Layout rebuilt from saved text and links; unavailable decorative artwork is omitted.
Archived form — unavailable in this preview.
for only
Latest News & Views
by Kara Laughlin
Renee Harris had been accepting credit cards on an old knuckle-buster manual imprint machine for ten years when she began getting notices from her company about needing to comply with “truncation laws” requiring her to delete all but the last four digits of her customers’ credit card numbers. Earlier this year, she reluctantly faced the prospect of researching her options for upgrading to a compliant system.
Meg Little has sold her hand-tufted rugs for 15 years without accepting credit cards. Recently, she decided she wanted to remove as many factors as possible that might deter sales. With a drastically reduced lead time for custom orders, she decided she was ready to take the plunge, but without any previous data to draw on, she had no idea how to estimate how much business she would do in credit cards, or how to choose a system that would work for her.
Robin Bergman had a workable relationship with her merchant services company—until they informed her that she wouldn't be able to use her machine anymore and offered a discount on their third required upgrade in as many years. Having already spent more than $2,000 on equipment for a wireless system, she decided she’d had enough. She did a little research and decided to keep the system she already had but lost faith in a merchant services company that either deliberately mislead her or couldn't get the facts as well as she did on her own.
Many artists are in Robin, Meg or Renee’s situations, and more can sympathize. The world of credit card acceptance, or merchant services, can seem like a morass of hidden fees and unintelligible guidelines and laws, in which the artist can feel like the one with the least information and the most to lose.
Though it may seem like the variety of systems is overwhelming, there are really only five basic kinds of systems for accepting credit cards. And if you’re planning to take cards at craft shows or from a store, you can narrow it down to three. Once you’ve decided on the basics, the rest of the choice is just about picking the details that fit your personality, business, and service provider.
Read more in this issue of Crafts Business.
