Credit Card Acceptance

Mark A. Cunningham MARK@CSTCC.CC.TN.US
Sat, 02 Aug 1997 11:06:37 -0400 (EDT)


>
>Date: Sat, 2 Aug 1997 07:51:42 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Phil Bondi <tito@peganet.com>
>Subject: Re: credit card sales
>
>..anyone know how long you wait for payment with this method?


This is one merchant advantage with credit cards.  Most credit card
processors guarantee to have the electronically deposited in your
business bank account within 24 hours of "closing" your credit card 
machine out for the day.  Hence, you don't have the 'float' problem 
with credit cards that you have with checks (where you don't have 
full use of the funds in your account because the checks haven't 
cleared at the customer's bank).

Check with your prospective credit card processor on the charges 
(% of amount charged) and the time frame for crediting your account.

Something to watch:  My wife runs a retail business and when she
accepts these 'check cards' she still gets charged the same % on the 
total as if it were a regular credit card.  We have seen these bank
charges grow steadily in the last several years due to debit/check card
usage.  My advise on this is to:  watch your bottom line.

Something else to watch:  Check your card processor agreement.  Most will
not allow you to have 'minimum' charges on credit card sales. We were going
to look at offering a small discount for cash to encourage people away from
credit card use, but that seemed to add another level of complexity...

I think the credit card discount % is somewhat negotiable.  The trade 
association of which my wife is a member, has a bank that has given 
them a lower discount due to the quantity of members which have agreed 
to use that bank for credit card processing.  (You can process your credit
cards through a different processor than your regular bank).  

Mark Cunningham
Chattanooga, TN

MARK@cstcc.cc.tn.us


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