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Step 1
Search for credit card processors. In order to accept credit cards you'll need someone to process the cards, or more accurately, a company to process the funds. You can find processors easily by searching online. A few such sites that offer these services are propay.com and charge.com. If you want to accept credit cards online the same companies will likely also offer this service, but they'll need to set up your account to work with an online gateway.
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Step 2
Compare processors. Different companies will charge different rates to process the cards for you. Almost all of the companies charge a per-use fee plus a fee for a percentage of the transaction. For smaller purchases this might make accepting credit cards too costly. If you're selling more than just trinkets the costs will probably be more than offset by the extra money you take in. Still, it's important to find out all the fees charged by the processing companies. You may even be charged a monthly fee, a minimum-use fee and a setup fee. If you have a very small online company, PayPal is an easy way to accept credit cards online.
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Step 3
Get the processing equipment. You can buy or lease equipment either through the processing company or on your own. Just make sure the equipment you get works with the processing company. You also will need to get a seperate phone line for the credit card processing equipment to use or share a current phone line
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Step 4
Select a company and set up an account. Once you pick a company, it may require you to set up an account for the funds to go into. If they let you use your own account, you may want to keep that account separate from your regular bank account for accounting purposes.
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Step 5
Familiarize yourself with the laws regarding credit cards. Because of identity theft as well as credit card fraud you need to be prepared to keep your information secure and to prevent employees from stealing information. Be sure to read The Fair Credit Reporting Act and The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003.
