Creidt card-invalid or declined...

[Mikey P]

I don't know about you chaps but were getting a couple a week now that fail for either reason. I keep hearing, oh sorry, my wife's or husband's wallet or purse was stolen and we had to cancel that card, let me give you another..


and most of the time that one fails too...


Time to get a in home doohicky that can run the card right then and there.

 

[Amazing]

I get a few per year.

Got my 1st bounced check in like 2 years last week. The guy called and alerted me to it ahead of time.
Said his wallet was lost at a wedding.
Check came back marked "refer to maker"
Called him the day I got the check back, and he paid with visa, only charged him the bank fee extra.

 

[Bob Foster]

http://www.merchantswipe.com/

http://www.mobilemerchantpro.com/google/

0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mde8T3SE-s0]

0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cuilj8QuveY0]

 

[John Watson]

Helen and I quit taking CC's when my bank(at the time) told me that we needed to by an electronic device in each truck, the office, including the estamation van. No Problem at $2200. ea or thee bank would charge me 10-15% for their employees to process our type of tickets by hand. If we did comply we would still be charged 2-4%.

Yes we have been asked if we take CC's, but as far as we know we have lost maybe 5-6 jobs in the past 7-8 years. These prospected clients didn't have the money to do the jobs and wanted to put it on credit. Somehow or whatever we recieved notice from 2 of their Laywers that they were filing bankrupcy and we were included on their list that they owed.

We have asked our Clients if it was that much of an inconvienence for them to write us a check compared to a CC and the only negative thing we heard was that they wished they got their airmiles..

 

[carpetcleaner]

I just saw a something on my paypal acct about using my phone to take CC. $4.99/month with my iphone + paypal's cut and it is done right there. I have been waiting for the isquare for my iphone, but I don't think it is ever going to show up.

 

[Bob Savage]

We phone it in at the house without any kind of doohicky.

 

[Chris A]

I've noticed a few more than the norm, but we've picked up a lot of new clients this year too, so eh, we've gotten paid on all eventually (within a week or so)

 

[Ron Lippold]

no problems here. I use my machine everyday 1.59% 30 a month

 

[Chris A]

no problems here. I use my machine everyday 1.59% 30 a month

yeah? Sounds enticing... who's it through?

 

[Ron Lippold]

I think the link is www.freecreditcardequipment.com

 

[Ron Lippold]

i just checked thats not the link i will get a number for you.

 

[Brian R]

Full Circle takes the credit card over the phone if I can't do it.
My Techs will call or the home owner will call.

With that said.
Propay.com is only $54.00 a year...plus %'s of course.

You can call the card in with the 800 number.....used it for years.

I use Authorize.net now....it's a gateway.
I can run it with my BlackBerry....but I never do.


If you get a shady type customer or they have moved out etc. It's good to have a quick way to run cards.
I just wouldn't spend the money on the extra equipment or service.


My Techs will call and either say "I've got a credit card" or "I need you to run this credit card"

It's code for ..."this ones ok" or "Holy crap, you better run this now before the guy skips town"

 

[daniel@procarpet]

I'm so clueless on this topic.

The machine I had five years ago sucked. I had to take it in the customers house and connect to a phone line. Well most people didn't even have phone lines and niether did I. I was never a fan of leasing equipment. I almost bought a used terminal that connected to the ac adapter. I have been cash or check for the last five years. I really need to at least start taking debit cards. Ok credit cards as well.

So I guess I will have to research this topic. With that said the question still becomes why should I accept cc and pay the fees if the customer can pay cash or write a check (which I can verify funds before leaving the property)?

 

[Danny Strickland]

doesn't propay have a monthly max???

it was below 3k when i checked them out!

i do mine through quickbooks, 12.95mo + %

 

[Brian R]

I'm so clueless on this topic.

The machine I had five years ago sucked. I had to take it in the customers house and connect to a phone line. Well most people didn't even have phone lines and niether did I. I was never a fan of leasing equipment. I almost bought a used terminal that connected to the ac adapter. I have been cash or check for the last five years. I really need to at least start taking debit cards. Ok credit cards as well.

