Although this is more of a "Pro Photographer" question, I'm posting here because of the number of sports shooters doing on-site sales.

I'm going to be adding on-site viewing and sales to my bag of products and services. For those who do this, do you accept payment by credit card and if so maybe you can give me a little insight. I realize that there are transactions fees, monthly fees, etc but would rather pay those than lose out on sales. I would think that at these types of events more people carry credit cards than they do checkbooks.

do you use a dedicated terminal or a virtual terminal?
if internet access is unavailable, do you use a data card in a laptop, iPhone, etc?
if internet access is not an option, how do you process payments off-line? Is it even possible?

I did a quick search on the boards and found a few postings but only really relating to possible companies to use for CC processing but nothing else.

Thanks.

Steve

There is a colleague of mine in town that uses propay.com to process his stuff. He does the sale manually (writing down CC numbers, amounts, expiration dates, etc.) then processes it all online once he gets home.

However, if you're actually providing products at the point of sale, then this route wouldn't work for you.

I phone my CC orders in after I get home via my bank's merchant account. Again, I do not provide a product at the point of sale, though.

There's an app for that.

Mobile CC Processing apps compared

I go through Costco for merchant processing. The standalone wireless terminal works just about everywhere, only a few instances where we were tucked away inside a gym without cellular signal. In which case you can still swipe the CC offline and upload after you get home, but you risk the declines.

Acceptance of CC is the best thing we've done to our business. Parents tend to buy more if they're able to charge!

Bank fees are just a fact of life, and the rates at Costco are very competitive.

-John

Steve,

We've been taking CCs onsite for many years. We've been using hard phone line terminals and stopped printing onsite a while ago.

At several shows, we've not had a phone line - and this year we don't plan on a phone line anywhere - more cost to run, and to get setup by venue.

Our terminals do "Store and Forward" (I think it is called that) where we can swipe a card, get instant 'pending approval' and receipt to sign. Once we're back to the office, hotel or phone line, we plug it in, batch all the transactions.

For us, not printing onsite allows us to contact the very few that decline for another payment.

We've seen wireless ones - sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. One day they will, the next they won't - literally. I have not bothered to look into hooking up a cell phone - because depending on what part of the country we're in, would require many phones and providers.
We've toyed with internet connections (as we have on our web server in the office) but again, it would probably be a wireless router connected to the cell phone - as wireless and internet at most venues is sketchy and pricey.

For backups, we have some ink rollers - not the knuckle busters, but a levered ink roller kind - which is not as professional as the CC machine, but better than the knuckle buster and certainly more ideal that pen/paper/scratch.

And the fees go up when you don't have a card actually swiped.

I'm definitely looking at a "store and forward" type of terminal or solution. I've heard some good things about Photography Merchant Services.

I can't beleive that you've heard some good thing about PMS!

Merchant Services are big time business and it's competitive. You have to shop around for the best deal, like you would do with insurance.

P Alesse wrote:
Merchant Services are big time business and it's competitive. You have to shop around for the best deal, like you would do with insurance.

Very very good advice. Local sometimes might be better then national. Costco has a good program as well.

Can someone let me know what he costco fees are? I shoot leagues 6 months out of the year and the other 6 months I shoot other things that don't require a CC machine, do you still pay a monthly fee if not using it and if so how much,

thanks

Fees depend on how many CC you take. AMEX has become the biggest headache of them all. Highest transaction fees... highest monthly fees.

As they say in Chicago, "I gots a guy..."

I have a battery-powered store-and-forward CC machine with built-in printer. It works great out at the field (where perhaps you don't have power, or you need to be mobile).

I have seen a decent increase in sales by being able to take CCs. At a recent gymnastics meet, onsite sales using CC were 76% of my transactions, and I know several sales that would NOT have happened if I didn't take CC.

And Paul is right, fees are very competitive. I only take MC, Visa, and Discover, not AMEX, and only once have I run into a "I only carry AMEX" issue, but his wife had cash.

I can put you in touch with my guy, who got me a great, fantastic, probably unrealistic for anyone else rate...since I'm married to his sister. If you're looking to get CC service and a store-and-forward machine, let me know, and I'll give you his contact information.

(And for others than the OP who want to know, drop me a PM and I'll give you his contact info as well.)

John

We have Nurit 2085's and Nurit 8020's, both units have built in printers. The 2085's are great if your looking to just Store and Forward but BE WARNED! They only store approx 150-250 transactions and you WILL fill them up at a busy event. Besides nobody wants to chase down customers for payment after an event even if you don't print onsite. I would highly suggest spending the extra $20/mo and invest in a wireless terminal such as the 8020's. Odds are you will have coverage at 95 percent of your events. Just this past weekend we had over $200 of declined CC's that we did not have to track down because we had instant conformation. Our customers just pulled out another credit card.

As mentioned above, skip AMEX.

My sales increased 30% when I started accepting cc's. I use Costco w/ a wireless terminal. I take all cards except AMEX. I haven't lost a sale because of no AMEX.

I've got a Nurit 8000 and was able to negotiate a great rate. AMEX is killer on transaction fees and may drop it. Having it onsite for team photos is a big plus for those who are uncomfortable writing a CC# down. About 50% of T&I sales are CC. I don't sell action onsite often, but it has saved a couple of sales with those who don't want ot order online for security reasons and call in an order.

I do have issues with connecting at times, but even my cell phone doesn't work well in my office and home. Always have to go outside to talk on the phone. So, the issue of connecting is the same as you would have with a cell phone.

mlane wrote:
I've got a Nurit 8000 and was able to negotiate a great rate. AMEX is killer on transaction fees and may drop it. Having it onsite for team photos is a big plus for those who are uncomfortable writing a CC# down. About 50% of T&I sales are CC. I don't sell action onsite often, but it has saved a couple of sales with those who don't want ot order online for security reasons and call in an order.

I do have issues with connecting at times, but even my cell phone doesn't work well in my office and home. Always have to go outside to talk on the phone. So, the issue of connecting is the same as you would have with a cell phone.

Where the hell have you been?

a cellular-type wireless terminal is the way to go. that way you can do CC as well as debit cards...

I don't accept credit cards but i know that myself and many other people only carry AMEX. I have a bank card and an AMEX. Though the fees are higher the fact that AMEX users spend more money (because they don't have hard limits) and therefore are less likely to get declined can be a big advantage. Maybe even consider using Paypal or Google Checkout just for AMEX if you don't want to spend the money on having it for your regular CC terminal.

I have never lost a sale from declining Amex. Bank cards swipe as Visa or MC and work great with our terminals.

Store-and-forward doesn't have an issue of declined charges as, unless you print on-site, you haven't delivered anything yet! Since you have their contact information to deliver the goods ordered, a simple phone call or e-mail will straighten it out (I ask for a check, then).

Then again, I just got my first NSF check returned to me....

John