Brad Sondahl on thu 31 jan 02
I'm looking around a bit on the web, and found a place you can use your
pc to enter credit card info. Since I already have a pc, it seems it
might be a cheaper route to go then buying a card swiper. (I'm not
worried about speed of transaction as I don't do art fairs, and my sales
are generally nicely spread out). Anyone have experience in this area?
In particular, I found this site, http://www.paymentprocessor.net, which
yields precious little info about itself (subsidiary of infodial inc.)
but appears to be a good deal. I checked at the BBB website and found
them to be in business since 1992. I first found them at TUCOWs,
looking for credit card processing software. They were the only entry.
I downloaded it, and it has a very straightforward system, but
remarkably little in support or testamentary evidence, considering they
want your bank acct number, etc.
I know some people have mentioned the phone pushbutton entry system, but
keyboarding appeals to me more than that does...
I am also leaning towards the Potters' Council route (after all, you
save on your CM and PMI subscriptions, and the company they use is
presumably on the up and up.
I'm guessing no one has responded to my queries uses the Potter's
Council plan largely because most successful potters already had a card
system before joining the 1300 or so potter's council members.
Brad Sondahl
--
For original art, music, pottery, and literature, visit my homepage
http://home.earthlink.net/~bsondahl/
Pottery homepage http://sondahl.freeyellow.com
New music site at mp3.com http://www.mp3.com/sondahl
Gary Elfring on sat 2 feb 02
Hello Brad,
Thursday, January 31, 2002, 1:29:53 PM, you wrote:
BS> I'm looking around a bit on the web, and found a place you can use your
BS> pc to enter credit card info. Since I already have a pc, it seems it
BS> might be a cheaper route to go then buying a card swiper. (I'm not
BS> worried about speed of transaction as I don't do art fairs, and my sales
BS> are generally nicely spread out). Anyone have experience in this area?
BS> In particular, I found this site, http://www.paymentprocessor.net, which
BS> yields precious little info about itself (subsidiary of infodial inc.)
BS> but appears to be a good deal.
I have been taking credit cards via my PC for over 10 years. If you
have a PC there is no reason to buy or rent one of those terminals.
In the past you got a merchant account and they supplied you with
software (usually for free, and the software was pretty bad).
Now there are a number of commercial suppliers of PC transaction
software, and you aren't limited to just bad software. These software
packages work with virtually any credit card processor. Note they
*don't* work over the web. You configure them and they dial up through
your modem directly to your credit card processor.
The programs are a pain to configure, but you only have to do that
once. If you get your merchant account through your local bank they
will typically have no idea this software even exists. They can
research it, and then give you the names of several software
suppliers. The software costs from $250 - $500. Expensive, but it runs
for years with no additional fees.
I'm using IC-Verify for Visa/Master Card, and as a gateway to American
Express. You can use these programs by themselves to process each transaction,
or in a batch mode. (I batch mine- my invoicing program saves up credit card
transactions, and I run them in a batch every once in a while during
the day.)
--
Best regards,
Gary mailto:info@elfring.com
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