has anyone used Paypals Virtual Terminal? (I have a verified business account with Paypal)You need a computer, hooked up to the internet, not a problem as we have mobile broadband, costs £10 per month top up but you don't have to top up if you have no fairs in a particular month! It appears to be a case of filling in an online credit card form with the card details and amount, transaction is cleared or declined immediately and we can print a receipt straight off (they also get one sent to their e-mail address if they have one) with our portable printer (which we already have). Costs £20 per month and a percentage of each transaction - now that I CAN afford!! Sounds almost too good to be true so I've tried to call them but the merchant office is now closed. Just wondered if anyone has used this method, Selina xx

[AliCat]

I have said this before on a previous thread but I joined the Federation of Small Businesses, which costs around £100 per year. There are lots of services for members including free legal advice and help if you get a call from the taxman wanting to do an audit but the main reasons I joined were these:

1. Free business banking for life (with co-operative bank)
2. Free Merchant Account with Streamline for credit card payments
3. Credit card machine rental from 123 send with minimal set up fee (around £30), low monthly rental and no minimum sale/fees - if you don't use your machine at all, you just pay for the rental.
4. Reduced credit card commission charges per transaction

You do need a business account and merchant account to be able to accept credit cards but mine had more than paid for itself (and the FSB membership) within six months.

I know I have had a number of sales which would have been lost had I not been able to take payment this way and on a number of occasions customers have spent at least double as they were paying by card.

I hope this helps.

[Bumble Bee]

I toatlly understand what your saying....... Im not selling my larger items as I got these services. Im just setting up the paypal virtual terminal, just need to get it connected / verified again for this service. Im the same as you, cant afford the payout and i dont really want to pay out the fees for a business account. For what I can see this will be the better option for now and see how things go.

[Fiona_JMD]

I also checked FSB membership and it appeared to be £200 per year - maybe I was looking in the wrong place.

Only downside with the Paypal thing is I dont have a laptop or mobile printer.

I will need to give it much more thought I think.

[Bea]

I'm setting up another mobile terminal for a second business I'm launching this month.

I've applied again with Streamline for the merchant account, purely because I have excellent experience from them for my Just Beads business. You can get a merchant account only from a handful of banks (Streamline aka RBS, HSBC, Barclays,...).

For a mobile terminal with 123send, the long term 36-month rental fees are: £50 set up fee and £24.99/month payable quaterly.
There are also the rolls to buy which I'd recommend to source elsewhere. These machines can eat paper quite fast, because the rolls are not that thick and the daily report that is advised to print at the of the day can be rather long if you process a lot of card transactions.

I had considered buying one but then the difference in cost is not worth it. May as well rent and they replace it if it breaks down.

They also do a rolling 1-year contract for £40 a month. You can cancel after 1 year, you're not tied in a 3-year deal.

The catch with the short term hire (3 days to 6 months) is the £250 deposit. Then, it's £24 a day or £120 a week.

If you have a good signal (the terminal works with a sim card - Vodafone in my case), the transaction takes seconds to process.

Other options include chipandpinsolutions.com. They process your application for the merchant account.

[greannancrafts]

I'm setting up another mobile terminal for a second business I'm launching this month.

I've applied again with Streamline for the merchant account, purely because I have excellent experience from them for my Just Beads business. You can get a merchant account only from a handful of banks (Streamline aka RBS, HSBC, Barclays,...).

For a mobile terminal with 123send, the long term 36-month rental fees are: £50 set up fee and £24.99/month payable quaterly.
There are also the rolls to buy which I'd recommend to source elsewhere. These machines can eat paper quite fast, because the rolls are not that thick and the daily report that is advised to print at the of the day can be rather long if you process a lot of card transactions.

I had considered buying one but then the difference in cost is not worth it. May as well rent and they replace it if it breaks down.

They also do a rolling 1-year contract for £40 a month. You can cancel after 1 year, you're not tied in a 3-year deal.

The catch with the short term hire (3 days to 6 months) is the £250 deposit. Then, it's £24 a day or £120 a week.

If you have a good signal (the terminal works with a sim card - Vodafone in my case), the transaction takes seconds to process.

Other options include chipandpinsolutions.com. They process your application for the merchant account.

Ah yes, the dreaded lack of signal when you are an event in the sticks!

A booster signal does help -----a little

Jane

[Bea]

Oh and there is still free business banking with Abbey and A&L, although I think with A&L for instance you have to pay in so much money or they charge you £5 - not entirely sure, it's been a while since I looked at it.

[mizgeorge]

There are also a couple of very good mobile phone apps now - you can use the paypal app on an iphone (you need a paypal merchant account) or the adelante mobile pos system on most phones. Both are cheaper than a dedicated terminal.

Some craft guilds also have a hire scheme for members, which might be worth looking into if you're not doing enough events to justify having your own system.

[gbell]

I just got my terminal last month and already it is paying for itself, hardly anyone seems to carry cash anymore

I used cardsave

http://www.cardsave.net/?gclid=CImizuni958CFdkB4wodW27SYg

I have a streamline GPS thingy, so I dont need a phone line, the rental is £27 a month, set up fee £50 and the contract is for 12 months. I was using paypal, but their fees are expensive in comparison and this is so much easier

[poshpongs]

We got ours just before Christmas, and like you could not afford such an initial outlay.

We joined the NMTF to get cheap liability insurance, and got a preferential rate through "Chip and Pin Solutions" for our terminal. Our terminal is rented, and we are tied into a 3 year contract. It works out a lot more over the 3 years than if we had bought the machine, but it was our only option.

It may be worth considering.

[mymiyel]

I got mine through HSBC, even though I don't bank with them.

They have a special offer at the moment where the rental is free for 12 months, with a £150 one off set up fee. Then there are the fees associated with each transaction.

If you have a look at their website, the business bit, you should be able to find more info.

Hope this helps.

[abbybeads]

Regarding Paypal virtual terminal although it will work exactly as you describe if Paypal find out you are doing it they will suspend your account. As far as they are concerened it should only be used in conjunction with web based sales and they may ask you to write and confirm this to be the fact. How they could prove other wise I dont know but I have one and that is what they wanted from me.

Ron