Accepting Credit Card Payments at Your Gig

As a musician you can never ignore the fact that you are constantly running a business. Besides playing live, and hopefully getting paid for it, there is a whole other market in merchandise going on at your gig. Fortunately, at a gig, that is the perfect time to ask someone to buy something-while they still have you in mind and still like you! Unfortunately, one of the biggest obstacles in getting someone to purchase your products is the inability to accept credit cards (cc) at a gig.

There are a lot of companies out there now that are offering what is called a "virtual terminal." Instead of using a credit card swiper or one of those old school carbon sliders, you can now type in all of the cc information into the virtual terminal (VT). These VT's are accessed with a custom app on your computer that connects to a service over the internet or on a web browser through services like PayPal. "That's great and all, but not every club goes out of their way to have free WI-FI." Well, there are iPhone apps that will turn it into a VT!

Not to mention there are physical cc swipers, such as the mophine marketplace that attach to you iPhone! That opens up a ton of opportunity. So by now you are thinking "wait! If we can accept credit cards at gigs, we can accept credit cards at home over the phone, if someone wants to order something! Or what about online! We can start selling our merch online! We can start shipping out all sorts of stuff and the ups guy and I will be on a first name basis! " So what's the catch? None really, just some reality.

Transaction fees: Everyone charges them and they can range from 1.9% -4% per transaction. Some of the fee goes to the cc company and some to the processor. You may spend 30 cents on a t-shirt trans action but that will add up over time. In addition to the transaction fees there are monthly fees involved with most all services. This is where you need to read the fine print and ask questions! Don't assume there are low transaction fees without a monthly fee or vice versa.

Scams: The credit card processing and merchant account services business is huge and it has its fair share of less than desirable participants. Be careful and do your research! Go with well known reputable companies and ask for a recommendation from someone you know and trust. This is essentially a bank account so treat it accordingly.

Business entity: Now before you start telling your friends "of course I can lend you $ 20, I'll take a cc payment from you next week", realize that this will require the establishment of a business entity of some sort. This can be anything from a sole proprietorship to a c-corporation. In addition to this requirement, cc processors require a bit of information to get started so they can weigh the risks. Certain industries are prone to fraud and they want to know where you will be conducting yours! Take all of this in consideration and start shopping. Stick with reputable companies and don't let anyone pressure you into signing anything. And again, this is essentially a bank account so treat it accordingly

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