Card payment systems help!

[JJH93]

Hello everyone so I have read through loads of previous threads and I've been number crunching and researching and my brain is at melting point so I thought I'd get some advice!
I work in a very old fashioned salon, I'm the youngest one in here by a good 30 years (don't get me wrong I love it) but it's so behind the times. We only take cash which I think is ridiculous nowadays, especially as I'm the only one doing balayage, colour corrections and vivids! So I've been looking into card payment systems. My boss refuses to get one for all of us, so as I'm self employed I'm looking into doing it myself!
I'm going on the basis that all my clients will pay on card (as they all constantly moan about it lol), so I was wondering if it's best to pay monthly or just a percentage?
Also my boss takes a percentage at the end of every week.
I think that's all, thank you in advance

 

[suse82]

I recently took the plunge too, I'm with world pay and I paid for the machine right out and then just pay as I go kinda thing as I didn't know how much I'd use it. I think the minimum monthly charge is from £33 then you have transaction fees on top of that so at the moment paying as I go is working out cheaper for me.

 

[JJH93]

Thank you I was looking at world pay

 

[squidgernetball]

How much would you be taking a month on cards? What percentages are you looking at? I pay £24 pm rental and about 0.7% on transactions but we put about £12,000 pm through it. On a 2.75% we'd be paying crazy money so you need to work it out. Maybe one with no rental but a higher charge to start you off, then switch as it becomes more established. Beware that others may want to use your machine. And please don't charge your clients for paying on card. I think it's really inappropriate.

Vic x

 

[redlottie13]

I started out with a Barclays everywhere machine but it's quite high at like 2.7% per transaction. I'm now with clover and its a lovely little iPad kind of device (looks v posh!) You Can use the back office system to generate your weekly numbers, you can print, text or email receipts too. It's 22 pm then 0.7 per transaction I believe! If you want me to recommend you let me know and I'll send you the contact details x

 

[JJH93]

How much would you be taking a month on cards? What percentages are you looking at? I pay £24 pm rental and about 0.7% on transactions but we put about £12,000 pm through it. On a 2.75% we'd be paying crazy money so you need to work it out. Maybe one with no rental but a higher charge to start you off, then switch as it becomes more established. Beware that others may want to use your machine. And please don't charge your clients for paying on card. I think it's really inappropriate.

Vic x

Well I'm self employed in a small town salon and it would only be me so not a huge deal of money. That's why I wondered whether it would be better to pay monthly and a smaller transaction fee or a bigger transaction fee and nothing monthly. I've been trying to work it all out but my brain turned to mush and I suppose I was looking for someone in a similar position to me to advise . I wasn't going to, I just want to make it easier for them to pay without having to run around finding cash machines

 

[JJH93]

I started out with a Barclays everywhere machine but it's quite high at like 2.7% per transaction. I'm now with clover and its a lovely little iPad kind of device (looks v posh!) You Can use the back office system to generate your weekly numbers, you can print, text or email receipts too. It's 22 pm then 0.7 per transaction I believe! If you want me to recommend you let me know and I'll send you the contact details x

Most of the ones I've been looking at have been between 2-3% which I thought was quite a chunk. Yes please that would be lovely! X

 

[redlottie13]

No worries love I'll message you when I'm in the salon tomo.....it's just me In my salon too but love the organisation of this super easy for my books too x

 

[JJH93]

That would be perfect, thank you so much! I'm awful with maths and numbers and all that side of it [emoji85][emoji85] x

 

[Jake nattrass hair]

I use transax, it's a massive global company who offer really good competitive prices for smaller businesses. my monthly total including card transaction charges (and I would say 90% of my clients pay card) is around £50.

 

[JJH93]

Thank you I will have a look at them too

 

[hazelb]

I got a pay as you go deal with world pay at 1.75% as I am a BABTAC member. It was the best deal out there. So hunt around fort he deals!

The other thing is if you have a younger clientele who use mobile banking apps, you can set it up so they pay direct to your mobile phone no ( which is linked to your bank account) there are no charges for doing this

Most of my clinets are 40 plus so they pay me by card or cash though some use mobile payment. I occasionally use bank transfers, but those are a pain and you are relying on people remembering to pay you and you remembering to check

 

[Effi Briest]

I use a SumUp card reader that works through the app I've got on my mobile. I think I paid around £25 as it was on offer and it is very reliable. I am mobile and not many of my clients pay by card,but for the few who do it is a alternative to bank transfer and cash. I pay a small percentage in transaction fees, but since I only get the odd card payment I don't mind. And I haven't got any ongoing monthly costs or tie ins.

 

[JJH93]

Thanks everyone, I'll definitely call these up and get some ideas of what's best!
My boyfriend just looked at sum up for me and said it looked good

 

[FlawlessBeauty]

I use izettle which works well for me. It costs 2.75% unless you hit a certain amount and then it's less. No monthly fees otherwise. It works through your wifi though. Not sure if you have that x

 

[rachelizabeth]

I second izettle! Really reliable and it works through 3G/4G not just wifi Takes all major cards, contactless, Apple Pay. I got the reader quite cheap on offer, think they do different colours now too. The app is also as great as the reader, you can organise everything so I've basically got my price list on there which is easy for putting transactions through, and then it emails a receipt to the client which you can customise. Looks very professional and yes the percentage/transaction fee goes down the more money you take!

 

[hazelb]

Find the options out there and do the numbers:

Lost of people will say 'it's only 2.75 %' but that is a big chunk of your earnings and doesn't make it that much cheaper than a contract machine.

say you did 10 treatments a week costing £30 each - that would be a whopping £33 a month, even with 1.75% it would be £26 a month.

Contract terminals tend to be a fixed monthly rate on a 24 / 36 month contract and low fees per transaction, or a pay as you go terminal option with no monthly fees but a higher fee per transaction.

There are lots of comparison websites out there for different payment solutions.

Other things to consider:
Do you want to take payments over the phone for vouchers etc? ( world pay zinc -yes, sum up no )
Do you want to be able to email people a secure payment link so they can pay online? ( worldpay zinc- yes, sum up no )

With world pay zinc app lets me log all my cash payments as well so I can print off a monthly report to show both cash and card payments received for the month to keep my book keeping simple.

 

[JJH93]

I've done the numbers really and for me it seems to work out quite similar so I wasn't really sure whether I should go without a contract to see how it works out

 

[Karen 1405]

No worries love I'll message you when I'm in the salon tomo.....it's just me In my salon too but love the organisation of this super easy for my books too x

Could you recommend me too please? X

 

[Piercednige]

I'm with card savers.
I pay 18 pm for rental of the machine.
No minimum monthly charges for transactions.
0.3% for debit cards and 0.6% for credit.