How do you accept credit cards for shows?

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angboy

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Joined
Jul 29, 2005
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North Las Vegas, NV
I haven't really sold my stuff but have signed up for a craft show on Dec 7th. I figure that I need to have a way to accept credit cards as payment. What do people use? I see that paypal has an option- do people like that?

Also, do you usually accept personal checks at shows? I'm kind of leery of doing that...
 
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If you do less than $5,000 per month in credit card business, you may want to look at Intuit GoPayment. It will work with smartphones, a computer or you can even authorize the charges via telephone (expensive, but requires nothing special).

GoPayment takes a smaller fee than Square, pays the ENTIRE card balance then backs out their discount (makes bookkeeping MUCH easier) and finally, the card reader for GoPayment is substantially more reliable that the square device.

Intuit DOES require a credit check (free) before issuing an account. This took about one minute over the internet and my card reader arrived 3 days later.

If you plan to do more than $5K per month in credit cards, a merchant account will save CONSIBERABLE MONEY. Our discount on the merchant account is about 1 percent on charge cards and a minimal debit card fee.

On GoPayment the swiped rate is 2.7 percent for all swiped transactions and 3.7 percent for scanned or keyed transactions. With this rate there are no monthly fees or minimums. If you reach centain thresholds, the discount rate reduces significantly with increase volume.

I hope this helps.
 
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I do have a smartphone, and so I'd love to get one of those swipe things that I've seen people use various places.

Thanks for the info on gopayment Andy, I'll looks into it.
 
I do take personal checks at shows but if I lived in the LV area I wouldn't.

BTW, I'm not saying I'm smart for taking checks - I just do. I haven't been burned yet, but I'm sure my day is coming. You kind of get a feel for how serious the folks are when they are talking to you about the merchandise (for me it's mostly bowls). If they are really interested in a $75 bowl (or pen), it's not like they can turn around and sell it onn the street corner or in a pawnshop for anywhere close to that amount.

I also use Square ready to take CCs, but some people don't have a CC, even in this day and age.
 
Angela,

I do a few shows a year. I was looking for ease and not some sort of merchant account. As far as I can say, Square is a great way to accept credit cards for someone that is an occasional user.

Matthew
 
I need to get something eventually as well.

I'm wondering what's wrong with the paypal that nobody seems to use it. I have paypal activity anyway and have a paypal debit card I can use or draw the cash quickly.
 
I do over 25 shows a year. I use the square. It takes everything. The $$ are in my account next business day, no monthly fee. Frankly, I do not look at the rate, whatever it is I build into my prices. Not my problem.

My order of preference is cash, personal check then credit card. Why, a check has the persons address on it and no processing fee.

I have been self employed for over 27 years (another field). Making things of wood is one of the most exciting things I have done. I love doing shows. Getting paid is serious businesses. When you take a cc you are taking a risk, in the event of a chargeback, it's on you. The cc company protects their cardholder, the customer has your goods, you are all alone. It's cold out there and fighting a customer and a cc company, for your $$ is not easy.
 
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Dan Masshardt said:
I need to get something eventually as well.

I'm wondering what's wrong with the paypal that nobody seems to use it. I have paypal activity anyway and have a paypal debit card I can use or draw the cash quickly.
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Pay Pal puts the money in your PP account and you have to transfer money to you bank account which can take 3-4 days. Both Square and Go Payment put the money directly in your bank account in 1-2 days.
 
I use the square reader with my smartphone. It is so easy to use and it is in your bank account within a few days. They obviously take a cut (like 3% I think) but way better than having a check bounce on you. Square also runs a marketplace like etsy and then the customers pay you through square. The listing is free but then they still take their cut. The only problem is that you need good phone service in your craft show area which in some cases is an issue. Other than that, I am very satisfied with square.
 
