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Credit Card Facilites - Cost? #

Posted by Karen Waring on October 23, 2009, 9:27 pm
Message modified by board administrator October 24, 2009, 12:44 pm

We have decided to take the plunge and offer the above facility.

We have been offered the following:

£150 initial set up fee

2.80% for M/card, Visa credit

40p per transaction Solo, visa debit etc

In addition a minimum £10 p.m charges and £20 rental for terminal.

We would be comitted for 3 years.

Does this seem expensive?

Do you recoup costs from your customers? If so, how do you show cost?

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by Sean Connelly on October 23, 2009, 9:50 pm, in reply to "Credit Card facilites - Cost?"
Sean Connelly

Hi Karen

It does sound expensive, but it does depend on your turnover and expected average transaction value.

Who have you approached? You should try and get a few quotes. Note that smaller banks aren't very competitive.

Try Cardsave http://www.cardsave.net/ Also are you members of the Federation of Small Businesses or Forte's Good Garage Scheme, either of which can offer pretty good rates.

You shouldn't be paying minimum monthly charges, but again depends on turnover, etc.

What you can do is once you have been accepting cards, get them to requote you or threaten to leave......but watch out for costs if you leave before your term is up.

We have never passed the charge on to customers because I personally don't agree with it as I won't use companies that do that to me, but its up to you. Just increase your charges to cover the expense and absorb it.

HTH

Sean

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by simon dean on October 23, 2009, 10:28 pm, in reply to "Credit Card facilites - Cost?"
Simon Dean

Hi Karen

Expensive that is....we pay 20+vat terminal rental.....1.6% visa.....aprrox 40 to 50p debit/solo etc.

HTH Simon

PS also check if you go with a company who is not your bank,then there may be charges for the funds to be processed and transfered to your account!!

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by Karen Waring on October 23, 2009, 11:05 pm, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"

The quote we have had is from our bank - Nat West. And, as I have said, we would be tied in for 3 years.

To begin with, I don't imagine the facility will be used a great deal, so we don't have much bargaining power in that respect.

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by aidan birley on October 24, 2009, 8:28 am, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"
Aiden Birley

hi Karen

As said, try card save, but you may find they are not allowed to poach NAT west customers, hopefully you could be OK if yo have not used them for cards before. This is because they use NAT west streamline to process there business.

I have used card save for about 10 years. Good rates, no problems.

I think it is a must that you take credit . debit cards these days. there may be a cost involved, but also savings on bank charges and (almost) no risks of transaction not being paid.

I think there are other providers like card save but have no contact info.

Cheers Aidan

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by Keith Simpson on October 24, 2009, 8:34 am, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"

Hi Karen, as previously stated it depends on how much you put through the card machine. We use Natwest Streamline and to be fair it's as good as any other. As you say you have no bargaining power at the moment.

By banking with Natwest you will have a business manager assigned to your account. I would make contact and let he/she negotiate for you. The quote is a bit on the high side and unfortunately you will find this who ever you go to.

I would be looking to get away from the set up fee myself, especially as you bank with Natwest. The £20 rental charge is normal, and the fees are on the high side, but you could negotiate a better rate after 12 months.

Keith

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by Karen Waring on October 24, 2009, 11:09 am, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"

But can you negotiate a better rate if you are tied into a contract for 3 years?

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by Keith Simpson on October 24, 2009, 11:23 am, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"

Karen the contract is only for the Card Machine. Have a word with you Natwest business manager.

Keith

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by Peter Warman on October 24, 2009, 11:28 am, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"

Hi Karen

As Sean says I would give Cardsave a ring, I have been with them for about 10 years, we pay a monthly terminal rental that also includes certain insurances, think its about £22:00 payable every quarter

We have negotiated rates down (will post on Monday)after saying we were leaving to a rival company

We also get about one cold call a month from other companies who want to send a rep in as he is in our area to give us a better deal, but when I quote the current rates we are getting, they NEVER turn up

I also had my bank manager visit on Wednesday

from HSBC, he asked about our card payments and said they could probably do better. I gave him the details and he made a quick call, but he just said I should continue with Cardsave

I would say 99% of our business is on cards, we no longer take cheques and maybe cash from a customer once a month. Our bank charges have been slashed but we do have to pay a premium to bank cheques and cash

HTH

Peter

PS: Transactions take about 3 working days to show up in your account

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by Karen Waring on October 24, 2009, 11:37 am, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"

Keith,

Our business manager is the person who came up with the figures.

Will definately contact Cardsave.

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by Kelly Clarke on October 24, 2009, 3:24 pm, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"
Kelly Clarke

One other point to ask is when will the money be paid into your bank account ours is on the 3rd business day after the transaction but some only pay in weekly.

Kelly

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by charlton selwyn on October 24, 2009, 5:51 pm, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"
Charlie Selwyn

Hi,

We use barclay card business through a scheme with unipart and pay 1.225% on credit card transactions and 20p per item on debit cards. Our monthly terminal rental is £13. Cardsave came to see us recently and said they could not better our deal with barclays.

Regards
Charlie

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by Peter Warman on October 26, 2009, 8:53 am, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"

Hi Karen

With Cardsave

Mastercard 1.35%
Visa 1.25%
Maestro/Solo/Electron 20p
Terminal Rental £24.00 + VAT (includes benefits)
There was no set up fee

Peter

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by Tom Williams on October 27, 2009, 11:32 am, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"
Tom Williams

Hi,

If you are part of any other organisation there might already be a low cost deal in place. When we had the petrol forecourt the oil company had negotiated a good deal for it's garages. We changed again some years back before the present bank upheaval and there were good deals out there. Bosch Car Service negotiated a good rate with Lloyds Cardnet for it's members which we took up last time we swapped. Deals change all the time.

