[Tileworks]

I am considering taking credit cards soon. I've been running numbers and think I've got the following straight...

QUICKBOOKS: $17.95 per month; 2.44% + $0.23 per transaction with a $20 minimum in fees.

CELLCHARGE: $6.99 per month; 3.85% per transaction, no minimums.

QUICKBOOKS: Monthly fees will never be lower than $37.95, the sum of the monthly fee and the minimum fee. This is regardless if you have $100 in charged sales or $800 in charged sales.

CELLCHARGE: Monthly fees will never be lower than $6.99, and will never be as much as Quickbooks $37.95 fee(s) until you have made approximately $815.00 in charged sales.

SUMMARY: CellCharge would be the better route to go until the dollar amount of credit card charges each month averaged over $820.00

Since I dont take credit cards yet, I am unsure how feasible having $820 per month put on plastic by customers really is (since cash and checks has been my staple). Since CellCharge has no contracts, CellCharge would be a good service to use to test the waters.

Have I thought this through correctly?

- Bob

 

[Teetorbilt]

IMHO, If someone needs to put a job on plastic, they are in trouble or not too bright. There are too many other options that cost much less for both parties. If people really need to go to the bank, I would suggest going there yourself and learn to set up financing. You get paid a percentage instead of paying it and the customer gets a better rate.

 

[slickshift]

I've considered taking cards and looked at the Quickbooks
You're numbers jibe with mine on that

I would be accepting cards from homeowners

I am considering accepting cards because I don't want to lose out on more work or a bigger job because I don't take them
It's really just me here, and being new I take a lot of smaller jobs
My thinking is, for example, it might go from a $1000 job to a $2000 more elaborate one if they could put it "on the card"
Or the "I'd like to do it, but I can't afford it right now" line could be countered by the "You can put it on your card" line

At almost $500 for a year just to say I can take cards, I have resisted so far
Obviously I would have to be loosing quite a bit of work strickly because I don't take cards to make it worth my while

I'll have to look into CellCharge

 

[Grumpy]

Teetor, I can say that I have lost jobs in the past because I didn't accept credit cards which is why I now accept credit cards.

SOme people can't afford to pay for the job in one lump sum and sometimes the customer just wants to earn their rewards/miles that the credit card companies so eagerly give away. Also some customers like the security that comes with using a credit card and knowing they can cancel charges if you don't live up to your end of the bargain.

I looked into quickbooks, I looked into Costco, I ended up with Card Services INternational; and CSI sucks deep hairy anus. I'm thinking of going with quickbooks when my contract with CSI is up for a few reasons primarily ease of use (It's double work to bill with one service and then enter the data into quickbooks).

 

[Mike Finley]

Grumpy, I know we talked about this before, but you keep saying your contract with CSI, what contract do you have with them? I never heard of a contract, did you lease some equipment or something? All the accounts I have had with them could be terminated at any time by us.

 

[Grumpy]

I have a one year agreement to use their services and pay $X per month for the "privilage" of their services. There is no leased equipment but a typical service agreement AKA contract.

We obviously must be talking about different "Card Service INternational's" because you love 'em and I hate 'em and from what you described I'd love 'em as well but my experiences have been completely opposite from yours.

 

[bergenbldr]

IMHO, If someone needs to put a job on plastic, they are in trouble or not too bright. There are too many other options that cost much less for both parties. If people really need to go to the bank, I would suggest going there yourself and learn to set up financing. You get paid a percentage instead of paying it and the customer gets a better rate.

I would agree with teetor about setting up financing with a bank,but for me this would require me to register with the dept. of banking,one more level of gov. regulation to deal with. I imagine other states have similar laws regarding contractors offering financing.

 

[Teetorbilt]

It's common here and the rates are much better than CCD's. There are more advantages but you will have to contact banks for these.

 

[ConcreteGuy]

The interesting thing about contracting is that you basically agree to finance a job. Therefore, the most critical thingy is knowledge of the owner's financial situation.
http://www.allbusiness.com/articles/FinanceAccounting/2259-32-1780.html
There is a membership company with a long hyphenated name I can't think of who you pay a fee to to join or by the inquiry....can't remember.

 

[ConcreteGuy]

Here they are:
http://www.dnb.com/us/

Dunn & Bradstreet, GC's use them.

 

[Savdog01]

Check out Paypal. I just add the cost to use it to the bill. No monthly.