Credit Card terminal

[Bea]

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]

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]

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]

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 £...

[nattynetty]

...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]

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......

hehehehe

[Bea]

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.

[Bea]

:-( (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]

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]

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]

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

[Bea]

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]

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]

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

[swirlyarts]

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