How To Accept Credit Cards At Craft Shows

I love craft shows. We have some wonderfully gifted individuals among us who seem to magically appear at craft shows. If my credit card budget was bigger, I'd buy almost everything at these shows. They're great.

The odd thing is, quite a few of those crafts booths don't accept credit cards. The small business owners that do however, only manually imprint carbon copies without knowing if a credit card is good or not. Without processing a card with a live authorization, business owners take a big risk by not know if a card is good or not.

That's why if you want to accept credit cards at craft shows, it really should be done with a mobile credit card processing terminal. In this way you get a real time authorization sale. Ideally a wireless credit card machine.

If you have a home based business or a craft business that requires you to sell at different locations, I'd recommend using a certain wireless credit card card machine. It's called a terminal made by Way Systems. The terminal is the MTT 1581.

*Thermal printer included, not shown here.

Wireless mtt 1581 $350-436  (Lower price when on sale) Call me for current pricing and availability.  Compare To These Wireless Terminals: Nurit N-VX610 $699.00 Nurit 8020 $605 Ingenico I7910 GPRS (PCI) $625 Exadigm XD2000 GSM/GPRS OR CDMA $750

However, before you decide and follow my advice, let me give you a little history about wireless credit card machines and the difference between the 1581 and other wireless terminals.

What I've experienced, while selling wireless machines, is that every 2 years credit card machine manufacturers come up with a new machine and stop manufacturing older terminals. Then usually 2 to three years later, they along with merchant service companies start fazing out any support. This means that service for these terminals begins to end. 

Now, unlike regular dial tone and internet credit card machines, which stay supported for 10 years; wireless credit card machines tend to have a shorter lifespan. 

Therefore, I recommend that you buy the cheapest, most affordable, yet quality wireless credit card equipment. Then, if all goes well, your total return on your investment will cost you roughly $106 per year for equipment. The cost benefit of course is the profit you'll be making. The total then lifespan of your machine will be roughly 5 years of use. 

Considering that credit card processing equipment is a piece of machinery that will eventually breakdown, just like anything else, 5 years isn't really that bad of a lifespan. Of course, it would be nice to have equipment last longer. Realistically though, my personal cell phone never lasts longer than 2 years. So, $106 per year to have the ability to accept credit card wirelessly is pretty fair, considering we are not going to be able to change manufacturers.

About The MTT 1581

Alright, now the terminal itself is basically a cell phone which uses Bluetooth technology to wirelessly connect to a card swiper and thermal printer, which comes with it. 

Because it's the size of a cellphone, this makes it very convenient to carry around, compared to the larger and bulky wireless terminals I've mentioned above.

Users, customers of mine who are using this machine, at first find this machine a little challenging. Which isn't surprising because there is a little reading that you need to do, in order to understand which buttons to push for certain tasks. However, the machine is pretty much the same as any other credit card machine. There are usually only very basic tasks that you will repeat day in and day out.

These tasks are the credit card sale, closing/batching out the terminal and once in a while crediting back a card for whatever reason.

By the way, the machine does allow you to swipe and print a receipt, if by chance you cannot get a wireless connection. Which doesn't happen very often because this machine is supported by Apriva. They have the largest wireless network out of any wireless credit card machine network.

That's about it for tasks. The battery life lasts about 8 hours a day. Recharging the cellphone and printer is just like charging any cellphone. 

Monthly costs I've listed on the right side of this page. However, the real long term benefits are the lower upfront costs for this machine compared to all the others, which start around $600. Overall, I really like selling this machine because of the price, size, capabilities and learning curve. It doesn't take long to understand how to use it and business owners can carry it with them anywhere they go. Craft shows are a perfect place for this machine because of it's mobile ability.

It takes about 3 to 5 business days for the equipment to arrive at your door, so be sure to call ahead. Please don't call one day in advance of a craft show, expecting quick service. It won't happen. Wireless terminals take longer to activate and if something goes wrong somewhere, a day or two might be needed to get the machine activated. So, plan ahead and order your equipment way in advance.

Those are my thoughts about this machine and I'll leave it up to you to decide what you like. If you decide you would like to buy it and get set up for service, give me a call. 

Call me toll free today. Get started now.

1-888-604-3443

Ralph Prado

AD: CREDIT CARD PROCESSING

Ok. Here's my blatant sales pitch area.

Monthly Costs:

$20/month wireless service, if using wireless

One time $75 wireless activation fee to turn on wireless service.

$10/month (A monthly statement fee)

We also have a monthly minimum required that your account must reach. 

$25. This means that your total sales must be around $1,600 a month (1.68% X 1600= $26.88) Otherwise, if your sales are, let's say $1000, meaning only $16.80 has been generated in fees, then you'll get charged the difference ($8.20) that month to make up the difference you didn't reach in fees. Does this make sense.

Per Transaction Costs:

Visa & Mastercard Credit

1.68% + .25 cents per transaction

Visa & Mastercard Debit Cards

1.38% + .25 cents per transaction

Those are the basic fees. Please contact me to explain the other stuff that you should be aware of. Or click here to read more about credit card processing fees. 

Want to learn even more? Go back to my credit card processing home page and click on another topic.  Looking for a way to make money online part-time? Check out this Internet Business Opportunity.