Credit cards

[PianoBook@aol.com]

>This may not apply, but does anyone here have firsthand experience with
>accepting credit cards from customers for services rendered while servicing
>pianos?

Keith:

I've never accepted credit cards in the field for tuning (because I haven't
been tuning for some time), but I have accepted them for years in selling
books -- over the phone, on the internet, at conventions, etc.  You can
either bring your card imprinter with you in your car, or imprint a bunch of
forms in advance with your name and account number (or whatever your
imprinter prints) and then write in the customer's card number and expiration
date at the completion of the tuning.  Fill the rest of the slip out, have
the customer sign it, and give them the customer's copy.  Back at home, you
can process the slip electronically with a terminal or computer program,
depending on what your bank requires; or if you process it manually
(non-electronically), which means you send the bank a bunch of paper slips
each week, you can call a phone number to get a voice authorization before
sending it in so that if it's bad, you'll know right away and can call the
customer.  I have gotten a relatively small number of transactions that
failed authorization and it usually turns out to be that either I or the
customer accidentally transposed two digits in the card number (which is why
it's probably better to bring the card imprinter with you -- it doesn't make
mistakes).  The credit card company automatically deposits the money in your
local bank account (or wherever you direct) a few days after the deposit is
received by mail, in person, or by terminal.  Different credit card companies
and banks have different procedures, but the one I've described is typical.

Some banks don't like to issue credit card merchant status to people who work
out of their homes.  If you do mail order, like I do, that's a double strike
against you.  Only one bank in the entire Boston area caters to people like
me.  They charged me 5% of the sales as a fee -- this is a very high fee, as
high as you'll find.  Recently, however, I joined NAMM (the National
Association of Music Merchants), which has a group program that allows its
members to do MasterCard/Visa transactions for only 1.72%.  They also handle
American Express and Discover, but those two organizations charge different
fees -- currently 1.88% for Discover and 3.75% for AMEX.  The only problem is
that you have to join NAMM, which costs $150 a year.  For me, it still cut my
bank charges by half, but you would have to estimate whether it would be
worth your while for the amount of credit card business you would do.  For a
mail order company like myself, I could not survive if I did not do business
by credit card.  I doubt that's true for piano tuning.  Look at how many
times you've been asked if you took credit cards (and how many times you've
been turned down for not doing so) to determine if it would be worth your
while.  On the other hand, if you're trying to sell, for instance, a
regulating job, and you say, "By the way, I accept MasterCard and Visa," it
might make the difference in getting the customer to part with their money.

Hope this has been of some help.

Larry Fine