Paying by credit card

[MikeF00]

Hello. Is it considered unusual or 'a bit off ' to ask a plumber if he would accept a credit card payment before he starts the job.

I'm getting central heating system put in.

Quite a big lucrative job , surely he would insure the 3 or 4 % cost of credit card Payment ?

 

[D E P northeas]

Send a pm to system3

i have done simon

thanks

 

[Masood]

I'll contact my local Cardsave rep and if enough of you guys are interested, Ill secure a good discount for forum members.

Count me in. Been looking at different card systems, trying to decide which is best suited to me. I'd be interested in sitting down with someone and negotiating a package that works. I agree totally - card payment is almost obligatory nowadays. Plus it makes a company look so much more professional and solid when they display the logos - it's not necessarily true, but it gives an impression of having some substance behind the company.

 

[kay-jay]

System does your card company offer nectar points or similar reward incentives like bods does? Im toying with the idea and am weighing up my monthly costs against customer benefits....
My typical custards price is not as high as yours but typically 2k towards for a heating install

Cheers

Kj

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Guest123]

I've contacted CS and I'll forward on the details of each member who had PM'd me after I hear what discount they will offer. If their are any referal fees I am offered, these will be given to each member who signs up as a further discount.

No one is under ANY OBLIGATION at any time to sign up for anything. That's entirely YOUR choice if after the rep has visited you, that you want to go ahead.

Anyone else interested please PM me before Monday evening.

 

[brasso1981]

If a customer isn't willing to pay by card, or give you cash then they obviously havnt got the funds to pay. FACT.

 

[lbp plg & htg]

So how do you expect to be paid? I don't want my customers carrying the risk of having thousands of pounds lying around their house just to pay me! Cheques are worse and I feel insulted being offered one. Come on its the 21st Century and card payments have been around since the 1960's. Besides customers love the convenience.

Cash or direct transfer. Like i said thats my opinion.

 

[Guest123]

To all the guys who PM'd me their contact details;

CardSave rep was in my house tonight and the company are going to introduce a block discount for UkPlumber forum members. Expect to be individually contacted as well, as I forwarded all your contact details.

I have mentioned to them about becoming forum sponsors and they are really interested in this idea as well.

Best of luck and I hope you all get your card terminals and moreso up and running before burst pipe season in December!

Anyone else interested in portable card machines, there's still time, just PM me.

 

[nicro3]

My sober opinion of this is -- If you are a one man band and are doing the smaller type jobs or subbying to a builder check in great detail whether this is for you. If you employ staff who take cash it might be for you.,

 

[Masood]

My sober opinion of this is -- If you are a one man band and are doing the smaller type jobs or subbying to a builder check in great detail whether this is for you. If you employ staff who take cash it might be for you.,

I don't do much subbing, but I am a one-man band, doing smaller stuff, and a terminal would definitely help me. I do a lot of emergency callouts, and there's no way someone with a burst pipe is going to go to the cash machine at 3 AM, nor will they be too impressed if you ask them to log on to online banking and do a transfer. Pull out a card terminal, and nobody bats an eyelid...

 

[nicro3]

I don't do much subbing, but I am a one-man band, doing smaller stuff, and a terminal would definitely help me. I do a lot of emergency callouts, and there's no way someone with a burst pipe is going to go to the cash machine at 3 AM, nor will they be too impressed if you ask them to log on to online banking and do a transfer. Pull out a card terminal, and nobody bats an eyelid...

I ask you how many times on small jobs have you been knocked. If you keep getting trouble in collecting money maybe its for you. As far as 3 am callouts are concerned a customers card or cheque book might not be produced, collect later. Please do the sums with these cash machines

 

[Masood]

I ask you how many times on small jobs have you been knocked. If you keep getting trouble in collecting money maybe its for you. As far as 3 am callouts are concerned a customers card or cheque book might not be produced, collect later. Please do the sums with these cash machines

I appreciate your concern, and I do intend to do the sums very very carefully, as well as looking into how long I'd be tied in to a contract, or if it's one of the machines that you buy outright, then how much I'd be paying for data usage, repairs & maintenance, etc.

I haven't actually been knocked as yet (touch wood), but have often needed to send reminders and wait quite some time for payment, when people have in fact asked when I've finished the job "Do you take cards?" If I did, I'd have been paid there and then. There has to be some value attached to not having to send reminder emails chasing payment, not to mention the reduced likelihood of being knocked..

 

[SimonG]

Cash flow would be a benefit for me. I can do two or three bathroom jobs on the trot, each being 6, 7 or 8 days long. My banks only open Mon - Fri 9.30 to 16.30. Sometimes it can be a couple of weeks before I can hit the bank. Missed a few boiler repairs because I don't take cards. As long as the numbers add up I'll definitely be sorting one out.

 

[nicro3]

As your business grows you might well find a machine is the right thing for you. The thing to do is imho is to work out the cost of the machine against the cost of your time collecting monies going to bank etc.

 

[Roger Welton]

I'm with simon gets funds into account quicker, I have definatley been asked more over the last year if I take cards or not.

