best credit card account for newbie doing very occasional shows

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brandie Butcher-Isley on February 11, 2010 at 1:52pm

Your transaction amount is held for 2-3 business days. I don't call the cards in. I enter them on my computer at the end of my day. I am taking a risk, I know, but I haven't had an issue yet. Knock on wood. So I am not sure if propay has the phone in option. Now that you mention is I may look into it. Maybe they won't hold the sales if the card is verified first. I know I have a $500 per transaction limit. I also have a monthly limit as well. I know that I can always upgrade if this becomes an issue.

Also, I should mention, I do alot of commission work outside of the art fairs. Propay has a feature where you can mail an invoice that has a secured payment button. This is really convenient. Much of my commissions are out of state. This saves me from having to wait for a check in the mail and allows me to get to work on the artwork sooner.

Lydia Morrison said:

Do you use your cell phone to call in? Also do they hold any of sales for a period of time. That was one to the complaints I read.
Thanks

Brandie Butcher-Isley said:

There is an anual fee. I pay $60.00 per year, but it depends on the level of business you choose. No hidden fees that I have run into. Although, I think the rates may be a little high per transaction compared to other merchant accounts.
I like that it is user friendly, and that I have had zero problems entering transactions or accessing my money.


Lydia Morrison said:

Hi, I'm looking into propay. Any problems or tack on fees you didn't know about. It took me 3 hours to read through their small print. I've read some good things from people and some bad online, but have never talked to anyone who has used them for awhile. Any suggestions. I only do a few (10) shows a year and am trying to get into some bigger ones this year. I have had to turn away a few customers in the past because I didn't take cards.

Brandie Butcher-Isley said:

Propay is really easy. www.propay.com. I am going on my 3rd year using them.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Brandie Butcher-Isley on February 11, 2010 at 1:55pm

I ment to write e-mail an invoice... :)

Brandie Butcher-Isley said:

Your transaction amount is held for 2-3 business days. I don't call the cards in. I enter them on my computer at the end of my day. I am taking a risk, I know, but I haven't had an issue yet. Knock on wood. So I am not sure if propay has the phone in option. Now that you mention is I may look into it. Maybe they won't hold the sales if the card is verified first. I know I have a $500 per transaction limit. I also have a monthly limit as well. I know that I can always upgrade if this becomes an issue.

Also, I should mention, I do alot of commission work outside of the art fairs. Propay has a feature where you can mail an invoice that has a secured payment button. This is really convenient. Much of my commissions are out of state. This saves me from having to wait for a check in the mail and allows me to get to work on the artwork sooner.

Lydia Morrison said:

Do you use your cell phone to call in? Also do they hold any of sales for a period of time. That was one to the complaints I read.
Thanks

Brandie Butcher-Isley said:

There is an anual fee. I pay $60.00 per year, but it depends on the level of business you choose. No hidden fees that I have run into. Although, I think the rates may be a little high per transaction compared to other merchant accounts.
I like that it is user friendly, and that I have had zero problems entering transactions or accessing my money.


Lydia Morrison said:

Hi, I'm looking into propay. Any problems or tack on fees you didn't know about. It took me 3 hours to read through their small print. I've read some good things from people and some bad online, but have never talked to anyone who has used them for awhile. Any suggestions. I only do a few (10) shows a year and am trying to get into some bigger ones this year. I have had to turn away a few customers in the past because I didn't take cards.

Brandie Butcher-Isley said:

Propay is really easy. www.propay.com. I am going on my 3rd year using them.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lydia Morrison on February 11, 2010 at 2:03pm

Thank you, Brandie
I may give them a try.

Brandie Butcher-Isley said:

I ment to write e-mail an invoice... :)

Brandie Butcher-Isley said:

Your transaction amount is held for 2-3 business days. I don't call the cards in. I enter them on my computer at the end of my day. I am taking a risk, I know, but I haven't had an issue yet. Knock on wood. So I am not sure if propay has the phone in option. Now that you mention is I may look into it. Maybe they won't hold the sales if the card is verified first. I know I have a $500 per transaction limit. I also have a monthly limit as well. I know that I can always upgrade if this becomes an issue.

