MONDAY - NOVEMBER 4 - 4 PM ET
There have been recent problems with artist's processing throughout the country. We'll find out why and answer the following questions:
Free credit card processing? What does free mean?
- 24/7 live customer support?
- immediate deposit of funds into your account?
- reception/connectivity you can rely on?
- merchant services dedicated to you as a mobile merchant?
Maybe, maybe not. Somewhere, someone needs to pay. Credit card processing policies and options are changing rapidly. I chose my credit card processor years ago because of his good reputation taking care of artists needs. Life is too short to be chasing the cheapest fees.
Listen in as Steven Ballan, Vice President of 1st National Payment Solutions explains the latest technology changes, alternative processing systems and the risk/reward of opting for free processing.
1st National Payment Solutions will answer your questions in advance: 877-964-1622
Will you be listening?
Can you call in? Here's the #805-243-1338
Do you have questions we should ask Steven? If so, please put them in the comments below and we will cover them.
Comments
I'm foursquare for Square! Three years and no problems. I am soooo glad I saw Jack Dorsey on Charlie Rose, and learned about Square-Jack is my hero!
Totally true, I didn't do my homework. I settled on my credit card processing years ago and was glad to have someone else know things. (Just like Larry Berman comes in and handles the pixels, calibration, uploadings, Zapp problems -- glad to have him as the expert. It's just too much for me to stay on top of.) Plus, I have you for the other side of things -- any chance you'd give him a call and see what he says? I would have loved to have you call in during the show, Bernard.
He did talk about other options. Like Greta says above, Steven discussed many other options, data plans, that were interesting to me. I particularly liked his idea about what to use for people who less or more volume than others. That didn't sound like an infomercial (to me).
Yes, but Connie, it seemed like you just accepted everything he said like it was gospel. Plus, I don't think you did your homework. You didn't even know that you could use Square with an iPad. Also, if you look at one of my previous posts (about the fifth one down on the first page) I pointed out that he made a complete misstatement about Square, which makes me wonder about everything else that he said.
In the podcast it was stated that a phone data plan is an extra $15 to $20, I'm paying $30 a month which includes 1200 voice, 3000 text and 500mb of data on the verizon network. I get my service with Pageplus cellular which is an mvno of verizon. The phone I'm using is a verizon note 2. If you do your do research you can find smart phones plans for a very good price.
No doubt he does have a vested interest. Again though I have always bought my insurance from an agent who owns his own business, I spend money locally as much as possible and avoid the chains and patronize my local book store instead of Amazon, bank at the local bank -- believing that by dealing directly with the owner of the business I will be ahead in the long run and have an advocate to depend on. That's just how I do things believing that there is someone there who has my back (although I did buy my car on eBay.)
Yes, but this is a guy who's got a vested interest in attacking Square type devices because they're taking business away from him. It would be nice if you could talk to a representative from the other side too. I've been using Square for over a year and it's like a breath of fresh air after dealing with credit card terminal type companies. It's a good thing that I could contact them over the phone with problems because I always had a lot of problems, not to mention expense and bags of paper receipts. With Square I've had a few minor inconveniences that always sorted themselves out pretty quickly.
Maybe to you, Bernard. I learned a lot about POS devices and what is the most useful equipment for particular situations. After what I've been hearing this fall about failures of connectivity and people being unable to get access to funds and spotty support I appreciated the answers. They made sense to me.
That podcast sounded like an infomercial.
I used 1st National for a couple of years. They turned out to be quite expensive especially when the PCI security charge was implemented. When I closed the account months before the anniversary date of the fee, the fee was automatically charged anyway and my bank would not reverse the charge. 1st National was absolutely no help in trying to resolve the issue. In short, I got stuck with a very high PCI charge and moved to Square. Square has been fantastic and I use it everywhere. I only had one issue and the Square support person responded within an hour with clear solutions to the issue. I plan to move to an iPad and the cash register system on Square to improve the checkout process for the customer. Square fees are very clear and there is no PCI charge. Unless Square fails big time, they are the best solution for me in all selling environments from festivals to my studio.
Hi Connie,
Yes I shall contact Mr Ballan
Best regards
Mioara & Constantin
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