Do those of you with a home-based business or renting a commercial kitchen accept credit cards for payment? Right now we are only able to accept checks and cash, but I am wondering if that will become a problem down the road, since so many people use cards for everything these days. Do you use something like paypal, or some other way of accepting cards?

We are not home-based, but we do use PayPal. Super easy. Some may say the fee is a bit much but most of our clients pay by check so we are not too concerned. For example, we just send a paypal invoice for $300 and there was a $9 fee.

Oh yeah, that's not too bad! That's the other thing I wondered about, how much the fees would be.

We just recently set up to accept credit cards and we use paypal. It's easy and our customers can call in, give us a number and pay without having to come in.

I use Paypal too.

I recently talked to my bank (where I have a small business acct) and they said for my low volume of credit card orders, they cannot give me a cheaper rate than Paypal does. So I"m fine with the fees Paypal gives. Its very handy for taking deposits, especially.

I take final payments via Paypal or cash...no checks unless its a regular customer. I only take checks for deposits.

Thanks everyone! Sounds like Paypal is the way to go for now. We probably won't do a very high volume of CC orders either.

Since most of my local orders are discussed via email, they like to pay through Paypal or sometimes cash on delivery (if I know them), so no bank account or credit card numbers are given and no checks to take to the bank (time is money!!). When someone signs up for a Paypal account, they have their bank account and credit card numbers on file, and can choose which they want to use for each purchase. PP is just the go-between. This is important for security reasons, for me and my customers. I just send customers an invoice through PP, and they log in and pay it.

I mainly sell my cookies online, and most everyone that orders from me already has a Paypal account. If I need to charge for extra shipping after the order is mailed, I can just do a quick "request for money" that is emailed to the customer from PP. Quick and easy!!

My mom has a jewelry business, and she's noticed that if they can pay with a card, they will spend much more! I found this has more than doubled her sales and mine, being able to accept payments through PP. Another great feature!

Yes, they do charge a small fee, but I have a debit card attached to my account. When I use it as a credit card, they give me a monthly bonus back on my account, so I earn some of that back. I'm not using my personal bank account for supplies, but using the all of my customer's money that's accumulated in the account! Transactions eligible for cash back:

1. Purchases that you sign for
2. Purchases from online merchants
3. Catalog or telephone purchases

Also, my account is also a money market account, so I earn a small amount back on my balance, too. No, I don't have thousands in the bank, but whatever is in there at the time earns money. No penalty if I have a zero balance either!

NO, I don't work for PP, but I worked for a credit card company in the fraud department for several years. For me, the small transaction fee is DEFINITELY worth it!!

For those of you who use Paypal are you concerned at all about customers opening disputes? I've read lots of things online about how Paypal generally favours the buyer in disputes.

I just worry that if someone had buyers remorse and decided to ask for a refund but I said no (in a situation of course where one wasn't justified) that they'd open a dispute and Paypal would give them back their money anyway.

I haven't had a problem with PayPal. I have a link on my website and customers can just go there and submit a payment or deposit. Easy for both of us and worth the fee. I get many phone and email orders, so its an easy way for them to pay ahead of time.

Thanks sweetiesbykim, that was very helpful and encouraging! Everyone's responses are very helpful, thanks!!