card reader for infrequent payments

[vulcanz]

Hi...I've posted about this before but last week I had a customer who would have liked to pay by card...

The business is vehicle modifications and repairs, some jobs take months so I'm guesstimating that there would only be 1 or 2 payments a month, possible the odd time when there was 4-5, maybe none if there was a big job in

I could cope with the 1.75% charge from izettle/square mentioned in the 'top 5 mobile card readers webpage' (cant post links ) but I don't need a mobile solution and a smaller service charge would be better

I see the paypal reader is 1.5% if you process £1500 of payments each month but due to the nature of the business I couldn't guarantee that

just wondering if I'm missing anything?



is there any chance a card payment could be 'bumped' somehow. ie could I take a payment then days later have it taken away? that might sound daft but I'm certain this is the place to ask

thankyou...

 

[Russ Michaels]

I don't think you are going to find any solution with cheaper rates.
If you have a paypal account, then you can just send someone an invoice via paypal or generate a payment link and get them to pay that way via their phone or tablet.

I got myself a paypal card reader, it was only £70.

There is also google checkout.

 

[vulcanz]

thanks...I'm a bit surprised at the small initial cost and no monthly fee, can't help think I'm overlooking something! £30-70 is a very small cost to be able to take card payments IMO

although it seems that mobile readers are just cheaper than 'terminals', I thought you'd be paying more for the mobile readers but seems that's not the case. Again I'm wondering if there's an advantage to the fixed/shop type readers that I'm overlooking. Is it just that the fixed ones are more suited to bigger businesses with high turnover? Do they offer more protection somehow?

 

[Russ Michaels]

Well the card reader cannot be used by itself, you need to run the accompanying app on your phone/tablet to process the orders and you would need an external printer if you want to print receipts. So it wouldn't be good for busy shop. It is really intended as a portable solution or for people just starting out or who don't process many cards.
So people who visiting clients and need to collect payments onsite, such as handyman, builder, IT support etc.
They must have scrapped the monthly fee as I am not being charged one anymore, although I think you can now accept card payments on ANY paypal account, not just business accounts.

 

[Nochexman]

is there any chance a card payment could be 'bumped' somehow. ie could I take a payment then days later have it taken away? that might sound daft but I'm certain this is the place to ask

In theory at least being face-to-face with the person who is paying you should limit any risk of fraud. Do your customers tend to be irregular consumers of your service?

 

[wevet]

If it is for only occasional use take a look at the paypal card reader. The transaction fee is higher but the buy in is around £50 and no monthly subscription fee.