So I guess I will have to research this topic. With that said the question still becomes why should I accept cc and pay the fees if the customer can pay cash or write a check (which I can verify funds before leaving the property)?

With Authorize.net I can use a virtual terminal (website...no cc equipment) I can take credit cards of all types, echecks (no need to make deposits) recurring payment on credit cards and checks, check out carts and payment buttons on websites, email bills, email cc charges and bunch of other crap I haven't figured out.
It's about 30 bucks a month (yes I know..too much) plus % of cards. Charge enough to cover it.



Daniel, do the Propay.com at least. No credit check (but amounts will be limited), run cards over your phone (800 number or web) or on your computer...or on your customer's computer etc. really simple and good for a back up or starter service.

 

[Doug Cox]

So, what do you do after the work is completed and they have no valid card.

 

[Brian R]

Start moving out furniture and TV's !gotcha!

 

[Ron Werner]

I might get one bad payment a year.
I used to have the mobile cellular card machine but the battery would keep dying or no signal
I got a plugin type and started taking it to the house, plugging into house power and landline.
Now I just copy the number and process it at home. If I ever get a declined I just phone them.

I saw an ad on TV from CHASE where you can take a picture with your phone of both sides of a cheque and upload it, it will automatically deposit it in your account. Welcome to the 21st century.

 

[tmdry]

Also use propay and it does have a 3k per month/limit. I only use it if client cannot do check/cash. We call it in from their home.

Brian,

What's the difference between Propay and Authorize?

 

[Brian R]

Authorize.net is a gateway that works with my bank...or any bank.

Supposed to get the funds sooner but not happening yet. Had to jump through hoops and they put holds and crap.
It's a real PITA to get the flexibility and extra services. lol

There is a difference in price as well. About the same per transaction but the there is a monthly for Authorize and only a yearly with propay...propay yearly depends on what level you want. lowest is about $54.00 I think.

Authorize is about $30.00 a month because I have the extra services, but no yearly.

Propay has a higher limit if you let them run your credit like a regular cc processor...but if you want in with no credit check it's about $3000 per month and $500 per transaction limit.

Authorize, as soon as I start doing a million a month...they can handle that.


Don't pray for rain and leave your umbrella at the house. shiteatinggrin

 

[joeynbgky]

I use quickbooks processing my mobile phone.. The droid phones have an app for it.. and you can also get a bluetooth swiper for your phone. which is a smaller percent cause of the swiper

 

[Brian R]

I'm getting ready to cancel my Intuit QB processing. Too limited but it was a really good service for what they did offer.

 

[davegillfishing]

i use my iphone..it is a one time 49.00 app and it is a min 15.00 monthly charge..i get charged like
1.9% or something on cards and get my money in 1 day..it auto batches so i dont have to remember to
do that also..and running it on my iphone in front of the customer is cool..customers love the ease
of it all..
i used to use a terminal and get killed with fees and bullshit but i have no hidden fees or problems at all.

 

[Brian R]

Dave, does it offer echeck processing or recurring payments?

 

[Billy]

We have used a few Merchant Processors over the yrs & the prob;ems have always bee related to their equipment we purchased since we never leased. For a few yrs now we have used Intuit with LapTop & USB Slider with no real negatives.

We actually don't get that many Credit Cards but when we do they are usually larger than they would have been with a check. Also Intuit does a good job with keeping us updated on new credit processing changes. We still take Visa, MasterCard, Discover & AMex. If we don't know the client or just have a feeling we need to we can run the card authorization before starting the job to protect us against Denied transactions.

We have seen more credit transactions over the last two years though.

 

[davegillfishing]

i am not sure brian..i dont have a need for the echeck as of now and i when i need to charge
a customer again i go into the log and grab their info if needed..

 

[Brian R]

I'm using the echeck thing everyday now.
My bank in the area of me main Techs is out of the way so this works out great.