Also, I should mention, I do alot of commission work outside of the art fairs. Propay has a feature where you can mail an invoice that has a secured payment button. This is really convenient. Much of my commissions are out of state. This saves me from having to wait for a check in the mail and allows me to get to work on the artwork sooner.

Lydia Morrison said:

Do you use your cell phone to call in? Also do they hold any of sales for a period of time. That was one to the complaints I read.
Thanks

Brandie Butcher-Isley said:

There is an anual fee. I pay $60.00 per year, but it depends on the level of business you choose. No hidden fees that I have run into. Although, I think the rates may be a little high per transaction compared to other merchant accounts.
I like that it is user friendly, and that I have had zero problems entering transactions or accessing my money.


Lydia Morrison said:

Hi, I'm looking into propay. Any problems or tack on fees you didn't know about. It took me 3 hours to read through their small print. I've read some good things from people and some bad online, but have never talked to anyone who has used them for awhile. Any suggestions. I only do a few (10) shows a year and am trying to get into some bigger ones this year. I have had to turn away a few customers in the past because I didn't take cards.

Brandie Butcher-Isley said:

Propay is really easy. www.propay.com. I am going on my 3rd year using them.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lindsay Pless on February 11, 2010 at 5:50pm

I have also been using ProPay for about a year......it's very easy. You can use your cell phone right at the show to verify the credit or hold the slips till you get home and enter them on the computer. For those that bring laptops with them to shows, you can record them on the ProPay website very easily.

I do have a knucklebuster but hate it so I usually write out the information from the customer's cc including their phone number and zip code (ProPay does ask for a zip code for verification). ProPay then sends you an email receipt of each transaction.......can't beat it for the small amount they charge.

I got burned twice with personal checks and so many people would tell me they didn't have cash or checks with them so I felt it was necessary to start taking cc's. Since I did that, my sales have almost doubled.

Lindsay
www.whoartedstudio.com

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Permalink Reply by Sheila Wissner on February 11, 2010 at 6:12pm

I also use ProPay. I paid around $30 last year for my account because they were giving a discount to people who sell on Etsy. Don't know if they still have that deal but if you have an Etsy shop, you should check it out.

I use a knuckle buster and process the transactions after the show. A couple of times I left a critical piece of info. off the sales slip, such as the price of the item. So I was glad I recorded the phone numbers of my customers (ok, so I'm a law breaker).

Propay also lets you phone in your transactions but I haven't tried that option yet.

Haven't had any problems with Propay. Everything works very smoothly and they have good customer support.

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Permalink Reply by Lydia Morrison on February 12, 2010 at 7:12pm

Thanks Lindsay and Sheila

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Permalink Reply by Sandra Rathbun on February 19, 2010 at 6:11am

I've used propay for 4 years and haven't had any major problems. I do about 12 shows a year. Really easy to use. It does take about 4 to 6 business days to get your money over to your bank account. I also do it on my computer when I get home.

Lydia Morrison said:

Thanks Lindsay and Sheila

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Permalink Reply by Robert Carriveau on February 19, 2010 at 2:16pm

Jill Beninato said:

I signed up with First National processing and have been very happy with them...you sign up for a year (about $88 I think) and there is no monthly charge and no monthly minimums required...I got a refurbished machine from them for $36.00 that works great...Just don't sign up for American Express...they charge you $7.95 per month just to have their service...Visa, MC and Discover have been all I need to accept and there is no charge to accept those cards except the percentage they take out of the sale for the service which is around 2%??? I think....Their link is on the right hand side of this page...call and see what you think.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Carriveau on February 19, 2010 at 2:25pm

This will be my 4th year doing shows. I started to take credit carde on the 3dr year. I have products that run from 1.75 to 135.00 and a lot of people dont have checks or cash. My sales increased by 30% with credit cards. I went with First National Processing and with a monthly statement fee of 8.00 is was well worth it for the increase in sales.

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Permalink Reply by Robin Chard on February 21, 2010 at 6:53pm

I too take credit cards. Too many people just walked away from me and I knew I had too. I think my buisness (Ilike to think it would go up year by year anyway (dreamer!)) has improved by 50% at least because of taking cards. I got a machine that takes debit too. It goes straight into my account. I mean straight! whoo hoo! The charges show up about 3 days later. I will probably shop for another bank and try to get smaller fees. I know more what to look for now.

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