What POS,(point of sale) do artists use most?

[Ark]

I am finally starting to do booth sales and find I need to utilize Visa/Mastercard Merchant services. What I don't know is which one do you guys have experience with and find is the best?
I am not doing the booth every weekend, and may need to not use the service for a month or so at a time. Does anyone have any suggestions so that I can use the service, but not pay thru the nose with tons of hidden fees and such?
thanks for any input

[desertrock]

You should be able to set up a merchant account through your bank.
Flat monthly fee with a % of charged sales. There's a credit check and a set-up fee for manual, mechanical card recorder (carbon receipts included) or electronic unit, usually about $100 to get it up and going. I had one, then started selling in galleries. I cancelled it to get out of the $25/month fee.
They do offer a seasonal program allowing you to escape the fees during the slow periods. Well worth it if you want to be able to sell to anyone/anytime, especially if your doing the art show cercuit.

Mark

[Ark]

Thanks Mark. I am just trying to find a reputable company that artists use, without a bunch of hidden fees, and is easy to use and understand and get paid promptly. (that's not too much to ask, right?!!Ha ha)

Did you find it was really worth the investment? Do you know if it increased your sales enough to make it worthwhile? I appreciate your help.

[craigktx]

most of all my sales are credit cards.
theres wireless machines you can get that are reasonable but there $60 a month.
have you done a few shows yet?

[iowasculptor]

Retriever systems, they are all over the country and have served my wife quite well.
Matt

[tonofelephant]

I'm with Mark. Set up the Visa/MC at your bank. The Visa/MC account needs to be tied to an account to put money in and also deduct the monthly fees.

When we first set up our company accounts, we interviewed banks with the thought that the one that can give us a reasonable charge account gets the company accounts. You will have to sign a loan agreement with them since you are entering into a financial transaction with them. You will be acting as their collection agent - verifying tht the card is legit, etc. So they want to have you responsible if anything goes wrong.

We keep our charge account going all year. Never know when a client wants something and has no cash or checks. Want to help them out right away before they change their minds.

We pay a paltry 4% + $10/month for our charge setup. Could not be easier.

WE also found that our sales went up about 50% after going from taking cash & check only to credit cards. WEll worth it.

Carl

[Julianna]

I went with PayPal because there's no monthly fee, and my volume of sales are relatively low. I just make sure I have my computer at the studio if I'm expecting sales, and they can use it to process the transaction online.

[Ark]

So sorry, I didn't respond to your question, I just saw it as I reread the thread. Yes, I have done about 10-15 shows. Why do you ask?
A lot of people want to use credit cards, and we have only lost one or two sales because we aren't set up. I want to be. I guess I am a little scared to enter into the contract thing, and I want to be sure it will really pay off.