Has Anyone Used Mobile Credit Card Processing?

Business By Rachel5370 Updated 11 Oct 2010 , 5:55pm by Rachel5370

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Rachel5370 Posted 10 Oct 2010 , 11:33pm
post #1 of 8

I know it's not a very sexy question, lol! I am soon to be fully licensed out of a rental kitchen. I plan to do custom cakes and other baked goods sold by the dozen. I want to be able to take credit card payments upon delivery of smaller items and upon booking for cakes. I don't have a smartphone, not sure I want one. I may get a laptop, but it seems cumbersome to juggle along with baked goods. I have been looking into mobile devices provided by credit card processing companies. Of course they all say theirs are the best- they're trying to sell me something! I would love to hear from anyone who has used these and what you think. Thankyou!

7 replies
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jason_kraft Posted 11 Oct 2010 , 2:17am
post #2 of 8

We don't accept credit cards ourselves, but have you thought about asking for the credit card at the time of booking for all orders? For smaller orders where a deposit is not necessary, you can put a hold on the card when the order is placed and just wait to settle the charge until after delivery, although you would probably want to let the customer know about the hold if the booking date and delivery date are more than a few days apart.

Mobile CC processing is important for businesses where the final total is not known until the time of delivery (i.e. plumbers who charge by the hour) but it seems unnecessary for bakers.

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awatterson Posted 11 Oct 2010 , 2:33am
post #3 of 8

I don't use one of those, but I do use Pay Pal. It only charges like 3% of the total of the order to use it and you don't have any maintenance fees. Your customers don't have to have a Pay Pal account to use it either. Good luck.

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Rachel5370 Posted 11 Oct 2010 , 4:36am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jasonkraft

We don't accept credit cards ourselves, but have you thought about asking for the credit card at the time of booking for all orders? For smaller orders where a deposit is not necessary, you can put a hold on the card when the order is placed and just wait to settle the charge until after delivery, although you would probably want to let the customer know about the hold if the booking date and delivery date are more than a few days apart.

Mobile CC processing is important for businesses where the final total is not known until the time of delivery (i.e. plumbers who charge by the hour) but it seems unnecessary for bakers.




I did think about the option you mentioned. The only customers I will see face to face when they order are custom cake orders, even most of those are done over the phone- unless it's a wedding cake. I am concerned about taking numbers over the phone and writing them down- I would not feel confident in the security of that method. If it's a large order with no face time prior to delivery, I will ask for credit card payment online. For small orders, I like the idea of swiping the card onsite for security and convenience for the customer. I have been given some leads to visit downtown businesses and take orders for cupcakes and such by the dozen. There is no bakery that offers cupcakes and other classic goodies in our town. I am hoping after those initial visits, most business can be conducted by phone or email, delivered and paid for then. I just wanted to make it easy for the customers, you know? Some of these credit card processing companies are offering free machines, but I am sort of mistrustful of that. Those machines are 400-700 dollars! It might end up being too complicated and expensive for me just starting out. Thankyou for your input, I have alot to consider.

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scp1127 Posted 11 Oct 2010 , 6:53am
post #5 of 8

Talk to your bank about adding credit cards to your web site. You don't have to carry anything around because it is online. No equipment rental. I thought it would be difficult, but it was very simple and economical. I have visa, mc, amex, and discover.

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Navyempress Posted 11 Oct 2010 , 9:53am
post #6 of 8

What about a virtual terminal? Intuit (they make Quickbooks) has merchant services for anywhere you have the internet, but they also have one for your phone:

http://www.gopayment.com/

I will be using their virtual terminal when I get up and running.. It works wherever you have internet. You don't have to have Quickbooks to use either of them and I find they are cheaper than Paypal, and I can take cards over the phone and in person:

http://payments.intuit.com/products/online-credit-card-processing.jsp

*Edited because I forgot my grammar!

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cakesdivine Posted 11 Oct 2010 , 3:29pm
post #7 of 8

I use paypal for my cake biz, but our studio uses a gateway that has a swiper attached via USB port to our computer. PowerPay is our merchant services provider. We have been looking into the Iphone swiper for when we do trade shows or sell choreo on the road. Am also looking into that option for the cake biz too.

Whatever you do don't use National Bankcard of America to do your merchant services. They took us for over $500 and we never got the equipment or the gateways set up. The sales rep kept cancelling the appointments. After 30 days of charges flying out of our accounts and the guy dodging our calls and the company not helping one bit we cancelled our contracts. Only to be told that if we didn't return the equipment within 10 days they would hit our account for an additional $799. Um, we never received any equipment. They shipped it to the sales rep not us! That took several calls and a threat from our lawyer to get that settled. We never have received any refunds of the funds they ripped off from us. But we have reported them to the BBB. One customer service rep told me that they did us a favor by not charging us an $1100 cancellation fee since they did not received the cancellation within their 45 day limit. We filled out the cancellation form and emailed and overnighted a hard copy to them. It was received by them 4 full days BEFORE the 45 day deadline. All she could say to me after I gave her the proof was "Oh."

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Rachel5370 Posted 11 Oct 2010 , 5:55pm
post #8 of 8
Quote:
Originally Posted by cakesdivine

I use paypal for my cake biz, but our studio uses a gateway that has a swiper attached via USB port to our computer. PowerPay is our merchant services provider. We have been looking into the Iphone swiper for when we do trade shows or sell choreo on the road. Am also looking into that option for the cake biz too.

Whatever you do don't use National Bankcard of America to do your merchant services. They took us for over $500 and we never got the equipment or the gateways set up. The sales rep kept cancelling the appointments. After 30 days of charges flying out of our accounts and the guy dodging our calls and the company not helping one bit we cancelled our contracts. Only to be told that if we didn't return the equipment within 10 days they would hit our account for an additional $799. Um, we never received any equipment. They shipped it to the sales rep not us! That took several calls and a threat from our lawyer to get that settled. We never have received any refunds of the funds they ripped off from us. But we have reported them to the BBB. One customer service rep told me that they did us a favor by not charging us an $1100 cancellation fee since they did not received the cancellation within their 45 day limit. We filled out the cancellation form and emailed and overnighted a hard copy to them. It was received by them 4 full days BEFORE the 45 day deadline. All she could say to me after I gave her the proof was "Oh."




OMG! That's a horrible experience. Thankyou for the heads up. They are one of the ones I browsed!

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