whats the best and safest way to accept a credit card transaction at a craft fair?

Answer 1

You must have a Merchant Account setup with the bank of your choice. Then they will give you a slider machine and the correct charge card slips for MasterCard & Visa charges. Make sure you ask what the fees are for processing a transaction. Then you take all the charge slips and deposit them in your Merchant bank account.

Answer 2

You will need to establish a merchant account. There are countless providers out there so finding one won't be hard. As far as equipment you will want to use a manual credit card imprinter with a basic credit card terminal like a Verifone Tranz 330 or Tranz 380 (recommended).

What you would do is imprint your customers' credit card orders at the fair/market and have them sign the slip. You will give them a copy as a receipt and take yours back to your home or office. You will then manual key enter your orders into your basic credit card terminal so you can receive payment. For large or suspicious orders you can call for a voice authorization on your cell phone to verify and freeze the funds on their credit card. You then can claim those funds from your basic terminal.

You don't need a printer to process your sales so you save money there and a basic credit card terminal can be found on eBay for around $50 and a manual imprinter for less then $20. That should save you hundreds of dollars over a wireless terminal plus you don't have any wireless service fees to worry about (or worry about getting a wireless signal).

Answer 3

take details then post items sold next day when verified

Answer 4

what he said... or just take a photo of them when they buy for 'business purposes'