Accepting & Processing Credit Cards

Nowadays, if you want to sell products to customers, you need to be able to accept credit cards for payment. There's a cost involved with it that includes monthly fees, transaction fees and even a percentage of sales. However, getting the cost of the sale minus the fees beats getting nothing, if the customer only had a credit card with which to pay.

• 1

  Research the companies offering credit card merchant services to find the one that's best for your business. Some have lower monthly costs but take a higher percentage of the sale. This might be best for a small business that is starting up and needs to watch expenses. Other companies might take a lower percentage of sale in exchange for a higher transaction fee. This scenario might work best with a company that has higher-priced items. You'll need to look at your sales projections and see how each credit card company's costs will affect your bottom line.

• 2

  Apply for a merchant account once you find the company whose merchant services plan works best for you. At the very least, look for a company that has 24-hour customer service and web-based features so that you can also accept credit cards online if you choose to. The application can usually be filled out online at the credit card company's website. Some companies may charge an application fee to open a credit card processing account.

• 3

  Purchase or rent a credit card machine. This is the little machine that you see next to cash registers that the clerk swipes the credit card through to enter sale information. Depending on the company you are working with, you can rent or purchase these machines. You may find some that offer free machines, though they might also have higher costs elsewhere.

• 4

  Set up the machine at your business. Follow the instructions for your particular machine to get it operational. Once the machine is working, you can contact the credit card company to test the system.

• 5

  Process credit card transactions. Purchases will be deposited into your account, and you pay your monthly fees to the credit card company from it.