I have been taking credit cards since 1995. You should have heard the bankers laugh me out the door (figuratively speaking) when I told them I wanted to take phone orders through selling stuff over this new thing called the internet. But I eventually found a bank, and it was the one with which I was already doing business! My bank also offered me the best rate, price on my machine, etc, so look around and don't grab the first deal that comes your way. I paid $350 for the same machine that my friend bought for $1500!
I will process cards at shows to several different degrees, depending on how fast things are moving, how much something costs, etc. I have an imprinter and I use it to get a physical copy of the card and the signature of the buyer. If I have the time or if it is a very large sale, I will call it in and get an approval number via the cell phone. For lower ticket items I take the chance and run them through the machine when I get home. I think there is a way to program my machine to dial a toll free number at shows, but then I need to pay for a phone line, and it usually is not worth it. I have yet to see a cell phone that will accept a hookup from a CC machine, but I think that there may be one in existence.
I have only had one card fail to go through, and that was way back in 1996. I sold a guy a pen set for $95.00. He took it with him, and when I went to call in the order that night, his card bounced. I called him immediately and politely explained that his card was rejected, and asked what he wanted to do about it. He got all scared, and told me he would drive over to my house the next morning (over 40 miles). He did, he paid, and everything was fine. I think he was afraid that I would come to his house instead. As an aside I have had people joke about bad checks, etc from time to time, and I simply tell them that I am my own collection agency. That stops all talk of not paying up. :cool2:
I have had a few bad cards over the internet, but nothing had gone out before they were processed, so I did not lose anything. I had one guy try to explain to me that the reason his card was rejected was because of the firewall on his computer. Apparently his security device was preventing me from getting money out of his account. Right.
Good luck with it, and if I can answer any more questions, I will be glad to try.
Bill