 

[Guest123]

My contract term is for 1 year or annually. There are no data charges. The sim for the mobile card machine is on O2, but the machine allows free roaming on other networks if a signal is weak. There is a quarterly charge and a small charge per transaction. This is offset against your sales, you include it in the price of each job or (I hate this one) have a 2.5% surcharge for paying by card as many shops do, but I would never do. Immediately after a customer inserts their card and keys their PIN, a credit check is sent to Streamline and you know there and then if they have enough funds to pay you and the payment is made. The machine then prints a receipt with your company name and both you and your customer get a copy each. The whole process takes about 2 minutes.

OR USE THIS METHOD, YOU CHOOSE...
Ask for payment by invoice, go back another time sometimes after several reminders to collect payment. Remember if you're on say £30 an hour as your rate, you're losing this having to chase money when you should be earning it on another job.

A card machine soon pays for itself and eliminates credit problems, chasing payments and cash flow problems. It also looks very professional when a customer sees the machine that you have.

 

[SimonG]

I also think it gives the customer confidence in your business as well, they pay for their groceries by card, fuel by card, it's all part of their daily lives. But that's just me.

 

[SimonG]

A slight adjustment at the estimating stage on the old ohp and it's not costing a penny. That's the way I'll be looking at it.

 

[nicro3]

Whats the cost per q/ter

 

[Guest123]

Whats the cost per q/ter

That's the discount I'm getting from them and will hear back this week. I'll let you know full rates then.

Anyone interested in a mobile credit/debit card machine to take card payments from your customers, PM me and I'll forward your contact details to CardSave to secure our block discount.

 

[DarrenThomas]

Personally I would never expect someone to do a job in my home home then expect them to accept payment by card. There again thats my opinion.

I wouldn't pay on a card if it was a smaller job like the two I've had done recently (rad install and a room skimmed).

However I don't have 3-4k laying around to get a new boiler installed and 5 new rads. I don't even have it in a bank account. Had I not been able to pay on a card then we simply wouldn't be getting it done.

I asked RBS to give us another 5k on our mortgage (we owe £177k on a £245k house) and they said they would be absolutly delighted... as soon as I paid £200 for a new valuation and £300 product fee and then 5.5% interest.

I went to Barclaycard online and in under 10 minutes had a 0% for 23 months Balance Transfer card winging it's way to my door.

Some will no doubt argue that we shouldn't get it done until we have the money in our hands.

 

[TBServices]

I wouldn't pay on a card if it was a smaller job like the two I've had done recently (rad install and a room skimmed).

However I don't have 3-4k laying around to get a new boiler installed and 5 new rads. I don't even have it in a bank account. Had I not been able to pay on a card then we simply wouldn't be getting it done.

I asked RBS to give us another 5k on our mortgage (we owe £177k on a £245k house) and they said they would be absolutly delighted... as soon as I paid £200 for a new valuation and £300 product fee and then 5.5% interest.

I went to Barclaycard online and in under 10 minutes had a 0% for 23 months Balance Transfer card winging it's way to my door.

Some will no doubt argue that we shouldn't get it done until we have the money in our hands.

I wouldn't care where the money is coming from as long as I got paid. And if you can pay for a new bathroom over 2 years interest free, why not?

 

[Guest123]

Card Save will be contacting all forum members that PM'd me their details. It's a 01476 number or some unusual looking code like that so you'll know when you get the call!

 

[Masood]

Card Save will be contacting all forum members that PM'd me their details. It's a 01476 number or some unusual looking code like that so you'll know when you get the call!

Thanks for setting this up, mate, looking forward to his call..

 

[Mike Jackson]

If I can get card payments sorted I'll stop taking cheques. They are a complete pain in the backside. I have to take an hour out of the day to pay them in and pay £1.50 to park. When it's only a small amount it costs me more to nbank it that the cheque is worth. At the moment I'm encouraging people to pay by BT but cards would be a lot easier.

 

[theanalyst]

Sounds good this. I think I'm going to go this route as it give a much more professional front being able to accept cards..
To those concerned about chargebacks. If you only let customers pay by debit card then your good to go. No chargebacks with debit card payments. Once it's made it's made in my experience.
As for accepting credit cards. I think it's worth it in this day and age, as long as you think the customer is ok and have done a god job, I cant see a problem.
How much does it cost a quarter?

 

[REDSAW]

If I can get card payments sorted I'll stop taking cheques. They are a complete pain in the backside. I have to take an hour out of the day to pay them in and pay £1.50 to park. When it's only a small amount it costs me more to nbank it that the cheque is worth. At the moment I'm encouraging people to pay by BT but cards would be a lot easier.

eh?
dont you have a secretary?

 

[Mike Jackson]

My wife works as well so it's as much trouble for her to get down there as me.

 

[Rodolphe]

I am in the process of setting up with Payleven, a smartphone/app system. No rental, no contract, just 2.75% per transaction.

 

[Mike Jackson]

I've got the Cardsave rep coming to see me tomorrow. Sounds like a good deal.


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[hunterseye]

This is a great debate. Personally i rarely ever carry cash around with me as i always use card for payment. My honest opinion is though (for what its worth), if any proffesional came to my house to carry out work for what ever reason, produced a card terminal, i would see it as making my life a whole lot easier. It would (for me anyway) offer a wow factor. I hate having to trug out to the cash point, and have to worry if my card is being cloned as i attempt to cover up the keypad.