Credit Cards

[NobleCarpetCleaners]

Ok so here's my question on credit cards. You cleaners who are processing cards, has it resulted in increased upsales with your customers? and/or bigger invoices per job?

 

[Able 1]

No, just have it as a convenience to my custy..

 

[Billy]

Only a small percentage of our client base uses cards but it can be the difference between doing a smaller $500.00 job, a average job or even a large scale job.

We also decided to continue taking all 4 major cards due to it really not being that big of a difference on the discount fee for the possible return.

 

[Derek]

no.

 

[idreadnought]

Unfortanantly credit cards are part of modern payment transactions. If you research trends people do feel more disconected with the cost when using plastic.

Think about when you pay something:

You take out a bunch of cash and count it out for the person (no disconect here, you literely counted out how much money you spent)

You write a check. (More disconect here but you still write out twice the amount of money you spent)

Swipe a credit card. (here you simply sign the ticket, huge disconect mentaly for what you just spent)

I for one hate taking credit cards. I look at it as money that I lost. I take them because it ads convience to customers and it does get me jobs that I couldn't get without them. Several jobs a year I get from customers paying for a service for someone else. These are usually phone orders that reaquire us to call and get a card over the phone after the job is completed.

Recently moved processing over to square. Low cost, simple, and you can use your existing smart phone for mobile transactions.

 

[NobleCarpetCleaners]

Hell of an expense for a single operator. I researced Square because it was recommended by a friend who travels and ended up finding nightmare stories here in my own community. They will hold funds over $1000 for 30 days. Their system has been compromised and is still vunerable. A bus owner in Roseville paid 120k in fines for running numberous unathorized cards through their Square, 20k in fines for a business right here in Elk Grove. Their customer service number is buried in the fine print. I called about their vulnerablity and they declined to comment and someone would get back to me. I'm way to conservative for that.

Met with FirstData yesterday. $80/month do nothing. That's a 3 year commitment, $500 early termination(found out that's a standard) Included merchant acct+batching&misc+cellular swiper(48 month lease, pay off balance if early termination), 24 hour support, batch by 7pm and funds are in bussiness checking the next day. 1.75% card/present/swipe/signature, 2.25% keypad.

Looking back in my day planner for 2011 I clocked about $800 in potential gross revenue from price shoppers who didn't purchase from me because of not processing cards, and waited about 10 days for $2,000 in checks to hit my mail box as they were out of town managing their rentals. Maybe a couple move ins where nobody had a check book in the confusion. Of those, three were in my mail box is less then 5 days and one grandfather insisted on getting his checkbook out for his grandkids.

At $960/year before even processing a card, FirstData might be higher then some for the same package and the 3 year contract commitment. I'll shop around to see how much. For me, that's a spendy convienence to leave on the table unless it consistantly generated additional top line revenue. After 8 years not one profitable customer has ever hesitated to write me a check and only one has bounced in that time.

I need to hear some honest stories where home owners are throwing in a couch or more carpet or more t&g because they have their card. So far this thread is no, no and no.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

I have never had a customer say "yes I will spend more because you take CC".

I have been apart of major companies that took CC for 10 years and YES, IT DOES.... with my own business I have had plenty of add on's that was paid with the CC option.

I take all 4 CC through square and never had a problem with their service. With all these different CHEAP options to take CC I dont see why you wouldn't want too. I went about a year and half without taking CC and its embarrassing telling them... No sorry I still operate in the stone ages..

People are more likely to use your service and use you again if you make it easy for them to do so. You can without not taking CC, but just letting you know that people now expect to pay with CC or debit cards.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Brent nailed it.

Also no problem with Square here. We were with Best Payment Solutions for 15 years before with their large recurring fees and sloooow payments (sometimes 15 days). Square takes all cards and the money hits my account in two days.

 

[Billy]

Our Intuit GoPayment usually processes our transactions withing 2 days.

Now I have had a few different Merchant Processors over the years but Intuit has been the easiest & best to deal with so far.

I pay a 12.95 monthly fee & Discount fees associated with the type of card taken. You can also have a FREE account if you don't process more than $1,000.00 which we never qualify for this so we just pay the $12.95.

As I said & others have said cards are kind of an expected thing to many but not all clients. Now I can say for sure I have had people that start out with a smaller job of say $500.00 & when they find out we take cards they spend more. This isn't always the norm though & sometimes we will have someone spend just the minimum $225.00 which does hurt a little but it works out in the end.

IMO Credit Cards can help the Bottom Line in the long run.

 

[John Buxton]

I did just get a commercial job due to the fact that they had to pay by American Express. Most guys don't accept AE I guess.

 

[Charlie Lyman]

I only offer to take a credit card if I can tell that it is going to help them buy more. I had a customer only want to spend $200 but wanted her couches done too. After I offered her the card option, she was over $600. This has only happened a couple of times. I also get corporate offices that want to pay with a corporate card. I wouldn't have gotten them without taking cards.
I use square and I love it. Haven't had any problems.

 

[mirf]

I take cards for clients convenience. I have had clients refered to me by realtors from out of state and the cards work really well here.

 

[Royal Man]

Like said above.
Credit cards are great for out of town clients.

Some rental owners also, pay only by credit card.

 

[Brian R]

Necessary evil, convenience and inconvenience.

But that depends on your business structure.

You cannot be seen as a professional company without them.....Maybe just a professional Carpet Cleaner.

If you don't take CCs then you will be seen as small potatos....But maybe that's not a bad thing.


Credit Cards are just a marketing tool....When used correctly...They are a very good marketing tool and WILL get people to purchase more of your services.


The Credit Card Companies know this....and charge up the ying yang for it....Whattyagonna do.


How much was the Truck Mount Scott?

 

[idreadnought]

I use square and so far havnt had a problme with it. The 1,000 limit is only for non swiped cards (like over the phone) over a 7 day period. Then the first thoushand is deposited and the remainder could be held for up to 30 days.

Most of our transactions are swiped which is an unlimited dollar amount at this time so money gets deposited withing 2 days.

If you are nervous about square then get go payments. They are backed by intuit which is a very reliable company. you don't take cards now so signing up for a free account wouldn't cost you anything and a great way to try the service.

I would never get a terminal based service again. The monthly charges with the yearly verification charges plus the swiping charges come out to double the costs of the two mobile processing companies.

 

[Brian R]

Yeah, running cards on your smart phone is awesome. And for pennies per transaction it's worth it.

I have a virtual terminal I use for over the phone and internet based payments. But that costs some money per month.


If you don't take credit cards you are probably happy where you are at...and that's ok for what it is.

 

[Mikey P]

What Billy said.

 

[PCCN]

Never had a customer spend more just because they could charge/debit pay. But it does make a better impression for your customer if you accept cards. Yes, you do have to pay the fee but it makes even us smaller O/O look better. I accept all 4 major cards and don't pay a penny if I don't run a card all month. Plus, many customers are impressed by being able to sign on a phone, get an emailed/texted receipt, etc. you have to remember many customers use their cards to build up points on their business cards, so why not help them out and help them to remember your company.