Brad Sondahl on thu 30 dec 99
How expensive is it to accept credit card transactions, particularly on
the web?
I've started a new commercial site (address below), but their offer of
$20/month for credit card transactions doesn't include $400 for
"software."
Any reasonable deals that you are aware of? I get a lot of spam email
offers, but don't trust any of them.
--
Brad Sondahl
New commercial pottery page http://www.sondahl.safeshopper.com
http://www.camasnet.com/~asondahl/bradindex.html
Sondahl homepage http://www.camasnet.com/~asondahl
Original literature, music, pottery, and art
John Rodgers on fri 31 dec 99
Brad,
I think I would talk to my bank about this first, then go from there. You
might also try an outfit called NOVUS. They are all over the place here in
the south and an awful lot of businesses have opted to use them instead of
the banks. I would expect them to be right on top of this internet secure
site thing for credit card transactions, because credit cards are their
business, Sorry, I don't have a phone number or Address but I would expect
they could be found on the net of in the 800 yellowpages.
Good luck.
John Rodgers
Birmingham, AL
Brad Sondahl wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> How expensive is it to accept credit card transactions, particularly on
> the web?
> I've started a new commercial site (address below), but their offer of
> $20/month for credit card transactions doesn't include $400 for
> "software."
> Any reasonable deals that you are aware of? I get a lot of spam email
> offers, but don't trust any of them.
> --
> Brad Sondahl
> New commercial pottery page http://www.sondahl.safeshopper.com
> http://www.camasnet.com/~asondahl/bradindex.html
> Sondahl homepage http://www.camasnet.com/~asondahl
> Original literature, music, pottery, and art
Dave Eickholt on fri 31 dec 99
Hi Brad, Yahoo site has 100$ a month for a small store. This includes your
web space, web software, all the web-based processing for orders and you can
have up to 100 items listed. You still pay the merchant % to your regular
card processor. Yahoo takes care of transmitting orders, confirmation emails
and the credit card info. It looks like a good deal to me, but I plan to
start with a smaller operation that doesn't take credit cards, and then this
summer start the credit card biz.
Ray Aldridge on sun 2 jan 00
At 01:02 PM 12/31/99 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Hi Brad, Yahoo site has 100$ a month for a small store. This includes your
>web space, web software, all the web-based processing for orders and you can
>have up to 100 items listed. You still pay the merchant % to your regular
>card processor. Yahoo takes care of transmitting orders, confirmation emails
>and the credit card info. It looks like a good deal to me, but I plan to
>start with a smaller operation that doesn't take credit cards, and then this
>summer start the credit card biz.
>
If you don't already have a merchant account (which can be a
high-maintenance obligation, considering monthly fees, set-up fees, fees to
generate reports, etc.) there's a very cheap alternative, ccnow.com
They call themselves an "online retailer." Their clients pay a set
commission on sales-- it was 8% during Nov-Dec. There are no set-up fees
or other fees, so it's ideal for getting your feet wet in net commerce. I
had an outstanding online Christmas season, so I might have done slightly
better with a merchant account, but the commission was very reasonable, all
things considered. Plus, they provide secure online ordering via their own
shopping cart system. There are drawbacks. For example, if you have a
disagreement with a customer, ccnow will always refund the customer's money
eventually. That's okay by me, since I offer to take back anything a
customer isn't completely satisfied with, but others might find this
automatic largesse irritating. The other and more significant drawback is
that shipping costs are currently limited to a set amount per order. I had
the problem of setting the amount low enough not to scare off someone who
was just buying a mug, but not so low that I took a major bath on a larger
order-- but I took a lot of baths over the holidays. They claim they're
going to be able to calculate actual costs Real Soon Now.
By the way, in the past I've recommended hypermart.com as a reasonable free
web space sponsor. But I was less than satisfied with several aspects of
my service there, and switched to an inexpensive paid server in October.
I've been very happy with the service since, and the cost is quite
reasonable-- $13.00/month. Check out cedant.com if you're in the market
for a paid server to set up a storefront.
The great thing about the web is that work and research can substitute for
money if you're building an online presence on a shoestring. My site costs
me nothing but the 13 bucks a month, even though I've got a lot of stuff on
it that you can pay for if you've got cash to burn.
Ray
Aldridge Porcelain and Stoneware
http://www.goodpots.com
Diane Woloshyn on sun 2 jan 00
Hi Brad,
NOVUS was mentioned as a credit card provider, but they only handle Discover
Cards. You will have to go to another provider for Visa and Master Card.
BUT the providers are very competitive and you can use that to your
advantage. Check more than one or two to get the best percentage available.
You will most likely have to invest something up front to set up an account.
