Mobile credit card processing?

[chechnya]

Hey there.

I know some of you guys do residential work which makes me wonder, how do you charge a person? Do you ask for only checks, money orders or cash? Has anyone done mobile credit card processing? I really want to do this, which is fast, safe and instant. It seems like since im so young, i come up with ideas no one around here does. It sort of works like UPS, how their little tablets are connected via satellite. I have some pictures of what the terminals look like. Some can be connected to a blackberry, a nextel and a pda. The neat thing is the price, alot offer $6.95 a month with 1.75% fee per transaction. Im just impatient and i hate waiting for checks to clear and then the "what if."

What does everyone think about this?

http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/5275/nextel15ac.gif
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/4835/blackberry0bg.jpg
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/1386/number36wl.jpg
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/4820/number27nk.jpg

[smalltime]

I have thought about it, but never pursued it. I became interested in the idea after being told (after finishing the job) they were "short" & it would be a couple days. I also think it could provide more business because some people would be more likely to get things done around their homes when they don't have the money, but they need or want done. If you do start using the setup, let me know how it goes.

[bobcatuser]

I have a mobile card reader from my bank, it accepts all major credit and bankcards. The reader costs $60.00 per month and 3% of purchases.

This device is handy if you do lots of delivery’s or small jobs, for bigger jobs I prefer cheques because the 3% charge will cut into profits.

[chechnya]

The only thing is to convince the people that it is safe and secure. The ones im looking into have 128bit encryption which is the same on any site processing credit cards. The main one im interested in handles all of the transactions so you just subscribe to their service and you just process credit/debit cards.

[cat320]

This sounds like a great idea, so what i want to know is if you have one of these portable machines you can just plug into any phone line to process regardless of where you are? that's if you don't have those type s of cell phones and use that big one with the paper receite . Now does any one charge more if they use a charge machine because of the cost taken away?

[bobcatuser]

Most of the machines I have seen have a cell phone built in and will print a receipt. As far as charging more for using a credit card I don't think you can, just build it into the price before you do the job.

If you don't want to buy the electronic machine, set up a merchant credit account with you're bank. When you have a merchant account get a manual card imprinter and call the 1 800 numbers to get payments authorized. This is what I did before I got the portable machine.

[cat320]

Where is the info on all these types of machines and banks. any web addresses?

[chechnya]

http://www.commercepaymentsystems.com/wireless.htm

http://www.merchantseek.com/wireless-credit-card-processing.htm

[salesrep]

Shop carefully. All of the following are variable with processores.
Transaction fees.
interst rate. cost/lease of the machine, be careful .

In this industry i would go for higher trans fees and lowest possible interest rate. Some will take over the phone, saving the cost of the machine.
The cc processing industry in filled with crooks and those seeking to take advantage of the unknowing. There is a lot of "bells and whistles" many of which are designed for retailers that will add fees for services you don't need or use..
My 2 cents.