I was at an art festival last month, I sold 3 pieces for a total of $2400. I am positive I could of sold 2 more for perhaps another $1800 if I could process credit cards. The next Monday I contacted a merchant service company and set-up my wireless account. I would not recommend the company that I went through (had problems with the terminal and the customer service sucked).
My next show is in two weeks and I will let you know how sales go. I normally sell through galleries but sales have slowed, so I am going to do more shows. It seems that folks don't carry checkbooks anymore, that's why I am going to start taking cards. Here's the deal though, these processors are snakes!
Ask merchants you know LOCALLY who does their processing, who's happy and who's not. Ask to see their statements. Find three different processors and get them bidding each other down. Last month I sold $11,747 in credit card transactions for my marketing company, My deductions were $388, that's $4656 in yearly fees if this were my average. At nearly $5000 a year, year in and year out, this is a major purchasing decision for me. I got pricing for the terminal alone between $1200-200 with monthly fees at between $42-0. I ended up with the $200 terminal and $20 monthly with an effective rate of 3.2%. These are the fees that you need to negotiate. One other thing, DO NOT SIGN A LONG TERM CONTRACT (I signed no contract), if they give you effective customer service, why would they require one? Pit each one against the other and watch them race to the bottom in terms of fees!
These folk's are snakes. let the buyer (you) beware!
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