Stand alone's are expensive. I thought of this when I first started doing this full time.

And with my iphone.. it's processed right through the 3G I already pay for. With my laptop, I'd have to pay for another 3G source.

 

i say just bite the bullet and start accepting credit cards and debit cards. every legit business takes credit cards and i used to pay for everything only w/my card unless i was at a bar.

edit: sorry, i missed the part where you said you were mobile. in that case i dunno. are you customers mobile too or do they normally have a computer when you meet them?

edit 2: you have a laptop w/internet connection? then how about paypal, except make them login and send you payment right there. or even direct transfer from their bank online. laptop w/internet should provide you w/plenty of options, including credit card. maybe set up an online store w/secure payment.

 

Merchant account argument is useless for not accepting credit cards. You are doing nothing but losing business. I often come to a place, and when I learn they don't accept cards, I leave. They lost my money. CC companies take a % of the transaction, meaning, you get paid, they get paid. The pros ALWAYS outweigh the cons. Hell, even Amex. Amex customers usually are better off financially, thus, spend more money, so even if Amex takes a bit more, it's still worth it.

The ONLY reason not to accept CC is for taxes...which if you value your life and livelyhood, I wouldn't mess with.

Stop taking checks, and accept CC.

P.S. Most CC merchants will give you a swiper/pin pad machine for free when you sign a new merchant account with them. You can either have it on dialup or on an internet connection. Most small business still use dialup. It's reliable, and takes about 10-15 seconds.

P.P.S. For mobile applications, you can use the iphone or get a wireless card and a laptop. Iphone is the best bet.

 

Doesn't work that way. You are not LEGALLY allowed to swipe credit cards without a merchant account, and an OK from Visa/MC/Amex/Discover. You can't just buy software and a $20 scanner and swipe away. You need a middle man (merchant) to actually process your transactions.

 

Since you're worried about bounces, not real scammers, keep accepting cashier's checks and money orders.

 

...money order?

 

We use Heartland for our cc processing, we have a terminal, but they also have a website that we can process cards directly through. You could skip the terminal and only use the website for all your processing. I'm sure other CC processors have the same type of service, but we've been really pleased with ours.

Just another idea for you.

 

I operate two businesses. One is an insurance agency. We take checks but that's only because there's essentially no risk for us... if the check bounces, the coverage is rescinded, and we get our money back. But our other business is another type of service that is provided at point of sale. If a check bounces, we're out of pocket. We tried a check verification system, but that only works if the check writer has a history of bouncing checks--it doesn't actually verify funds. So at this point, for that business, it's cash, money order, or credit cards only.

I think the various credit card apps for Android and iPhone are a great idea. If I'm not mistaken, some (if not all) of them allow you to run check cards as debit purchases, which allows you to pay a flat fee (usually $0.25 or so) per transaction instead of a percentage of the purchase amount.

 

Free buff jobs you say?

 

You probably want to use Square since you are mobile and up to date with the times. Its 2.75% plus $.15 per transaction but otherwise free, and they handle the merchant accounts with the cc companies.

Intuit has name recognition and a competing app coming out now - http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/08/int...elp-from-apple/