Why your business should accept cards

I work with many different size companies, but mostly small business, including solo entrepreneurs. Sometimes they are nervous about accepting cards because they are unsure of how the process works or how much it could grow their business. 

Well, I’m here to tell you that accepting credit cards and debit cards as payment is one of the best things you can do for your business. Here are five reasons you should take cards: 

You lose more money than the fees cost

I know. Cards have fees associated with them and no one likes paying them. It feels like one more expense that is cutting into your profit, and you probably feel that you have enough of those already. But, people rarely carry cash or checks anymore because so many places won’t take checks and cash can be a hassle. Why would they when most of the places they do business with take cards? The fact is, cards are the way people pay these days. So by not taking cards, you are losing out on potential sales that would far outweigh any business expenses you incur from the fees. 

No cash to handle 

Handling cash including giving change and making sure you keep the money safe from loss or theft is a hassle for anyone. You need to have good cash-handling procedures in place and make sure your employees know the rules for handling cash. You also want to have good operational control procedures in place to make sure your employees aren’t taking some of that cash for themselves. Cash-only operations also make it harder to track for financial records unless you are meticulous about writing down how much you receive and what expenses you pay for out of that cash.

You can build the fees into your prices

I know that some card processing companies don’t allow you to pass the fees onto your customers but you can estimate how much the fees would be and consider that as part of your overhead when determining prices. Raise your prices by $5 or $10 to cover any card fees. I promise you that the convenience of getting paid quicker via card rather than waiting on someone to mail a check will more than outweigh the fee. 

The process is simple to set up

It used to be pretty complicated to get a credit card machine and all the connections you needed for them to work. With programs like Square, you can swipe cards from your phone or easily enter the number. With some setups, your customer can also enter their own card information online. 

Daily sales reports can be emailed to you 

Hate running daily reports? Most card processing programs will email you a report as often as daily or even for each transaction. This will make your financial records much easier to reconcile and help you know how you’re doing day-to-day in your business. 

How can I help?

I’d love to review your options for card processing with you to determine which is best for your business. What’s more, I can keep your books for you, further freeing you up to run your business.