Credit Card systems

I am in process of reworking my business as some of you already know. In the past I only accepted checks and cash. However because this new service that I will be providing is going to be more of an hourly service I want to be able to provide the ability of my clients to use credit cards.
There has been a lot of talk about the card readers and systems such as Square that connects to your smart phone. Do not know why they call them smart, mines pretty stupid if you ask me, but I digress.
Reading on these systems there are a LOT of loop holes where they hit you with all sorts of fees and charges alike.
Some of the charges will be made in the field through a remote access terminal. Still others will be done in my home office in the evening once done with telephone calls. So those will need to be hand typed in.
What do you guys use, and how do you find the rates being charged? Is there anything I should be aware of?
I have read tons of comments on line about many of the systems and services, but after a while they all seem to become confusing and difficult to determine exactly what they are all talking about. So any help would be great!
Bob
  3 answers
  • LandlightS LandlightS on Jul 19, 2012
    removed duplicate reply...still getting use to the iPas
  • LandlightS LandlightS on Jul 19, 2012
    Robert....in addition to credi cards, you may want to consider a PayPal sellers account. At the HD in Georgia you can now use your PayPal account. I have a sellers PayPal account (inactive now due to web site down) and it comes with a PP debit card and fund were available the next day. Just a thought. I a,m also looking into Square as a form of payment for the lighting biz Gary
  • Thanks Gary, I never thought of PayPal as a method of collection. Something I need to look more into. As far as Square. There seems to be a lot of buzz about that service. Some good some not so good. There are limits to the amount of money you can collect in a given period of time before they "hold" the account up for as much as 30 days before you get paid. They consider larger invoices or frequent invoices a possible fraud issue, or so I have read about them. This results in higher fees charged to you and longer wait times to get the money you earned. But thanks, I will look into the PayPal program to see if this is something that would work for me. Bob