accepting credit cards

[maballer1]

I am new to this message board and have a question about accepting credit cards.  I have been in private practice for almost 2 years now working out of an office and currently only accepting cash or check.  For the convenience for my clients, I have been considering the option of accepting credit cards.  I have been doing everything possible to keep costs down.  I use only a cell phone to book appointments, which means I would need to get a landline for my office plus the cost of the terminal and monthly charges.  I've read about Cell Charge and that you can use your cell phone to verify the credit card.  I was wondering if anyone is currently using this system  and if so,  how do you rate them?  I also found that merchant warehouse does not charge monthly minimums and their rates relatively reasonable.  I don't know which system would be better for me at this point.  I don't know how people would react if I had to call in with their credit card info. especially new clients.  I would appreciate any feedback.  Thanks

 

[Dogbreath]

I had to make this decision myself recently.  I talked to a rep who was really, really wonderful.  He came to my office and we chatted about what it was that I was looking for and that kind of stuff.  I decided that the best thing for me was to have a terminal.  I think the deciding factor was that it only takes seconds for the transaction to go through.  No waiting or busy lines...with the cell phone thing, it takes longer.  I'm not sure how long but it isn't as quick as a couple of seconds.  That did it for me.  I just pictured a client handing me their credit card and me picking up my cell phone to make a call.  I just wasn't comfortable doing that.  Check around.  The guy that worked with me told me about a cheap terminal that I could get.  All in all it cost me $66 for the terminal, $20 for a manual swiper, $.20 per transaction and I think I pay something like 1.69%.  Don't get too caught up in the perceneforum.xxxes.  All of them are pretty low.  The only other charge I have is the monthly statement fee.  I do not have a minimum (something else to watch for).  I am very glad that I did this.  My poor rep didn't make any money from my deal but he was super wonderful!  I sure appreciated all of his help.  

 

[Keira]

accepting credit cards

Check out http://www.propay.com

I use them and process my charges online.  You pay a yearly fee and then a perceneforum.xxxe of your charges.  I've used them for a year and it's always worked perfectly.

No terminal needed.

 

[Marcia D]

accepting credit cards

I have not heard of propay, but now I am curious. I have a PayPal account already, could payments be made through them?

 

[bluemoonmemory]

accepting credit cards

I looked into propay a couple of months ago. Seemed reasonable until I walked into a Wells Fargo today & asked if I opened a biz account with them, what sort of merchant services (and at what cost) would they charge me, etc. They have a small biz solutions package that lets me do my credit card charges online (I take an imprint & signature & run the daily info thru my computer). No terminal. No fees for my account set-up, except to buy my biz checks, and very competitive merchant (charge ) rates.I like it!.... until the merchant services person faxed over the contractual details. Yikes! I feel like I'm buying a car all over again.I am definitely rethinking ProPay.Jill/sagetherapist

 

[liya79]

accepting credit cards

Does anybody use a wireless terminal?

 

[Lorraine]

accepting credit cards

Does Costco require a monthly minimum?

 

[Turtle]

yes, costco does require a minimum.  at this exact moment i can't recall what it was but that is the reason i decided not to go with them.  

 

[Beefy Cheeks]

coco71I use CellCharge - have for the past year and it works just fine. They don't have any minimums, reasonable rates and I have always gotten through to their automated system on the first try, never a busy signal or a wait. The great thing about it is you don't have the extra expense of a land line or having to have internet access, you also don't have the expense of the machines and such, and you also don't have to worry about batching your tickets at the end of the day and processing them - they do it for you. So you call, punch the numbers of their card and such (takes about a minute or so) and give your client a receipt and you are done - just wait for it to show up in your account. And you also can take it with you anywhere you can use your cell phone.  have never had anyone complain about it.I thought about using the internet for cc charges, but I do health fairs and business expos and sell gift certificates and this makes it easy for me to accept credit cards away from the office. Hope this helps,healingtouch

 

[Gleek!]

Thanks for the info, healingtouch....I have been accepting cash/local checks only as well, like Coco... I have been wanting to look into accepting credit cards also, but the added expense of having to install and pay for a land line was not an attractive prospect.A friend of mine was just starting out with massage therapy and dove right into a terminal and a land line.... it was a huge expense for something she used very infrequently, and there were months at a time where she was unable to pay her phone bill, so thus unable to accept credit cards, but still had to pay the terminal rental fees, which ran her $80+ per month.  Using the cell phone is perfect for me.... I do outcalls occasionally, and it would be great to have an account to accept MC/VISA.Can you accept ALL the credit cards (MC/VISA, AMEX, and DISCOVER) for $6.99 per month, or is there an additional charge to accept AMEX and DISCOVER?  I was wondering about this, as it doesn't say on the website.

 

[sanjit_life]

accepting credit cards

I am not sure if it is extra because I have never wanted to accept them. I do know that you can sign up to do electronic checks to. Give them a call, they are very helpful.healingtouch

 

[inTOdeep]

i'm also looking into the credit card thing. i haven't decided which program best suits my business (i'm mobile).i'm quite interested in the 'swipe' equipment that connects to your cell-phone. it's featured in a new nextel commercial. it shows a construction site and workers swiping their company id cards.  i've contacted nextel and haven't gotten too much info on it from them: probably because the equipment is new and also because of the spint/nextel merge. my cell service is with sprint and,fortunately or not, i'm probably going to get sucked into their equipment war when the merge happens.

 

[snowboarding1236]

Thanks Healing Touch for the info.  I really don't want the  added expense of a land line.  I did look into costco and they require a $20 monthly minimum, so that is not going to work for me.  Pete, you may want to reconsider going with costco unless you get a lot of credit card transactions.  I'm interested in what Mush had to say about the machine being  hooked up to the cell phone.  I didn't know Sprint and Nextel merged.  Right now, I have Verizon, but I will be looking for another provider.  If you get any info. , please post it.  Thanx

 

[Georgina]

i think those swipe things on your cell phone are pretty expensive.  i could be mistaken.  if you call on your cell you don't need equipment.

 

[~o0o~]

accepting credit cards

If you are interested in the cell phone swipe machine - do a search on creditel, this is the company that nextel is associated with. I did a search and got all kinds of info. It is called PowerSwipe. healingtouch

 

[<3Clapton<3]

thanks healing touch  ;D

 

[Bunny]

accepting credit cards

coco71

I The great thing about it is you don't have the extra expense of a land line or having to have internet access, you also don't have the expense of the machines and such, and you also don't have to worry about batching your tickets at the end of the day and processing them - they do it for you.

What do you give the client for a receipt and what do you keep for your records?  Second, can you accept debit cards.

More and more people are using Visa/debit cards as payment and does anyone here have a company that also accepts these cards?

 

[Steven Abdul]

accepting credit cards

You can accept debit cards just like credit cards - they are usually VISA or MC and work the same. I use a knukkle buster reciept machine - you could also print them out one from your computer if you have a computer. It would be great to have a scanner/reader that prints out a reciept - but I am not using mine enough to justify the expense of all that.

 

[Jason B.]

Another touch-tone processing company that is similar to Cell Charge is Touch-Pay through Merchantseek.   Fees are 3.95%, $39 setup, $5/month.  No minimums and no other fees.

 

[eclipse dkm]

I also use Merchant Warehouse and am very happy with them. I pay $7.95 per month, no minimum, 1.69% and .25 per transaction. The deposit goes right to my account the next business day. I bought a refurbished Omni 3200 through them for $159.00. I called at the end of the month and she gave me the extra 50.00 off for end of month sales. It would have been 199.00. Their technical support is fantastic too. I had a little paper jam issue!  :