Credit Cards and Merchant Accounts

[StevenGWebb]

I'm an event photographer and recently broke away from a successful business on the East Coast to return home and pursue my own ventures. Who else here is a mobile event photographer and accepts plastic. What service do you use and how many hoops did you have to jump through to establish your merchant account?

I've read books worth of advertising and promotional material and gone over rate charts till my head aches. I know there are sliding scales for the percentage and the per transaction fees and the monthly statement fees. I want to talk to someone whos working with and through all that jazz.

Thanks in advance,
Steve

[CallMeAl]

Intuit has a merchant account service. If you are using PC, it's compatible with Quickbooks and will import straight into your program, but you don't have to use Quickbooks. I've just started using it and if you are just getting started, I think it's a pretty good deal. It's a flat $12.95 per month, with no minimums, no contracts, no startup fees. Your charge rates vary from 1.9% to 3.9% depending on variables, but you can reduce the fees by using a card scanner, etc. E-mail me if you want me to send you the link to check it out.

[brad]

If you're using remote locations where you aren't sure you'll have Internet or phone line access, look into Cell Charge. cellcharge.com

We use it because my wife's side of the business often does shows out in places where even electricity is sometimes a commodity. LOL

They are a bit more expensive than your standard merchant account... but for the abilities to take literally anywhere you have a cell signal, its great.

[hhscr]

I have gone to a wireless card machine because of locations without phone lines.

I do have a card machine that I need to sell that connects using a phone line if you decide to go that way. It is only about a year old and works fine. Let me know if your interested.

Check with your bank that you have a business account at and see what they will charge for the services.

[S-Man]

Can you use one of these?

[brad]

Heh, I use one of those for my merchant account all the time. LOL

[S-Man]

Oh, and you might look into Paypal's merchant services. My brother uses them. They're not bad.

[jmoore01]

merchantwarehouse.com

We've done event photography where a phone line isn't always guaranteed. They have wireless units, but I wound up going with a 'wired' device capable of store and forward. The device essentially securely stores the CC info and once you get to a phone line, connect it and upload the entire batch. I chose the store and forward device over wireless, because with the wireless, you incur the added wireless access cost.

The CC is not validated/verified/charged until you upload. Fortunately, as photographers at events, you usually don't have any products that are walking out of the door. So in the event of a declined CC after the fact you're only out the amount of time you spent shooting a client that chooses not to settle up. I like it.

Cost of the unit ~$200 + $7.95 monthly. No contract.

[HotHolly]

I have a wired unit and if I need a wireless unit for an event, they loan me one for free. Not equipment fees.

[brad]

Who is that with, Holly?

[StevenGWebb]

Much as I appreciate all the information about the capture and POS devices, the equipment isn't my first concern. I want to know what company you use to process your credit cards and what is involved with getting the account.

The choice of hardware varies among services Nurit, I already know, makes a device that works wireless and wired and can hold transactions when communication is not available. It will also run check approvals and capture signatures if you want to go that route.

I was really more interested in what you had to do to get the merchant account not what you do after you have it.

Thanks again
Steve

[brad]

How you're going to use it is an important piece of information.. we're offering up solutions based on that lack of info.

[hhscr]

There are many companies that offer merchant account services. The first place I would check is with the bank you do business with. All you have to ask for is do they offer merchant services and request a quote on the setup costs and the monthly fees and usage charges.

They will ask you what you are using it for and how many transactions you will be processing per month. All these things will have a bearing on their fees.

This is the same info to ask of all the merchant services companies and it is not all inclusive.

You need to read the fine print and be prepared for the unexpected to show up.

Good Luck

[Editor]

Originally Posted by S-Man

Oh, and you might look into Paypal's merchant services. My brother uses them. They're not bad.

I used Paypal for about three years and it worked well, especially the Virtual Terminal service.

I ended up switching to Google Checkout because it integrated better with my web site and my workflow; also the rates were better than Paypal's.

A side benefit of Google Checkout is that you get a discount on FedEx service. I FedEx a lot of completed projects, so this has saved me a lot of money (I'd guess around 10%). Also, if you advertise with Google AdWords you get a rebate on your transaction fees, based on how much you advertise (10% I think).

The downside is that Google Checkout will only accept American and British credit cards through web site integration. Paypal allowed many more countries. This is a problem for me because I have a fair number of Asian clients. The work-around is to use the Google Checkout function that lets you e-mail an invoice to someone and have them pay it with a credit card. Google allows many more countries this way.