Accepting Credit Cards at Craft Markets

Submitted by: Amanda Bosiak, Member Services

Do you accept credit cards at craft markets?

If not, I strongly recommend that you reconsider. The many benefits to you and most importantly, for your customer, far outweigh the few negatives. Those negatives are: 1) credit card fees 2) initial investment in hardware to accept payments.

So let’s put credit card fees in perspective. Say you have a $500 item for sale and you have a very interested buyer. This person doesn’t have $500 cash on them, they don’t carry cheques, but are willing to pay by credit which you don’t accept. You take their contact info and discuss getting in touch after the market. They thank you and move on ... and when you call them a week later they say, “Thanks for getting in touch with me but I found something else at the market and that person took credit. Sorry, I spent my money with them.”

If you accepted credit, you would have lost around 3% of the sale in credit card fees. But you don’t accept credit, so you lost the whole sale.

The other problem can be investment in hardware. The big news: unless you also want to accept debit cards, you don’t need to buy/lease a card machine from companies such as Moneris. However, if you already own a smart phone your start up cost is a whopping $0 as most credit card payment apps will provide you with the app and card reader for FREE.

If you don’t own a smart phone, it is worth looking into. You can phone, text, check email and do other business related tasks on a smart phone or tablet while you are on the road or at markets.

Worried about adding another thing to your already busy schedule? Never be afraid to learn something new every day. It will take much less time than you think.

Without further ado, here is handy chart comparing the various card reader apps for smart phones.

	Square	Payd	Intuit GoPayment	PayPal Here
Time for Approval	Immediate	(Variable)	3-5 business days	3-5 business days
Time to rcv card reader	7-10 business days	7 business days (after approval)	6-10 business days	5-7 business days
iPad/iPhone*	YES	YES	YES	YES
Android*	YES	YES	NO	NO
Blackberry*	NO	YES	NO	NO
Laptop/PC*	NO	NO	YES (Limited)	YES (Limited)
Contract	NO	NO	NO	NO
Setup Fee	NO	NO	NO	NO
Card Fees -          Flat -          Per swipe -          Manual entry	NO Annual/Flat fee 2.75% per swipe 3.5% + 15c manual	NO Monthly/Annual 2.75% per swipe 2.95% + 15c manual	OPTIONS: Monthy Fees $9.95/m + %/trans Pay-as-you-go 2.7%  per swipe 3.3% manual	NO Flat Fee 2.7% per swipe 3.5% + 15c manual
Visa/MC	YES	YES	YES	YES
Amex/other	NO	NO	NO	Amex/PayPal
Debit/Interac	NO	NO	NO	NO
Accepts Chip cards	YES	YES	YES	YES
Deposit to Bank	2 Business Days	1-2 Business Days	YES	YES (goes to PayPal account first)
Accepts PIN/Signature	Signature	Signature	Signature	Signature (cards) Password (PayPal)
Adds Tax	YES	NO	YES	NO
Customer Receipts	Text/Email/Print	Email	Email/Text	Email/Text
Tech support	Online	Online	Online	Online/Phone
Issues Refunds	Within 60 days	Limited	Yes	Yes
Special features	QuickBooks Track sales history CVS database files	Track cash transactions	Item Management QuickBooks TurboTax	Email Invoices PayPal Business

*See card reader websites for complete lists of all compatible devices/OS versions

What you need in order to sign up:

-          Smart Phone or other compatible mobile data device (ex. iPad or tablet)

-          Email address

-          Canadian based bank account

-          Social Insurance Number

-          GST number or other support material proving business status

Do you already use one of these methods of accepting payment? Please share your experience with us!