Mobile Card Machines

[Theocus]

Ive done the maths and dont think it works out but does anyone use the mobile card machines either for convenience, instant payment or to offer your clients a smoother service for example.

 

My bank charges (barclays) about 75 pence for a paying in slip and 30p for a cheque. So one cheque is £1.05!!

 

Recently the quarterly bill was £80, the hire of the machine is £27 a month then i think 30p per transaction or a percentage for credit cards. As i said i have done the maths and its not as cheap but it does offer an alternative to paying in cheques or waiting for clients to pay!!

 

The down sides would be, losing it, damage in the truck, woodchip and dust!!!

 

I am sure others have looked into it but be interested to see if its been a success.

[nepia]

Yes, losing it would be a downside. I may be a bit out of date here but certainly up to about a year ago those machines stored recently used card details that could be retrieved with the right software; that's why stolen ones fetched so much when sold on. Mrs. Miggins may not be impressed at buying several laptops online the day after you'd reduced that nice cherry for her.

As I say security within them may have improved but definitely something to assure yourself about before embarking on your electronic venture.

[grizz]

Yes, losing it would be a downside. I may be a bit out of date here but certainly up to about a year ago those machines stored recently used card details that could be retrieved with the right software; that's why stolen ones fetched so much when sold on. Mrs. Miggins may not be impressed at buying several laptops online the day after you'd reduced that nice cherry for her.

As I say security within them may have improved but definitely something to assure yourself about before embarking on your electronic venture.

 

sound interesting best thing about the machines instant payment no more bounced cheques no more knocking on doors for money and no body carries any cash anymore stick it on the card its easy for customers i have a few customers who buy logwood in nets they come in buy 2 nets and pay on the card thats £6 on the plastic cash is history but cash is king

[nepia]

sound interesting best thing about the machines instant payment no more bounced cheques no more knocking on doors for money and no body carries any cash anymore stick it on the card its easy for customers i have a few customers who buy logwood in nets they come in buy 2 nets and pay on the card thats £6 on the plastic cash is history but cash is king

 

Yes - ish! The machines are a great idea and the security aspect is my only concern. Why do they need to store card details for heaven's sake? It's just asking for trouble. Of course perhaps they don't any more but they certainly used to; yobs were ripping them out of shop counters and caning the last 24 hours of card details!

[Ian C]

The cost didnt work out for me either Theo, on top of that it was the contract time, i got told min of 12 months. there not as cheap to run as they make out. the way round it is bank transfer or paypal, i know you still pay to pay pal sometimes but i have used it.

 

The mobile card machines are also more expensive that the ones you see in a shop, simply because its mobile.

[Dean Lofthouse]

I had a mobile card machine for 10 years, not worth it

[Rob D]

Mobile card machines are mega bucks to run. I have one for normal use and for use at shows. But far more expensive than normal (albeit rip off) banking charges.

 

Costs £42-00 a month to rent a month (inv vat) and no you're not allowed to buy it!

 

It's around 30p per debit trans or 2.6%ish for credit card trans.

 

And I think there is another monthly fee of around a £10-00 the bank charges...

 

Securitywise it does store a few recent transactions but not the 3 digit security pin number.

 

For treework BACS and cheques are still far cheaper.

[Stephen Blair]

I think you need to look and see what you think this will solve. ie getting money from customers. Why wait to the end of the contract to try and sort this out. You will most probably of managed to section out and remove 5 ton of timber and brash from their garden with out damaging anything, so it is not to much to ask for the client to go to the bank and take out your money and pay you in cash. ( and you write them a reciept there and then, if they are not going to be in when the job is done then they can arrange for someone else to come round witht he money)

The customer who is on the ball and wants a good job done, hasn't the time to look at the job with you but knows you are the man for the job will send you the money prior to starting, then once his funds have cleared, you do the job.

Making it easier for the lazy customers to be even lazier doesn't do your business any favours. If we all got a memo saying the APF was cash only and no cards, do you think those big fields would be empty next week? no, the guys that know what they want would be there and the time wasters would be somewhere else:001_smile:

[treequip]

If the client wants to pay by card you can use paypal.

 

No machine needed anyone with PC access and a card, and most people can pay you from a smart phone.

 

They also do something called virtual terminal (or something like that) where you can take card details on the phone and enter them to paypal via your pc.

 

Andy

[Hodge]

I looked into this form of taking payment, after finding out that the money does not go straight into your account i decided to stick with cheques.