as a business owner myself the first question i would ask myself is, how much business am i losing by not accepting credit cards. It is my experience that usually you will pay a considerable amount for credit card processing. each card (visa, mastercard, discover, american express, etc.) will charge you a processing charge and Discover and American Express charging the most. I had to start asking customers to use visa or master card if they had them. the start up is not usually not that much because they want you to get started. again, how much are you losing by not accepting credit cards.

That’s good that you are considering keeping up with the times. All you have to do is have a talk with your local banker. They are experienced in getting you set up & explaining how the system works. Probably your only expense will be a small monthly rental of the credit card terminal.
Don’t forget to put a sign in your front window that you gladly except credit cards. This will let people who wanted to use cc’s in the past know things have changed. Good luck . . .

Hi,

In my opinion, in this day and age, you cannot go without a credit card processing feature in your place of business. I mean, think about it, every carries credit cards and what is easier to use, credit card or writing a check.

Also, you mentioned that many of your customers want to use credit cards. If that’s the case, I can bet you that you will make tons more money that you are doing right now. I know that most credit card processing companies charge you for the following:

application fee
setup fee
monthly statement fee
flat transaction fee
% of every transaction
terminal fee
and others…

I have my own business and I have found a credit card processing company that is working out great for my company. They offered me great service and a great rate. To tell you the truth, I searched all over the web to find a good processor and I decided to use these guys.

In fact, here’s what they offer:

They can get you a rate as low as 1.39% (that’s hard to get these days)
FREE Online tracking of deposits and transactions
Deposits within 24 hours
NO Application fees (most merchants I’ve seen make you pay an application fee or a setup fee)
Same Day Approval
99.8% Approval Rate
24/7 Technical Support and Customer Service

And they have an awesome guarantee. Basically, if they cannot get you a better rate, they will give you $500 just for trying them out. They gave me a better rate so I didn’t go somewhere else. Therefore, they didn’t have to give me $500.

Also, they are a service provider for IPAYMENT/JPMorgan Chase Bank, which is a national seller of merchant accounts and credit card processing solutions for retail and Internet businesses. As you can see, they’re not scammers.

Here’s the link. All I did was type in my name and email and that’s it.

I gotta say, I saved so much money in merchant fees. Right now, I am saving 0.54% in fees. That might not seem like much but over time it saves me thousands.

Good luck,

Peter

Simple Business Invoicing & Inventory is a complete sales management system that includes: invoicing, inventory management, automated billing, mailing list management, and sales tracking. Invoices and bills can be printed on plain paper or emailed directly to customers. It has an intuitive graphical interface with pop-up menus and pick lists that minimize typing. An intuitive graphical interface with pop-up menus and pick lists that minimize typing. For example, to create an invoice you simply choose the customer and products sold from a series of menus. SBII fills in the invoice and computes the sales tax for you. Once completed, the invoice can be printed with a mailing label or emailed…

Finding a credit card processing company can be overwhelming due to different pricing structures and every one claiming to have the lowest rate.

The truth is your rate should be determined by your average size ticket and industry. If you have an average tiocket (sale) under $15 you can get a very low transaction fee about $0.15. Your percentage rate will be a little higher about 1.85% for debit and credit cards. That is the best program for you due to the transaction fee having a greater affect on low ticket transactions.

If your average ticket is above $15, you will pay a transaction fee between $0.20 -0.25 and a percentage rate of about 1.80% for credit and 1.40% for check cards.

The next thing you want to look out for is what you pay for key entered transactions and corporate cards. This is very important. Some place will charge a very low percentage for swiped personal check and credit cards, but charge over 4% for rewards and hand keyed cards. BE CAREFUL.

Now you need to know the difference between a pin based debit and a check card. A check card is charged different (see check card rates above) due to how it is processed. If a customer swipes a debit card and signs for it instead of entering their pin #, you will be charged a % and trans. fee. If they enter their pin #, you can get a flat rate of around $0.65 trans fee and no %. It is important to know your business, and decide wether or not your average ticket is high enough for a pin based transaction to be worth it or not. Usually a $40 or higher transaction amount is when you want to use that pin pad.

