Chip and PIN machines

[Garfield942]

Does any body use a chip and pin machine?  I sell items at craft fairs but not being a professional i am wondering if it is going to be viable to hire one of these machines, as cheques are being phased out.  If anybody uses one of these gizmos perhaps you could let me know details so that i can see if this is going to be cost effective.

Thanks
Garfield942

[Dave Atkinson]

Hi Garfield

The AWGB has a chip & Pin machine and they are not cheap.  Unless you are doing an excellent turnover I doubt it will be cost effective.

Back to the good old days of cash!!

I have read recently that the banks are going to stop guaranteeing cheques this year (July springs to mind).  I think it was on one of those letters from the bank that I don't tend to read properly.   I may of course be completely wrong about that though.

Cheers Dave

[Martin Lawrence]

Hi Garfield,

 Cheques are going to be around untill at least 2018, but as from next month there is no such thing as a cheque gaurantee card so I would suggest taking name and address with proof of ID incase a cheque bounces from now on.

Cheers Martin.

[john taylor]

As mentioned from the 30th June the guarantee scheme will cease to be so if you take a cheque it will be at your own risk.

After putting it off for a couple of years and after a lot of research I have just got a chip & pin system.   The cost can be very high both in rental and the percentage the card companies take per sale.   The average seems to be £50 a month rental and 5% per credit card transaction and 50p per debit card.   You will also need a business account, which charges you for just about every transaction you make and a merchant account.   There are several other ways you can take cards such as pay pal virtual terminal which you can use at shows but they are long winded and don’t always give the same guarantee as chip & pin.

The cheapest way I have found whilst still giving you the guarantee of chip and pin is as follows.

Firstly join the Federation of Small Businesses as a sole trader this will currently cost you £120 a year.

Then using their special arrangement open a business account with the Co-op bank this is free of any charges, unless you pay in more than £4000 in a month, for as long as you are a member of the FSB.

Also using their special deal with 123Send get your chip & pin system and your merchant account with Streamline.   This gives you a monthly rental of £27 and the charges are 3% per credit card transaction and 30p per debit card transaction.

So although you are paying an annual fee to the FSB, which gets you a lot of other things as well, you get free banking, and 50% of terminal rental and card charges.

john

[Colin]

An alternative that I use is get friendly with a business that has one of these machines and come to an arrangement. I am lucky my sister has one with her business and I just ring her and she does a cardholder not present transaction for me and we sort the money out later. Cheaper for me and no real cost to her.

[woodndesign]

It will be interesting as to just how soon it will be before transactions can be carried out on your mobile phone, if as already you can use the internet with one...

Sign of the times, as to money disappearing and numbers on a screen, what with BAC'S and Electronic transfers etc..    it may not be down to a card, if that or even just a number....  to buy or sell   ....

Not one of the Nations can back what you spend..   well maybe the Oil rich world..

[Paul Hannaby]

There have been credit card services using mobile phones for quite a few years but from what I recall, they weren't a great deal cheaper than the chip & pin machines.

[Katchin]

makes sense, my phone already has a barcode scanner application in it, where it scans the code then looks it up on the internet for best prices.

[Tony Walton]

An alternative that I use is get friendly with a business that has one of these machines and come to an arrangement. I am lucky my sister has one with her business and I just ring her and she does a cardholder not present transaction for me and we sort the money out later. Cheaper for me and no real cost to her.

I have credit card processing facilities and would like to point out that the above action is illegal as it is classified as money laundering and a merchant can only process card transactions in relation to the business it was registered for.
I have been asked a number of times by other craft fair vendors if I can put a card transaction through my terminal for them and have and will always refuse.
If you do decide process transactions for others remember that if the customer is not happy with the purchase and disputes the transaction a charge reversal can be applied and the terminal holder is left holding the bill.

[Bryan Milham]

I don't know how it works but a member of our club has a PayPal account he can use over his mobile phone and when we do large shows we are able to take payment from customers via them paying him (and he later pays our treasure of course).

Has anyone else got any details on how this works?

Might be worth looking into as an alternative method.

[john taylor]

I think it is part of virtual terminal, he will be logged into his paypal account and process it as a mail order transaction.

john

[Dave Atkinson]

Hello all

I found this "in another place". 

I've not researched it through but you may find it of interest.

Cheers Dave
http://www.adelante.co.uk

[Andy Coates]

I can tell you about them...

landline-based POS system £15 month + setup fee etc.

mobile handheld wifi unit £18 per month on 12 mnth contract...53 transactions included. 20p per trans after that.

android POS via app...£10 per month, £25 setup fee

[woodndesign]

The costs have gone up since I had a merchant account.. We had a Streamline POS reader through Federation of Small Businesses, which has been mentioned before, I'd of liked the Co-op free banking, as our Banks Business account changed for transactions again on sells... (this could have been charged, as some do for card transactions, but when your a small fry, some dislike the extra charge)..  well the Bank changed on everything, even if you had to pay in cash..   to many lumps in mattress...    ...  if only.

Have we at all come up with a result to this and to how we get hold of the customers payment, if not cash..

It was interesting that on the program handed out at wood@works Daventry, it had on the back details, distant and route to the nearest cash point machine...  just in case the cash run out..      ..    so maybe at an event, a look round for a near by hole in the wall could be an answer..    Our Club went to an event at the local town centre Church and the PO, Halifax, Barclays and Lloyds are all in view..    .. in that order... 

David

[Paul Hannaby]

I was at the Spring garden show at Malvern last month and lots of people had problems with their chip&pin machines failing to process card payments. It wasn't confined to a particular machine or a particular mobile network, all seemed to suffer. It appeared that the large influx of people (as you might expect at such a show) was overloading the mobile phone networks.

Has anyone had similar problems at other large shows?

Unfortunately all the mobile systems seem to rely on mobile phone networks and they don't give any guarantees on service.