TW

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by Karen Waring on October 27, 2009, 11:57 am, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"

Thanks everybody.

Am meeting the rep from CardSave on Monday, so will see what he has to offer. Will let you know.

Going back to another point in my original question - apart from Sean, do any of you charge your customers for the facility and if so, how to you account for it?

Karen

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by sean savage on October 27, 2009, 1:02 pm, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"
Sean Savage

we take 80% of sales through various cards. i agree totaly with sean,i wouldnt be willing to risk losing a customer over maybe £3/4 that it costs to take a payment. people somentime need to pay on the card because they dont have the cash to cover repairs and last thing they want is charging extra. i think the only companies i expect to pay card surcharges on are travel companies. maybe you could state that a certain card fee 3%?? will apply to anything above a certain price eg £500???

you wont regret accepting cards,money straight in the bank and less charges as mentioned.

regards
sean

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by charlton selwyn on October 27, 2009, 8:47 pm, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"
Charlie Selwyn

Hi,

We dont charge anything for payments via cards, for the sake of a few quid its not worth upsetting customers.

Regards
Charlie

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by Steve Norman on October 27, 2009, 10:45 pm, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"
Steve Norman - Administrator

Hi Karen,

How Cardsave work is you show them your cheapest quotes & they beat them. We have been with them a few years now & has been fine. Just make sure you have best quotes available.

We decided, after many years of putting card payment off, to go down that route, then increased our hourly rate to cover the costs. Makes more customers commit to work needed, especially the larger jobs

Regards
Steve

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by Sean Mc Gettigan on October 28, 2009, 8:28 am, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"
Sean McGettigan

Hi Karen,
I charge 2.5% for credit cards and nothing for debit cards.

The customer is given the option when the price is quoted so there are no mix ups. Very few have ever questioned it and once its explained to anyone that does they have no problem with it, ie I charge you what it costs me to offer you the facility, I could charge everyone more to hide the cost but dont see that as fair do you? Most people see it as an honest approach.

As Steve said it speeds up the more expensive jobs, usually goes along the lines of
'£450, do you take credit cards?, yes, ok just go ahead then'

Regards
Sean

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by Andy Mason on October 28, 2009, 9:09 am, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"
Andy Mason

We accept all credit and debit cards, except for American Express.
You will be in for a shock when the statement comes through, showing how much commission/charges are taken by them.
We dont charge for card transactions, but do always try and negotiate the lowest rates from Streamline, our provider.
Andy

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by Shaun Dale on October 28, 2009, 1:32 pm, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"

I got my card machine through the FSB (obviously you have to be a member, which I do recommend).
No installation charge, first three months free rental £14.95 pm thereafter, 1.95% personal credit cards, 2.45% business cards, 30p per transaction on debit cards. They use Streamline terminals. Not as cheap as Cardsave it seems but no cost to setup.

Shaun

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by Karen Waring on November 11, 2009, 9:49 pm, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"

Thanks for all replies.

We accepted a quote from Cardsave today - very much improved on NatWest with no set-up fee and only a 12 month contract, which as this is all new to us, is very reassuring.

Should be up and running in a couple of weeks!

Thanks
Karen

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by Sean Connelly on November 13, 2009, 10:07 am, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"
Sean Connelly

Hi Karen,

You won't regret it, its the only way forward these days, and as most people have credit cards there's no excuse for not paying bills there and then.

Well over half of our turnover is now taken in card form, so don't forget at the end of 12 months you'll want to renegotiate rates.

Cheers

Sean

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost? - Converted to Cards

Posted by Martin Kelly on March 27, 2010, 4:07 pm, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"

Hi, at the end of last year I was exploring the Card payment process as more of my customers were asking me if I took them, at the time I did not. No lost business as they were long standing customers and paid by cheque.
After reading this post I thought I would take the plunge and went through Cardsave.
I have now had it since the end of Feb. and I am very pleased with the number of customers using it and have even picked up 3 jobs because I took cards.
So, if any of you out there are thinking about it, I can recommend it and am now 'converted to cards'.

Martin.

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost? - Converted to Cards

Posted by Graham Bullock on March 27, 2010, 6:09 pm, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost? - Converted to Cards"
Graham Bullock

Hope you don't mind me asking but what sort of deal did you do with Cardsave?

Graham

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost? - Converted to Cards

Posted by Martin Kelly on March 28, 2010, 10:33 pm, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost? - Converted to Cards"

Hi Graham, without digging out the paperwork I thinks it's £23.95 + vat per month for the card machine, 2% on credit cards, 30p on debit cards, 1 off payment of £50 for Cardholder Not Present over the phone transaction - used twice already.
Included in the monthly fee is a load of legal cover and tax help etc.
12 month contract.
The jobs I got because of having the facility has now more than covered the first years cost of it.

Regards, Martin.

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost? - Converted to Cards

Posted by Graham Bullock on March 28, 2010, 11:39 pm, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost? - Converted to Cards"
Graham Bullock

Thanks for the info Martin.

Graham

Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?

Posted by Dale Message on March 29, 2010, 7:39 pm, in reply to "Re: Credit Card facilites - Cost?"
Dale Message

I signed up with Streamline a couple of years ago on their light user scheme. Instead of £20ish a month rental I only pay £5 with no minimum transaction. Downside is the fees are higher. Debit cards 60p, Credit cards 3.75%. Higher than most but unless taking a lot of credit card payments it actually works out cheaper overall. Retail merchant services recently tried convincing me to switch but they couldn't beat it as they charge £20 for the terminal before you even start. If we take enough card payments for it to work out cheaper on a normal package I'll switch. Definitely worth taking cards though as we get more work now people know we do.

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