How To Process Credit Cards At A Flea Market
By Debbie Dragon

If your business operates at flea markets, you may not realize
that you still have the ability to accept credit cards from your
customers. It's no secret that shoppers spend more money when
they use their credit card, so you definitely want to offer your
flea market customers a way to swipe those cards to increase
your sales volume.

If you’re just starting out, or are a small-time business that
occasionally rents booths at flea markets, it may not be in your
best interest to sign up for a merchant account with a bank and
then purchase the somewhat expensive equipment that would let
you physically swipe a card at your flea market booth. On the
other hand, if you are a thriving flea market business, you may
be able to do just that- and use a satellite internet connection
to send the credit card details to the processor.

Using A Telephone to Process Credit Card Payments From
Customers

Most of the small and medium sized businesses with flea market
or vendor fair booths can’t justify the expense of the merchant
account equipment. Fortunately, that doesn’t mean there is no
way to accept credit cards on-site! One of the easiest methods
of accepting credit cards from customers in a flea market
situation is to use a phone-in method.

Some merchant accounts actually let you call a toll free
number, enter in your personal account number to verify your
business, and then using your cell phone’s keypad, you would
enter in the credit card details. The automated system can tell
you whether or not the credit card has funds available for their
purchase and you can proceed with the sale. This is a superior
method to simply writing down the customers card details on an
order form, because you never know if the credit card will go
through until you’ve returned home or to the office and entered
the details- long after the customer has already received his or
her merchandise from your flea market booth!

The fees for an accept-by-telephone credit card processing
method are often much less than a traditional merchant account
as well. Not only do you not have to purchase the equipment to
process the card, but your monthly fees are usually lower. You
can expect to pay a one-time fee to join the program, around
$100 or so; and then an affordable monthly fee around $5. When
you process credit cards by phone, each transaction will be
discounted by the discount rate (typically around 3-4% of the
transaction price).

Using Your Laptop and Internet Connection to Process Credit
Card Payments

If you have a laptop with a wireless connection that works
pretty much everywhere you go for flea markets or vendor fairs,
your other option is to use a credit card processing system that
allows you to accept credit cards via a web form.

For each customer, you would type in their payment details
including their name, address, card type and number, expiration
date, and even the three or four digit security code found on
the back of the card. The web form would send the information
through a secure server and return a response to let you know
whether or not the card is valid- at which time you can continue
processing the sale for the customer or tell them the card was
declined.

Using these alternative methods of credit card processing makes
it possible for small and medium sized businesses operating
booths at vendor fairs and flea markets to increase their sales
volume by accepting credit cards as payment.

About the Author: This article has been provided courtesy of
Creditor Web, http://www.creditorweb.com .

Source: http://www.isnare.com

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