I use PayPal myself but I'm only selling through my website. I'm not sure how PayPal fees compare to others. I just use my PayPal debit card to get my money when needed. Easy to use, or at least for my setup it works out fine.
 
angboy said:
Well, OK, I didn't click through to this second page of comments, so good to see what some people like Monty think! Thanks so much!
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I have all three just in case I have problems with one.
I've been using Square for 3 years now. The first year it seemed to be hit or miss if it would work. So I got Go Payment for last year. I also changed service providers from Boost Mobile to Verizon and got a new Samsung Stratosphere phone. Both Square and Go Payment worked well at all venues except for one which was in an area in Uptown Houston where I could only get a 3G connection (at the same venue this year, I was able to access WiFi with no problems connecting). So far I have not had a chance to try the PP reader, although I do have one.
 
We do a LOT of credit card business. Over 90 percent of our payments come by way of charge or debit card. Since we can NOT afford to be unable to accept credit cards, like Monty, we have both GoPayment and Square. Both of these services are free and require no sign up or monthly fees or maintenance fees.

We have ATT cellphone service. Additionally we have a Verizon mobile hot spot. We did this because in some places one carrier's cell service was not good enough, but the other service would work. Again, like Monty, whenever possible (today, almost everywhere) we have found that using wifi eliminates the cellphone issues.

Today, we have a Verifone Vx 670 wireless credit card terminal, a Square Reader, a GoPayment reader, AND a Paypal reader. We simply can't afford NOT to be able to accept cards anymore than we can afford declined cards.

We do a LOT of shows, as pen sales is my primary occupation. We do enough volume that being able to accept debit cards at the discounted debit card rate justifies having the Verifone terminal. IF we were part timers, we would still have both GoPayment AND Square, simply because there is no additional charges to have both and in some places, one reader will work while the other will not.
 
Monty said:
Pay Pal puts the money in your PP account and you have to transfer money to you bank account which can take 3-4 days. Both Square and Go Payment put the money directly in your bank account in 1-2 days.
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That makes sense and is certainly a factor for most people.

For me, I don't want pen money in my checking account. I want it in my PayPal account that I use to purchase more supplies etc.

And I can get cash or charge anything anywhere MasterCard from the PayPal as soon as the money is there - faster than a square transfer I reckon.

I suppose it's good that there are a few different options available to us!
 
The one other option that no one has mentioned yet is PayAnywhere... I won't go into too long of a description but it is different than the other 3 (Intuit's GoPayment, Square, & Paypal Here) in that it is a real merchant account. The process to get approved is longer than the others - 1 to 2 days usually instead of minutes. But you can participate in things like AmEx's Shop Small Days and the CC's will give you nicer point of purchase signage.
 
One other word of advice - check which systems work with your phone. Really most do for non-cutting-edge phones. For example, when I upgraded to my Samsung Note2 - 2 of the options wouldn't work for a while until they updated their software.
 
Iam like Dan I don't want (MY) money going into (OUR) account. You know the story what's mine is ours and whats her's is her's. She does not have access to my Paypal account. hehe
 
Dan Masshardt said:
Monty said:
...For me, I don't want pen money in my checking account. I want it in my PayPal account that I use to purchase more supplies etc.

And I can get cash or charge anything anywhere MasterCard from the PayPal as soon as the money is there - faster than a square transfer I reckon.

I suppose it's good that there are a few different options available to us!
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I have two separate checking accounts, one personal and one for business. I have Square, etc, linked to my business account. In you case, if all your pen business goes through your PP account, that that works for you.
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angboy said:
Like Dan, I am curious if anyone has used the paypal option? Like him, I have a paypal debit card so wonder if that would make it easily accessible to access the money?[/quote

I use Square and Paypal and also have a merchant account with a wireless terminal . PaypPal is my first choice when running a customers card.I also have a PayPal debit card. When I run a persons card through PayPal the money is immediately available and deposited in my PayPal account. I can go out five minutes later and spend the money I just made by using my debit card.
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We have used a few methods over the years, but currently use the Square. Rate is 2.75% even on Amex (no membership fee for them either). Never had issues and my money is I the bank the next business day with no batching. I also have a free shopping cart of the square marketplace where I can post items for sale. The reader is free and no contract or fees other than the 2.75%. Check out Square.com.
 
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