Accepting Credit Cards in Your Small Business

If you’re like many small business owners, you’ve probably wondered about how to accept credit cards from your customers. The problem is that it’s sometimes hard to get a merchant account. They often want a lot of money, and want your credit to be spotless, etc. But, it doesn’t have to be that way.

I started my first business back in 2004, investing in real estate. I made a lot of money and then like many other people I got caught by the credit crunch. I got caught holding the bag with over $800,000 in loans outstanding and lost everything.

But, I picked myself up and created a new business, Nerds Next Door an onsite computer repair business. It has gone pretty well, but I was hampered by the fact that I couldn’t accept credit cards when so many of my competitors could. I talked to numerous banks and merchant processing companies. I got flat out denied by most of the banks, and found the best route was a merchant processor who needed a HUGE deposit, and when I say HUGE, I mean in the neighborhood of around $5,000, that they would hold onto for about a year. I just wasn’t able to do that.

So, I started researching alternative credit card processors. I currently am using Paypal to accept credit cards from my customers. I get the customers information and process it right over the internet using my iPhone. It’s easy and seamless. I wasn’t approved for the more advanced business account, but I’m using the basic business account and it’s working really, really well. The fees aren’t that great, roughly 3% from each transaction, so it can eat you up over time.

There are other “no credit”, credit card processing companies out there, but some of them charge outrageous processing fees. Stay away from any company that wants to charge you more than 5% in fees.

Good luck, and don’t give up, there is always a way to get business done.