Whether you have a full time craft business, are just a hobbyist , if you sell items at a craft fair on a regular basis, you're going to want to know how to accept credit cards. Accepting credit cards at a craft fair will require being associated with a credit card processing company.
Step 1
Get references and referrals from colleagues who are already affiliated with a credit card processor. Search online for credit card processors. You will find a lot of companies that will help you in setting up to accept credit cards.
Step 2
Research the costs. The cost of processing credit cards is more than just the equipment. You have to pay a company to process the cards as well and they typically charge fee that is, so many cents plus a percentage of the purchase. The cost may be a quarter plus three percent of the purchase but that can add up quickly, especially if you are selling small items with little mark up. If you only do craft shows for a portion of the year be sure to find out if the fees can be waived in off months.
Step 3
Find out which equipment will work best for you. At craft shows you typically will not have access to a phone line, which many types of credit card processing equipment require. There are also machines that will work with cell phones. You may even be able to find the equipment that lets you copy the credit card and process them later.
Step 4
Research and decide if you will make any additional sales by accepting credit cards and if the additional costs will envelope the additional revenue. Many people coming to craft shows understand that they will need cash and you may not increase sales a lot, but if you are selling mid or high level price items, one or two extra sales may be worth it.
Step 5
Advertise that you accept credit cards. If you do decide to accept credit cards, put up a sign advertising the fact so that you may draw any additional customers who would buy if credit cards were accepted.
Skill: Moderately Easy
Warning: Don't start accepting credit cards without calculating the costs.
Keyword: credit cards, credit card processing, craft shows, accept credit cards
