It looks like the Christmas rush has started.

[Not your average framer]

Well, the scaffolding has been gone for a whole week and things are getting really busy, people are already asking if it's too late to get things framed for Christmas. It's looking good for a busy November and December. All I need now is some hot mince pies, mulled wine and I'll be feeling festive already!

[Bill Henry]

I wish you well!

Despite some advertisements for Christmas on television the Christmas season generally doesn’t start here until just before Thanksgiving (the last Thursday in November).

We’re expecting (hoping for) a seasonal upturn, but with the economy still sluggish, we aren’t anticipating a banner year.

[Not your average framer]

Hi Bill,

It's very early for us too! There were two framers in a nearby town and one has retired, some of our rush of orders seem to be coming from his ex-customers, but not all.

There's also some needlework framing and we always do well with needlework jobs at Christmas. Some people do them as Christmas presents and usually get them in early in case there is not enough time!

Money is still a bit tight and a lot of people are asking if I can do something a lttle cheaper. I do my best and try to get the money while it's there and hope business is not too bad after Christmas.

My shop does not accept payment by plastic. It's just not worth it for me, but just recently a lot more people than usual are asking if they can pay by plastic. I don't think this is a good sign for an economically good period after Christmas. I hope I'm wrong!

[Roboframer]

It's no sort of sign at all - people prefer to carry a bit of plastic rather than a stuffed wallet or purse - the plastic can represent money they actually have (debit card) or money they may not yet have (credit card) - that's the way it's been for a long long time and you just have to be losing out on sales.

Your skills and hard work over long and stressful hours are not being optimised if you do not cater for the way that the majority prefer to manage their wonga. You've thrown many ideas and questions out on how to increase sales but you're losing out by not providing what has been a basic service, even for the smallest of businesses for well over a decade.

[Bill Henry]

I resisted taking credit cards for almost a year after we opened. We finally gave in and established a merchant account. Nobody like to have 1.5 - 2.5% of their sales skimmed off the top from the blood sucking leeches at the bank, but we’ve found that it is a necessary cost of doing business.

Hardly anyone pays cash anymore; and checks are going the way of the dodo bird, IMO. Over ninety percent of our business is done with credit cards.

We have resisted accepting debit cards, though. The cost of a pin pad still makes that method unattractive to us.

You may be able to search online for a U. K. site that will offer competitive bids for credit card processing rates. About two years ago, we got fed up with paying outrageous fees and found a site that allowed ten companies to contact you and allow them to bid for your service. They all knew that they were competing with each other, so the rates they quoted were, in my opinion, the lowest I could possibly get. I switched from my the processor with whom I had had a relationship for nearly 15 years, and am now saving nearly $85 a month in fees.

I’ll bet that if you simply raised your retail prices by a lousy 2% to cover these increased costs of having to carry credit cards , none of your customers would even notice.

[Roboframer]

There's a lot of competition out there - good deals can be had through the federation of small businesses and - dare I say it - the FATG - but even they can be beaten if you are any good at haggling.

[Not your average framer]

I have looked into getting a card machine, but there are three cash machines and two banks about 100 yards down the road, so it's never a problem.

I'm not particularly bothered by the 2.5% to 3% percent I've been offered per transaction, but the monthly rental of the machine which works out at about £20 a week outweighs at advantages for me having it.

The figures I have been quoted are based on the small number of transactions for which the machine would be used per month. My business activity is almost exclusively framing only, so the number of transactions per day is quite low, compared to most other businesses.

Many of these transactions can be of quite high value, but the merchant providers don't appear to take this into account when quoting a deal, so I haven't bothered to get one.

[Roboframer]

Well what works for you, works for you and no-one can argue with that, but this is an open forum and my advice to anyone reading this; thinking of opening a shop, is to take cards from the outset.

I even do Amex and I'm not exactly the biggest techno-geek around.

You can do better than that 2.5% - we do - that's credit cards, there is a fixed transaction fee - about 30p, for debit cards. As for £20 a week rental - try the same per month - that's what we pay.

Banks even charge for CASH transactions - 1% in my case - which sux, but, seeing as I'm stuck with that - if you weigh up the time it takes to count the cash, travel to the branch, fill in the forms etc - then 2.5% for a transaction you have to do nothing else about isn't too bad - plus it's all factored.

We have two cash machines nearby - no bank - but we do have a PO and they will do cash transactions for some banks. But were we to say - for example - to a customer, after taking a long time to decide over a large (or any sized) purchase and producing a card "Sorry we don't take cards - any cards, but if you'd like to walk down the road and get the cash ........."

