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So all credit cards can be used to pay via Paypal or indeed you can use your own Paypal Account to make your purchase.
However as I went to so few outside events, did I really need a card reader? So here my research begun. How much did they charge? how much did they cost? Did they work and so on and so forth. Would it work with my phone?
At events I talked to people who used them, good and bad, I talked to customers and more and more I was asked 'Can I pay by card?' For every person I directed to the nearest cashpoint, probably one in three would return to complete the purchase, so these 'lost opportunities' were exactly that.
So I registered my interest with Paypal to get a Paypal Here card reader. This was before they had been launched in the UK. My reader arrived late September and my first event was October. Setting up the reader was easy, I also managed to list a few of my best selling items complete with pics! I paired it with my Ipad (at this point I had a android phone and decided that my Ipad was the best way to go).
It was amazing, a few days before the show I decided to post on Social Media and my website that we could take card payments over the phone. Within two hours it had far exceeded my expectations. It was fantastic and I could send my customers a receipt by using either a mobile number or email! Boy this was just too easy!!
So the day of the show arrived, we were busy, very busy, we put signs up to say we could take card payments, we even made little badges to wear. Almost 50% of our sales over the three days paid by card. We were astonished! We even took the decision not to have a minimum payment (some other stall holders did) Yes we took lots of small payments, but every small payment adds up! The charges for payments taken are low and the fact the money is in your bank within hours is perfect!
It was worth noting that quite a few of my neighbours could not get a signal from their readers (not paypal here) so they were amazed we were able to take payments over all three days.
Since then, I have used it to take payments over the phone and also to take payments from abandoned baskets on the site, by sending a simple email to advise their payment did not complete. You can also send Invoices and set the payment to either be a Total or itemised items.
Having done more research since I have had our reader, I know of other stallholders that have 'rented' card readers. This is 'dead' money but a good way to test the market, however my card reader was the best £99 I have ever spent on my business.
Disclaimer:
All views on this blog are my own, this post is not endorsed by anyone. Links and pictures are those used from the Paypal Website.
