The question is not, “How can I afford to process my credit cards through my point of sale software?”, but rather, “How can I afford NOT to process my credit cards through my point of sale software?” In this economy, controlling your business operating costs is something is not simple good business; it’s a matter of survival! There are many ways to improve productivity, cut costs and prevent errors and circumvent theft – integrating your credit card processing is right at the top of the list.

Comparing the real cost of accepting credit cards is a bit like car shopping. There are a lot of numbers and sometimes the one everyone focuses on is not really all that indicative of the performance you can expect. In order words, your mileage may vary. That’s why I find the best solution for comparing rates is to use real-world numbers. For instance, a prospective merchant processor who is willing to take a recent statement and put real numbers to how much you’d have paid to process the same transactions with them is about as real-world as it gets and demonstrates that they are confident in their rates and services. By the same token, discount rates and transaction fees are a good rule of thumb but it’s the multitude of additional fees and charges banks have been heaping on that makes the reality of credit card acceptance an exercise in mental exhaustion.

If you still need convincing, here’s a page out of Letterman’s book – The Top Ten List:

Top Ten Reasons to Integrate your Credit Card Processing

10. Credit card swipe hardware is hundreds of dollars cheaper than a credit card terminal. I’ve heard horror stories of how much salons have paid for their terminals. Some salons have paid over $1,000 or worse yet up to $20 a month to lease the terminal for the “privilege” of processing credit cards through a particular vendor and this is on top of paying the normal monthly and processing fees.
9. You will get approvals and declines back in under 3 seconds. This may not seem like that big of a deal, but once you have the speed you will wonder why you waited so long to upgrade. Remember the day you kicked your dial-up to the curb and replaced it with your Cable or DSL Internet connection?
8. No more keying in the wrong amount for the sale. I’ve done it myself and it’s far too easy but we’re only human sometimes. Don’t risk only receiving $15 instead of the total sale amount of $150 by missing a zero using the terminal.
7. No more need to reconcile your credit card sales from your point of sale software to your terminal report. Each of your credit card transaction should be recorded in your daily sales reports.
6. Stop terminal theft NOW - enough said!
5. Drop that dedicated phone line and save money. Many times the cost of the extra business line will cover most if not all of the cost of adding a broadband Internet connection.
4. Process your EFTs in a fraction of the time it would take to manually key them in at a higher discount rate. Processors charge a lower discount rate for recurring payments submitted electronically than they do for card not present transactions that are hand keyed into a terminal.
3. Have your EFT results automatically update each of your client accounts without having to manually adjust them. Just think of all the time you will save with this kind of automation!
2. Utilize the power that your software company has to negotiating lower rates based on the number of merchants they bring to the processor. Processors are willing to provide better pricing to salons with multiple locations. Just think of what they would be willing to do for someone who brings thousands of merchants to them!
1. Present the appearance of the professional that you ARE!

If you’re still not convinced, I’d encourage you to get in touch with your software provider and find out just how affordable and convenient it can be to integrate your credit card processing!