As a first time Art Fair person, I am wondering how artists get paid for their work? Do most artist accept credit cards? How do they do that? What is the best way?
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I enjoy bantering with the customers. I enjoy seeing them smile when they leave, whether or not they bought anything.
So every now and then, after a littletalk about my product, I'll get "do you take plastic?" I'll andwer "I take Visa, MasterCard, Discover, your personal check, and if you have proper ID, I'll also take cash."
But Walt, I don't understand your statement about if your prices are under $20 you should have a store and foward machine. What does the price have to do with it? You either have a signal, or you don't.
And I know I'm an old fart, but what does connecting to the net have to do with it?
Hi Robyn,
It would probably be best to start with just cash and checks.
I do credit cards for about 5 years. And I have only got burned once and
I dont remember getting burned on a check. I have though lets a few people
post date a check by a week.
I actually do a bout 1/3 of my sales each cash, checks and charges.
Though I have had some shows where i have done 70% charges.
They are usually a bit higher than my usual sales by about 15- 20%.
Get your feet wet and see if you will even do more than a year of shows many people
don't like all the work to it and often so so sales bad weather etc.
I know of one couple who have done pottery for many years and stopped taking charge cards now
and tell people that they can mail them a check if they do not have a check with them. They said they have never got burnt doing that.
If the items you are selling runs over $100 it would be a good investment to go with charge cards but if your average selling price is below $40 stick to the easy methods of cash or checks.
We started out taking only cash and checks for the first year. Never got burnt with a bad check, but when we got a merchant account half way through our second year, our sales more than doubled. We're now on our second provider (Chase) as our first decided to charge us what we thought were bogus fees and refused to stop. Since we're low volume, but relatively high average transaction amount, we only do manual call in transactions. For a really, really good show, I may have to spend something close to an hour calling in all the CC numbers on a phone, but we don't have an expensive electronic machine either. If your typical price point is below $20 or $30, you probably will need at least a store and forward machine. Volume of transactions is what drives it all. In eight years we've only had one bad CC transaction - and we should have caught it ourselves! Wireless machines will not only cost you for the box, but also for the service (like a cell phone). Store and forward boxes just need to be connected to the internet. Some folks us a notebook with a card reader and software, but I don't think they are good for the heat, dust and whatever you'd encounter at a show.
Replies
So every now and then, after a littletalk about my product, I'll get "do you take plastic?" I'll andwer "I take Visa, MasterCard, Discover, your personal check, and if you have proper ID, I'll also take cash."
But Walt, I don't understand your statement about if your prices are under $20 you should have a store and foward machine. What does the price have to do with it? You either have a signal, or you don't.
And I know I'm an old fart, but what does connecting to the net have to do with it?
It would probably be best to start with just cash and checks.
I do credit cards for about 5 years. And I have only got burned once and
I dont remember getting burned on a check. I have though lets a few people
post date a check by a week.
I actually do a bout 1/3 of my sales each cash, checks and charges.
Though I have had some shows where i have done 70% charges.
They are usually a bit higher than my usual sales by about 15- 20%.
Get your feet wet and see if you will even do more than a year of shows many people
don't like all the work to it and often so so sales bad weather etc.
I know of one couple who have done pottery for many years and stopped taking charge cards now
and tell people that they can mail them a check if they do not have a check with them. They said they have never got burnt doing that.
If the items you are selling runs over $100 it would be a good investment to go with charge cards but if your average selling price is below $40 stick to the easy methods of cash or checks.
Tom
www.picturetrail.com/tomsfoolery