Now that you are an expert on pricing, LOL, we need to discuss equipment. In a resturaunt environment, having a tip option Im sure is very important. Be sure to get equipment that has a great tip feature, usually Omni 3750 or Hypercom T7 Plus or better.

Contrancts: Most every credit card processor has a 3 year contract agreement. Very common practice.

You can find out more about rates and other programs here:

I hope this helps! Good Luck

The fees for a merchat account to accept credit cards are less than you think. Although you can generally get by with no startup costs for an internet account, a brick and mortar business like yourself can look to pay anywhere from $99 - $249 depending on how much of a risk you are.

Monthly fees: $10 Customer service fees and $25 to cover your monthly minimum. However, the $25 is like pre-paying your transaction charges. Think of it as a bucket that your transaction fees get taken out of. When you have spent the $25 in transaction fees, then they start charging the per transaction fees. Make sense?

Transaction fees: Many companies can save aton by causing Debit card users to enter their PIN number. This will save on fees. Standard fees are in the range of: 25 cents per transaction + 1.69%. So for example: If you have a $100 charge, your fees would be $0.25 + $1.69 for a grand total of: $1.94 that would be subtracted and the remaining $98.06 would go into your bank account.

So as you can see, it is worth it. Also, you are missing out on impulse buys because you do not accept credit cards. It is proven that people will spend more money whe you accept credit cards. You can also get set up with a gift card program so people can buy gift cards to your resteraunt.

There are so many pluses that I can;t cover them all here. I hope this answer helps. The merchant service provider I have had the most luck with is Doug at cardserviceinternational.com

I hope this helps.

Hi Keiya!

Here are some things that you may want to consider:

Accepting credit cards will most likely be very advantageous for your restaurant. You are probably not only missing out on $$ from customers that you speak with but are also missing out on business from potential customers who know that you don’t accept credit cards so they don’t stop in. Also, your average ticket should grow when you accept credit cards because customer’s purchases won’t be based on the diner’s cash on hand. This means that they may purchase a more expensive menu item or (depending on what type of restaurant you operate) dessert or an extra cocktail.

The overall cost of credit card processing depends on your individual profile. We know you are a restaurant, but what kind of restaurant? What is your average ticket? Are you quickserve or fine dining? As a restaurant, you would have a very specific merchant profile built to assure that you receive the lowest rates. Most people don’t know that restaurants are the only industry that can change the authorized payment to reflect tips without being penalized with a very high non-qualified interchange rate. Hair salons get killed on this! Also, if your average ticket is below $15, you will have an opportunity to take advantage of lower transaction fees offered for merchants of your profile. At the end of the day, all that matters is your effective rate, or your total fees to total sales ratio. All of the criteria you mentioned above will figure into accessing this rate. Be as forthcoming as possible with the processor you are working with to assure a good profile is built.

Beware the “single rate” syndrome! MasterCard and Visa have over 200 card categories and restaurants often see 20+ of those on every statement. These include regular MC and Visa, debit cards, reward and mileage cards, business cards and multiple restaurant categories. If someone is only talking about one rate, be sure to find out what categories it covers. Quite often, your effective rate will be severely impacted by the things you didn’t know going in.

Leasing equipment and long term contracts without pricing guarantees are sucker bets. Buy your own equipment and maintain your flexibility and indepence. Does $500.00 today sound like a lot of money? Imagine how you’ll feel in 3 years when you realize you could have added $5000.00 to your bottom line by making the initial investment!

I can’t stress this enough - estimate your credit card processing costs like any other overhead cost and reflect it in your pricing. Hopefully, adding a couple of cents per dollar won’t impact your business too greatly. The positive results of accepting credit cards should far outweigh any attrition due to a slight price hike. Again - DO NOT EAT THIS COST!

Lastly, if someone just tells you what their rate is without learning about your business then you shouldn’t work with them. Remember that this is all about you and your business. You should expect to have this service provided with the same level of detail and professionalism as you expect from all of your vendors.

Good luck! Contact me with any questions.