MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Anyone got any recommendations? Low initial outlay preferred, but also must not have a monthly fee. She's looking at worldpay now which is £30 for a gadget that links to your phone.
Is there some kind of website you can use to just type card details in?
I was going to say try one of those phone card swipe gadgets...
Paypal on an iPad?
Yeah - PayPal smart card reader isn't expensive, for occasional use.
https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/credit-card-reader
Rachel
I don't know why but I never trust paying by card at fairs, cycle shows etc.
Paypal? most people own an account to that.
PayPal Here
I used izettle recently, seemed OK.
Looks like you need to buy the reader device for all these..?
We used to do craft fairs every week, and now dont due to the huge amount of timewasters, who attended,people who didnt know what they wanted, and sdidnt have ny money to pay, so asked if we took cards, we also took credit cards, and when other traders realise you take credit cards they want you take paymnets for them as well, and sometimes will offer a bit more as bribe, never accept it, a chapp did on the next stall, a few weeks later saw him again, the credit card he accepted was stolen, and he had the cash debited from his account by the car providior.
I got the zettle reader for free on a special offer. Worth keeping an eye out.
We have a credit card reader in the shop and have used the paper back up card reader at fairs - you have to call for authorisation though (but it's automated so fine). Friends really rate the Paypal thing for occasional use - one payment for the reader is great compared to terminal rental.
Do any of these devices print a receipt?
So.. The event is the primary school PTA fundraising shopping night. Would you expect people to accept cards at such an event? The items are £35-60 or so, so more money than most people would bring we think.
Thing is we won't be expecting to sell many, might only sell one. We've already paid £20 for the table, so with the Worldpay widget costing £40 we'd need to sell two just to come out ahead.
I would not bother with the card payments, but she is torn.
My dad has the paper thing(gives carbon copy)then then processes at home/workshop on the normal device. Only worth it as a business thing. School I reckon paypal at the most, don't most people take cash to such events? Or cheques?
We use apps from www.adelante.co.uk free setup, no monthly charge they just take a % on transaction.
The upper end of your price range in more than most people will be likely to have in their pocket, even for something thats a shopping event.
I'd say if you regularly plan to do craft fairs then the card payment thing is something you'll need to do sooner or later. Craft buyers are impulsive so you need to let them cave into that impulse. You'll find the more people enthuse, talk about, think about buying, walk round all the stalls and come and look again - the more they're not likely to actually buy it. Real buyers sort of have an affliction and will want it there and then.
But for school based events you and all the potential buyers are local. You could maybe take deposits for a higher priced item from anyone who's not got that much folding in their pocket on the basis that you all live local and frequently visit the school so its easy to settle up. You could even use your kids as mules to make the transaction.
My mate sells at country shows he users something called Pacnet, this works on a radio network as opposed to 3G or mobile phone network. This system has not let him down. One of the problems with using 3G / mobile phone signals is the more people on this medium is that you can lose your signal and transactions don't get through
I picked up an iZettle machine-widget on offer. I use it for any card transactions for my business. 2.75% charge per transaction and you can e-mail a receipt direct from within the app.
It's pretty good, you can set up a catalogue within the app, or on the website and apply discounts and suchlike as you go along.
It's worked out pretty well as a lot of my customers don't like carrying the amount of cash my services cost...
You can use iZettle without the card reader - just on a smart phone.
There is no charge to setup, so you only pay if you make a sale.
https://www.izettle.com/gb/service
Rates from 1.5 to 2.75%
[i]Would you expect people to accept cards at such an event?[/i]
Why not, or do folk empty their wallets out of cards before going out?
My mate sells at country shows he users something called Pacnet, this works on a radio network as opposed to 3G or mobile phone network. This system has not let him down. One of the problems with using 3G / mobile phone signals is the more people on this medium is that you can lose your signal and transactions don't get through
It's Paknet and it runs over a mobile phone network but uses a low speed protocol that's ideal for lossy/error prone connections. Its the name of the network thou and not the card payment processor of the POS terminal supplier.
Russell96 - thanks for the correction, it does seem very robust and hasn't failed yet
😆You could even use your kids as mules to make the transaction.
Thing is we won't be expecting to sell many, might only sell one. We've already paid £20 for the table, so with the Worldpay widget costing £40 we'd need to sell two just to come out ahead.
Instead of asking for payment, take orders and a token deposit on the evening? Might be many more people happy put a fiver down on the night. Sort out the rest with bank transfer, cheque or cash on delivery/collection.