Accepting credit cards

[pianoguru at cox.net]

---- David Ilvedson <ilvey at sbcglobal.net> wrote: 
> Don't you have to take an imprint of the card or is the number and >signature good enough?

I have never accepted credit cards in my own business, but I have done accounting work for my wife's business, which did accept credit cards.  Yes, there is a substantial monthly fee, even if you have no credit card transactions in that month.  You can make a card imprint, you can make the charge with the card number only, or  you  can have a contract with the consumer to make a regular charge each month to their account.  For each type of transaction, a different "discount rate" applies.  In this case "discount rate" mean the percentage of the credit card charge that the "merchant services" company keeps as a fee for processing the transaction.  They charge more for regular monthly transactions, no quite so much for a card number transaction, and less for an imprint (or scanned) transaction.

Believe me, you really don't want to go there(!), unless you make dozens of credit card transactions every month, and you business truly depends on being able to process credit card transactions.

Frank Emerson