Credit card acceptance for buisness need your thoughts

Here is the situation. Back in 2008/09 we singed up to accept visa/MC in hope that people short of money would pay there bills or buy stuff (we have small business). The plan they gave me has a small monthly fee and a percent of the purchase and works as it should. HERE IS MY PROBLEM IT has not brought in more business seldom will people use it they will post date checks, pay cash, 1/2 one week and 1/2 the other etc. I am thinking of terminating it. What have you guys ran into. Also this is not a retail business as such like a store or restaurant but for items like hay/firewood tractor part services rendered etc. I know a couple others ( a plumber) that had it and shut it down for lack of use I have herd in some areas they pay most contractors with a card i.e. the lawn care, chimney sweeper etc. Give me your thoughts. Also why is it not working????

I use a credit card every day for gas, Walmart, far supply store, etc. I also pay it off every month, just easier to carry than cash, and those places seem to prefer a card over a check, its built into their volume sales structure.

I will write a check for all the small mom and pop places, even if I see a card sign up. For the most part the mom and pop places put in a 3% extra charge for the card, and don't like dealing with them. So I just do the check in the first place.

Of course, I am current on my bills, and pay things right away, and so I'm not the person you are asking about anyhow.

To make the card work, guess you would need to be in an area where that sort of customer is, and then make the extra fees transparent to the customers. You,would end up charging more, and getting more people that don't pay off bills so, fast, but would like to get your services and take 2 years to pay off the bill......

Paul

If you are in a more rural area the culture is not a credit card charge type of one. Most rural people have been taught not to use credit unless nothing else is possible.

I have only had one or two guys in 30 years asked to pay with a credit card.

Plus the whole credit card deal is a rip off for all involved except the card issuer. They charge HIGH interest rates and then make the seller pay a processing fee up front. Debt cards are just as bad. People paying to spend their own money.

The Government control types would love to go all plastic so there would be a trail for every transaction. They hate paper money and the freedom that it allows.

I would vote to dump the credit card service. Look at what you are paying for it and the low return you are getting on it. Look at the cost per transaction you have. Lets say you pay $75 each year for the machine. Then 3-4% fee on top of that. So you have 30 transactions each year. Your paying $2.50 for each one plus the fee.

Dump it and offer a cash discount if paid within five-ten days. Charge a late fee if over ten days. You will son train your customers.

Guys that do not collect aggressively are training their customers too. Just they do not see it as their fault what their account receivables go sky high.

I have always been a stickler on keeping accounts current. I do mine so any that I have will be that way too real quick. If not then it is COD on everything from then on. I have two guys that I do a fair amount of repair work for. I write them an estimate and I get paid before I turn the first wrench for them. Not bad fellows just very poor businessmen. Their business is losing money badly. It is not my job to enable them to keep running their business at a loss. They need to figure out how to make a profit or switch businesses

I bought the equipment and accepted cards for a few years.

I was doing a lot of government contracting (GSA) and the system worked great for that. For smaller jobs under $2,000 If I remember correctly the difference was that you get your money overnight instead of 3 weeks later.

I finally dropped the service as I was doing mostly installation work for large corporations by purchase order.

All in all I wouldn't accept cards unless I was doing storefront retail.

Brad

I used it when I had a retail business and it was useful as it was a tool that helped collect receivables promptly. When the retail business stopped I dropped the card company an didn't see any problems. Gettin a little older now and even sort out the ones that are not prompt pay!
Andy

JD you are correct on rural and people not wanting to use it. The card thing works as it is supposed to there feas are not my complaint. I pretty much only do "paid before item leaves" now. Its trained a few people to go elswhere Way i look at it you do not go to walmart and get items and send them a check next week!!!!

Cancel the credit card contract. If you have a smart phone,get a card reader. They charge a small percentage and no other fees. It works great for payments for services, or on deliveries. Swipe the card with your reader, money is in you preferred bank account almost immediately.

My wife has a dog grooming biz, and most of her customers use credit cards. I don"t think it is a rural / city thing, I think it is generational. Younger folks are more likely to use credit cards, auto pay bills, and otherwise use technology. She uses a card reader that attaches to her Iphone or IPad. It is much cheaper than the dedicated card machine that she used to use. Another thing, our people paying cash or check tend to be self employed, and older. Folks that have jobs that get a paycheck auto deposited in the bank are mostly credit / debit card users.

I would say drop it. I operated a small business for twenty years and most of my 340 customers were on account and I had to work the receivables myself regularly. I could never get anyone else to do it effectively. You have to collect the money, and keep customers current because if you let them get into you too deep you can't shut them off. Remember you are talking about YOUR money, not theirs. I think that as small as your business is, that people tend to look at you as not a real business, so that there will be no repercussions for late payment. I would make a strong push to collect upon delivery or upon finishing the job, and a large job should require a down payment to cover materials.

I pay just about anything and everything with my credit card. There are places that will charge for using it or don't except it. I will, in most cases not do business with them. I use credit card because it gives me back up receipt and proof of purchase. I do pay my card balance on every billing cycle. I do understand when making a major purchase, car, tractor, equipment, and such that I can't expect them to take my card as payment. I don't know if its a rural thing or a generation thing but its just the way I do things.

I got a machine a few years back, when cash was tight for everyone, for the same reasons you mention. Mine was set up "FREE" with the only charges being a really small percentage for each transaction, and also with no 'term' type contract beyond the guarantee that everything was free as long as you had the machine. I kept it for just about a year, and never had anyone want to pay with a card, even when asked. Being "free" I could afford to keep it in the hopes that people would want to use it eventually, but when my wife called me one day saying I needed to check my bank account for a $200 debit it all came to an end. Seems due to "new government regulations" they had to charge me a fee for 'each account'. Even though I only had one machine they considered being able to machine swipe a card, or take a card over the phone (or simply manually enter it)as two seperate accounts. When I looked at my account closer I saw that AMEX had decided to throw in another $7.95 charge of their own into the mix. I called and raised he!! and the card company broker did offer to refund one of the $100 charges, but not the other....even though the machine had not been out of the box, and for the cost I never even bothered with AMEX. I then told the broker what they could do with their machine and went to the bank the next day and told them that the companies access to my account was terminated. I was told that I couldn't do that........my response was, "Like he!! I can't, go into the safe and get me every dime in my account and close it, effective immediately." The look of suprise on the guys face was priceless. I hated to cancel an account I had had for nearly 20 years, but DO NOT tell me I can't say someone I'm not doing business with anymore no longer has access to my money....Not going to happen........

That said, CANCEL the machine and tell the card comapnies to shove it. They do nothing but get rich off of everyone involved in the transaction, and then do their best to screw over even those that are accepting the cards and helping them make money. Personally I will never do it again..........