It just doesn't bear thinking about actually.

[Jonny2morsos]

I would say our retail sales are about 90% card (debit and credit) with the majority being debit and I cannot imagine not taking plastic.

Personally I rarely carry more than £20 in cash on me and use a debit card to pay for day to day items like petrol and my wife and I use a (Tesco) credit card to pay for all the supermarket shopping. Therefore we get Tesco points accumulating and save these up for little treats. Your customers might want to do the same.

We don't take Amex and only get asked about once a year. There are cash back incentives for Amex card holders but at the retailers expense. Amex card holders will always have an alternative card to use.

I would not imagine you would pay much more than £15 per month for a terminal and 2% on credit card transactions plus 20-30p for debit card transactions. My terminal provider gave us some stickers indicating the cards we accept one of which is on the door at eye level so customers know how they can pay as soon as they walk in.

John.

[prospero]

For years I used the old knuckleduster for CCs. The banks don't like them and this was reflected in the processing fee. Couple of years ago I bit the bullet and got a terminal. I had always assumed somehow that you had to rent one from your bank - not true. I got a much better deal than they were offering £15 month as opposed to £20 from the bank. Bearing in mind that the nearest bank branch is 16 mile round trip for me and no messing about with multiple slips of paper and little plastic bags.......

[Trigger]

When we set up our framing business we made sure we had a card machine from the start. Customers just expect it these days, although we do draw the line at those who want to pay for items less than £5 on the card. A few customers want to still use cheques, which is fine by us. We can pay in up to 20 of these each month into our account for free. We rarely go over that limit.

With cash payments we were getting stung by the bank for paying cash in at a percentage of the amount. Wasn't worthwhile for us, so instead we pay all the cash into a dedicated personal account (at the same bank!) and then use THAT money to pay the VAT man each quarter and the PAYE bill each month - the money is kept exclusively for the business use. Cash payments are not that common, but there are always some people who like to pay that way and it means we never have to worry about paying these bills when they come round.

[Bill Henry]

I agree that renting/leasing a CC machine can be a very expensive way to go. We decided at the onset that if we used the standard accounting depreciation of (electronic) equipment of three years, we would save money by purchasing the terminal outright.

The negative to buying your own is that if they come up with a “new, improved” technology we would have been stuck. But, like computer software, they almost need to make their products “backward”ly compatible so credit card processors tend to make changes in the software and not the hardware.

We are still using the same terminal after twenty some odd years. If I remember correctly, back then we paid around $120 for it. So, it works out to be only $6 per year – way under what the leasing was (or still is).

The only thing we had to add a few years ago was the printer attachment which we purchased outright, too.

To our mind, credit cards are a necessary cost/evil of doing business these days.

[bilhughes]

Out last shop was not a framing shop and I never had a card machine in for three years and then relented I felt stupid not doing it earlier, it was a bad decision and one I bring up when I think I do everything right, because these days people dont use cash there are folk out there that carry less than a tenner in their pockets but have a card or two. My shop took on average 15 to 20 pounds on a average transaction although cards were a little higher but a frame shops average spend would be far higher I am sure all you guys need a card machine

[Roboframer]

Next door to us is a charity shop and the amount of the average sale there, most people would be carrying as loose change.

But that average would be greatly reduced if they did not accept cards - and they have no card machine - thay have to phone through the card details to their main branch, which does have a card machine.

So - values of purchases by card from that shop are 'reduced' not only by the usual transaction/rental/etc fees, but also by a telephone call.

[Steve N]

I'm just a framing shop, I do not sell anything else except Ready Made frames and cards, and my turn over a year at the moment is quite low, not because we do not accept plastic, as long as you tell your customers that, they will come in with their cheque book or cash when they collect their work.
I looked into renting a card machine and had many quotes, even the FSB quoted for Streamline, which was more expensive than Streamline!
I tried it with CardSave because I have a online shop, CardSave use Streamline who's online payment is through NetBanx, I also signed up to a virtual terminal. It took ages to set up, they kept getting it wrong, even sent me wrong usernames and passwords . also you can not take too many payments from the same IP address in a short time on the virtual terminal, it come up with an error . I paid CardSave £17.50 a month and if I did not reach the minimum charges I also had to pay £12.50 on top of the charges. I have not lost any customers by not taking plastic, as long as they know when they place their framing order they are happy to either write a cheque or pay cash.
At the moment I have free banking (which will last for another six months) and until my turnover grows much larger, I will not accept plastic.

Steve n