Skip to main content

31 Days - Day 21: Money

In the quest to get ready for doing a Craft Show, one of the things to plan for and decide is how to take money.  Of course you want to be sure to have enough change on hand when you take money, but you also should consider and decide ahead of time what you will take for money.

Will you take checks?  Of course, there are pros and cons to this option.  In our area, I would say that the majority of people are going to be local, so taking a local check, should be pretty safe.  If you are going to major show that may attract customers from farther away, you may want to reconsider that.  Can you afford to lose the money if the check doesn't clear?

Will you take credit cards?  This is something that is fairly new for availability for small businesses.  To take a credit card has become easier.  As far as I can tell, you have to have an Android or an iPhone.  Unfortunately, I don't have one, and can't quite justify the cost of one just yet.

One of the places that I recommend to take credit cards through is Paypa.com, if you already have an account set up there.  (The transition to this wouldn't be a far stretch if you are already familiar with Paypal.) Paypal is a free option and you only pay if you use it.

Here is what they say about using Paypal for credit cards:

  • Accept credit cards, debit cards, PayPal, and checks
  • Low 2.7% rate
  • Funds are quickly available in your PayPal account
  • Encrypted and backed by PayPal's world class risk management system
When you download the app for this feature, you will be sent a free credit card reader for your phone.  I know that some don't care for Paypal, but listen, my experience with Paypal is that they back their transactions that that the money comes right away.

Another option is Square.com.  The information about Square is:
  • Accept credit cards: Visa, Master Card, Discover & American Express.
  • 2.75% rate
  • Next Day deposit into your checking account
  • Free Card reader
You would need to make this decision for which to use, but if I had to choose today, I would go with the Paypal option, for three reasons:
  1. Lower cost to you.  I know it's only .05%, but it all counts when you are trying to make a little money.
  2. You can take more options according to Paypal, such as debit cards, Paypal and checks.
  3. You get your funds right away and don't have to wait until the next day. (In other words, you can actually make sure the transfer works.)
Another option that you may consider, if you don't have an Android or iPhone, is to charge people using Paypal when you get home.   This is a big risk, because you would need to bill the person through an email, and trust that they would pay the bill on the internet.  You really don't have any repercussion if they don't pay.

Those are the options that I know about for collecting money.  You can check out all the other steps of preparing for a craft show here: 31 Days Until a Craft Show.  Be sure to check out those blogs in the right column that I love to link up to.

For a complete list of the 31 Day Until A Craft Show series and links to each post go Here to Day 31.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks so much for your comments! I love to hear from you!

Popular posts from this blog

DIY Pig Feeder

  This is our second year of raising pigs for the fair.  We've had some bumps along the way, one of them was our homemade feeder of last year.  I tend to have ideas, and then Mr. Right gets the pleasure of trying to execute my ideas.  Most of the time it works out, but last year, our feeder was a fail.   This year, we need a feeder that can go a long period of time, since our pigs are not on our property where we live.  Our neighbor made a complaint about the smell of the pigs last year to our landlord, so the landlord told us no more pigs. (Keep in mind, there are only 2 pigs on 6 acres and they are only here for 5 months and then go to the 4-H fair and livestock auction) Thankfully, another neighbor graciously allowed us to pen up a corner of her horse pen, to put our pigs in.    This year, I wanted to be sure that Mr. Right did a quality version of the pig feeder that would make it through the entire five months, and hopefully...
Post a Comment
Read more

Drop Cloth Couch Re-do

It's my 100th Post!  What a great big reveal I have in store for you today! Three years ago, I found  Miss Mustard Seeds' 6 part How to Make Slipcovers Series  and started with watching the first video.  I ran out to Home Depot and purchased two drop clothes, washed and bleached them to get ready for making the slipcovers for my two couches, and there they sat folded nicely in my craft room!  A year ago, we moved across the country, so I packed those drop clothes up in a box, clearly marked them and put them on the truck.  When we arrived, I put them in front of all my other boxes to do first.  We even moved again over Christmas, and I moved that box again!  Then, I did a pillow re-do,  HERE  that pushed me over the edge.  I just had to tackle those slip covers! Before of the couch and the pillows that began the entire thing!  I  had a Saturday, where the guys were doing guy things and it was me and the girls hom...
14 comments
Read more

Top 5 Gifts for the Piano Student

As a piano teacher, I thought I'd put out there some of my top recommendations for great, yet practical and fun gifts for the piano student this holiday season!   1.  Piano Maybe you weren't totally sold on your child playing piano, or maybe you got an instrument to get you thru the interim, until you find or can afford that better instrument, but what student wouldn't be ecstatic about receiving a better one for Christmas (or consider buying it for your family)?   Here's a great article that will get you started in  making the right decision: The Ins and Outs of Buying a Piano.     If you're wanting to order a digital piano, here are two recommendations: Be sure that you have a stand, pedal, and bench for use with the digital piano. 2.  Metronome I love this one But this one is great too!   3.  New Music Ok, so this one takes a little research.  Ask your piano ...
Post a Comment
Read more