The terminals can be bought or leased and you have to buy the supplies from
your provider. The more business you do (or charge) the lower the rate
(usually). We pay 2.25% on Visa/Master Card, 3% on Discover, and 3.1% on
American Express. This is not a pottery business and grossed about $500,000
last year, which is very small potatoes in the world of business.
Good luck.
Diane Florida Bird Lady
CINDI ANDERSON on sun 2 jan 00
Actually, to follow up, we signed up for the Credit Card Merchant
Program through CostCo, and they use Novus who handles Visa, MC and
American Express. Maybe it's a different Novus, because I had
associated them with Discover card also...
Anyway, their discount rate and fees were the lowest I found; you just
have to get an executive CostCo membership for $100 to be eligible.
Everyone charges something for the software or terminal, even though you
should be able to submit through the web. Often it's just an
application fee in disguise. I would mostly stay away from the ones
that are $50 a month leasing fee. Big scam. CostCo was something like
$25 application fee and $180 for the software. No $10 "statement fee"
like most people charge. And the lowest "minimum charge" I saw.
Anyway, I would check them out for comparison. They also can do real
time authorization over the web if that's what you want.
Cindi
-------------
Diane Woloshyn wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Hi Brad,
>
> NOVUS was mentioned as a credit card provider, but they only handle Discover
> Cards. You will have to go to another provider for Visa and Master Card.
> BUT the providers are very competitive and you can use that to your
> advantage. Check more than one or two to get the best percentage available.
> You will most likely have to invest something up front to set up an account.
> The terminals can be bought or leased and you have to buy the supplies from
> your provider. The more business you do (or charge) the lower the rate
> (usually). We pay 2.25% on Visa/Master Card, 3% on Discover, and 3.1% on
> American Express. This is not a pottery business and grossed about $500,000
> last year, which is very small potatoes in the world of business.
>
> Good luck.
>
> Diane Florida Bird Lady
Jonathan Kaplan on mon 3 jan 00
We went directly to our bank here in Steamboat Springs and they set us up
as an "occassional" merchant. No fee whatsoever. We purchased a
re-furbished Tranz printer and terminal for about $150.00. Box o' supplies
was free.
Our fee per transaction is 3.5%, quite low considering our volume. We do
mostly sales of ware, consultations, or mold work over the phone and
manually key in the card number, which costs a bit more in our fee.
We have been quite impressed by he level of service from the bank and the
card center and have been treated with professionalism and courtesy for
many years.
Jonathan
Jonathan Kaplan
Ceramic Design Group
PO Box 775112
Steamboat Springs CO 80477
voice and fax 970 879-9139
jonathan@csn,net
http://www.sni.net/ceramicdesigin
John Rodgers on mon 3 jan 00
Novus handles many cards including Visa and Mastercard. My son's business has
one of the Novus machines and uses it every day. The Visa and Mastercards are
the dominant cards that are used in the machine.
John Rodgers
Birmingham, AL
Diane Woloshyn wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Hi Brad,
>
> NOVUS was mentioned as a credit card provider, but they only handle Discover
> Cards. You will have to go to another provider for Visa and Master Card.
> BUT the providers are very competitive and you can use that to your
> advantage. Check more than one or two to get the best percentage available.
> You will most likely have to invest something up front to set up an account.
> The terminals can be bought or leased and you have to buy the supplies from
> your provider. The more business you do (or charge) the lower the rate
> (usually). We pay 2.25% on Visa/Master Card, 3% on Discover, and 3.1% on
> American Express. This is not a pottery business and grossed about $500,000
> last year, which is very small potatoes in the world of business.
>
> Good luck.
>
> Diane Florida Bird Lady
kelty-huber on mon 3 jan 00
Hi Brad,
We have been using Novus Service for four years in our shop. we can take
Visa, Master, and discover. The rate was the lowest that we found at that
time. and the service has been excellent for these past four years. I hope
that this helps. WWW. NOVUSNETWORK.com
Tom Huber
Ogunquit River Pottery
Wells, Maine
At 07:42 PM 1/2/00 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Hi Brad,
>
>NOVUS was mentioned as a credit card provider, but they only handle Discover
>Cards. You will have to go to another provider for Visa and Master Card.
>BUT the providers are very competitive and you can use that to your
>advantage. Check more than one or two to get the best percentage available.
>You will most likely have to invest something up front to set up an account.
>The terminals can be bought or leased and you have to buy the supplies from
>your provider. The more business you do (or charge) the lower the rate
>(usually). We pay 2.25% on Visa/Master Card, 3% on Discover, and 3.1% on
>American Express. This is not a pottery business and grossed about $500,000
>last year, which is very small potatoes in the world of business.
>
>Good luck.
>
>Diane Florida Bird Lady
>
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