I take Visa, Master, Ca$h and cheque. I was thinking of taking Interac (Debit) and get one of those portable wireless terminals. Dose anyone take debit, is it worth it? Now 70% cheque 20% cash 10% credit cards. Had a few cheques that did not work. It’s more work to get paid after a bad cheque than it was to clean the carpet in the first place. I thinking of taking debit instead of cheques for that reason. What do you think?

Spruce

For peace of mind....you will have to figure out for yourself if it's worth it.

On every transaction you would be charged 3% to 5% depending on your bank and then you would have to pay a rental fee per month.  As a homeowner I would think it would be a great convenience for myself if I was offered that option. If you do get it and the customer does not want to use it and would prefer to write a cheque......chances are they have no money in the bank.....

forget 3-5% you can get it below 1.8% if you shop around and $0.15 for interac

(or join an association that has many member benefits.)

I take Visa and Master card right now so that will not be an extra cost. The rental of the terminal will cost more and the debit is not much to pay to stop bad cheques. The new terminal will also be faster for the credit cards than the way I am doing it now. (By phone and imprinter) Dose anyone take debit, and is it working out for you?

I hear that more people use debit in Canada than the US I think it is about 50% here. I don’t want to be the last one to get it and it might be good for marketing.

cash or cheque here

I've had 2 cheques go bad in the last 3 years

(knock on wood)

I've had 5 cheques go bad in the last 4 years. Total = $1,800 all NSF (Not Sufficient Funds) this is a lot of fun when it is a move-out clean. I got back $1,200 but the time it takes is a pain in the @ss.

Seniors are more than likely going to use checks.  They like the old way of doing things. 

Rather than charging a surcharge for checks or CC to cover costs, NSF and chargebacks I would take a positive approach and just offer a huge incentive for Ca$h.  By huge, I mean anywhere from 5% to 15% should motivate the customer. 

If someone still wants to write a check and not take advantage of the savings I would call the bank on my cell phone before leaving to verify funds.  Especially if you made the offering when quoting the job.

I dont think charging extra for using a visa, mc etc is a good idea as that will violate your merchant agreement with ccard companies.

Think about this for a moment. Carpet cleaning is something clients plan to do ahead of fime.  Simply ask the client ahead of time how they are planning to pay. If they do want to pay Ccard then take a slip with you. You dont need the extra expense of renting a mobile card reader.

If you are a smaller company then just phn it in when you are back at the office. We never have a prob, just make sure you double chk the numbers you wright on the slip. Doing this way you wont be able to do interac, howver that has never been a prob for us. American express charges way to much for their service. Anyone that has an amex also has a visa and or mc. Dont wast your money with them, besides they take forever to deposit to your bank.

Take the advise to join a local association like the BBB or Chamber. This will get you a much better rate on your merchant account. Just make sure before you sign up how long it takes before your money shows up in your account. Some take far to long.

To you Success!

"Dusty"

Stephen Roberts

Well I just got my Interac up and running.

So far this week interac 75% cash 25% credit cards 0%

It cost me $0.12 per interac and the $ is there @ 11pm that day.

So far so good.

Yes.

We love interact.

Costs much less then visa or mc. Amex rate just hurts.

Dusty.

I use quickbooks running on a laptop with a battery powered printer and a USB credit card scanner that I purchased from Intuit (makers of QuickBooks) for less than $90.  Using my merchant account, QuickBooks automatically prints the receipt after processing the credit card.  I simply borrow the customer's phone line to do the dialup connection.  While I am sure everyone can think of some situation where such a solution wouldn't work the fact is it does work in nearly every customer's home. 

Sure makes my job easier.  And the cost is minimal for the efficiency I have with my solution.

We have a quoted price.  We can offer cash and senior discounts without violating any merchant account terms.  I could have a "Redheads paying with sides of beef Tuesday" discount if I wanted to and there is nothing the credit card company can do EVEN THOUGH it leaves out all credit card purchasers.

badgerman steve wrote: I dont think charging extra for using a visa, mc etc is a good idea as that will violate your merchant agreement with ccard companies.

who wants one of the POS terminals to carry around...not me...

1" is better that 7/8....  can handle more torque...

easy to use