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Current Opinions On Best Mobile Credit Card Options


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You can't get consistent reception there for cc machines.   I know some vendors just run them and authorize when they leave.    Most cell phone service is sketchy there.   Over 1000 vendors ... not sure how many people attending.    I took a mobile credit card machine there 3 years ago (not square) and it took like 15 minutes to get a transaction through.  Put the machine up and haven't used it since.  

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Square just announced offline mode, which lets you take payments when you don't have an internet connection.

 

https://squareup.com/help/en-us/article/5095-process-payments-with-offline-mode

 

The problem is you still don't know if the card will go through or not. So this is only slightly handy because even though you swipe the card, you still need to write down all their contact info in case the card is declined later on when reception is restored.

 

I have done shows with little to no cell reception, and I just write down all the info and enter it into the system when I get back to my shop. I have been lucky that every card has always gone through without any problems. But I don't know if I would be willing to do that for a big sale, like over $400.

 

I love cash. But coins are a hassle, so I simply add the tax and then round down to the nearest dollar. Everyone wins. I do not recommend using any sort of cash box at a show. I have heard many horror stories about money disappearing from boxes. I keep all my cash in my pockets all weekend at shows. I don't leave it in my hotel room or in my car. I was at a movie a couple of weekends ago after a show day with $1000 in my pocket!

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With no service your options are limited

The old school is what we call the nuckle buster -lay the card in it with a paper and catch the imprint-ask for the perntent info in case it fails at the end of day when you enter it. This was how it was for many years folks-before cell phones for those who can recall that time.

A better option is say my credit card machine which has a store and forward mode(these used to be radio waves and then switched to cell servive some years back) keeps all the data until I can get reception or plug into a land line and it then goes-In either of these cases a bad card is a bad card so you take all the risk

We who are in the fair business have done all these with very few bad cards over time. You need to be able to read your customeer and not take a card for large sales unless it feels right.

Just another skill needed.

Mark

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I use square and pay pal as a back up. Some people like pay pal. I stopped using the card readers at events, spotty overloaded internet and cell service seems to be the norm. It's nice to see square now has offline mode. They have the defaut transaction set at a $100.00 max, but you can change that. I don't like the Idea that you can not cancel a transaction unill it goes though. That could upset a few costomers.

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  • 2 weeks later...

If you don't take cash, I don't buy...anything.  I come to a show with a budget amount and like your idea of pricing to avoid small change/coins.  Good idea to be safe by sending larger amounts of income off with a friend.  It is understandable that the seller not like stickers on items, but as a shopper I don't like picking up lovely items to see the bottom.  I respect the time and effort the maker put into their items, and accidents do happen with handling.  It is annoying to me when the seller is chatting for too long to one person when potential customers are obviously interested in buying.  Also annoying is the increased time it takes to make a transaction when a "card" is used.  Space is limited and others want in to view the products, so a speedy transaction is important.

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I use propay and like it.  You have to ensure that your phone will work with the propay jack that you get, and the jacks are not expensive.  If you do not have reception, you can store the card or manually enter it, though there is a trust relationship there.  The way I look at it, they are trusting me, too.  

 

One thing that I don't like is that the cert is short-lived (for reasonable security reasons) so you often have to re-enter your permissions, then your pin.  And if you blow either one 3 times you're locked out and need to get online or make a phone call. Meanwhile the customer is waiting.  If the piece is $10 or less, at that point I profusely apologize and offer to give them the piece for free, thanking them for their patience. So far though the customer has refused to accept the piece for free, and begs cash from someone else.

 

Also with propay they feature a "Buy Now" button service, where you go to their website with your permissions, then enter the cost of an item and the description, and the web page builds a custom Buy Now button that you then paste on your website; now when someone wants to buy that item they click the button and are transferred over to propay's secure site to buy.

 

The problem with that, is that if a customer wants to buy two items, they have to enter all of their information twice, with two set shipping amounts, in two iterations of the process.  A shopping cart is better for that, though depending on how one goes about that, one might take on more liability that way.  An https:/ website would be necessary for accepting card information over the internet (as well as many other security precautions - one would have to research their particular case).  For large single item purchases however, the buy now button is great!  Also, it is fast - so you can receive an email of interest, tell the customer what you want for the pieces that they want and what the shipping will be, then quickly assemble a buy now button and throw it up there in 5 minutes.  They then click it from their home and you get an email telling you they're good, ship the item. 

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