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What happens when you walk into your favorite local business and they only accept cash, PayPal or Venmo? No credit cards. You soon realize you don’t have any cash on you, you don’t own a PayPal or Venmo account and only have your credit card on hand. What do you do?

As industry veterans, we recognize the growing and ever-changing needs of businesses. We also understand that today’s consumers demand convenience. With so many new and innovative solutions available for accepting credit cards, nearly every business, large or small, from every industry can and should offer this payment option to their customers.

While many businesses may think they are saving the bucks by remaining cash-only, today’s consumers may say otherwise. While rising contenders like PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay and Google Pay are now popular alternative payment methods, credit card acceptance is a must in today’s marketplace. Let’s look at four common reasons why businesses opt to not to accept credit cards.

1.  It’s Too Expensive: One of the most common reasons for not accepting credit cards is that it is too expensive for small businesses. This is false. Moreover, some businesses who do accept Visa and Mastercard, choose not to accept American Express or Discover because of higher swipe fees. Ah! Today’s solutions, like our CardX Surcharge Program, can virtually eliminate all credit card fees – regardless of the card brand. Sanctioned and legal if implemented properly, these programs pass credit card acceptance fees to the cardholder and have become extremely popular in the last several months. Merchants keep 100% of every credit card sale and only pay for debit transactions.

2.  Cash-Only Saves on Business Costs: Another common myth about credit card processing and we are here to tell you, this is not true. In fact, accepting cash-only these days may even hurt your business. According to Pew Research Center, roughly 29% of US adults aren’t making purchases using cash during a typical week. Not only will cash-only restrictions impact your consumer reputation when it comes to convenience, it is likely also negatively impacting sales.

3.  Venmo and PayPal are Easier: While it may seem that Venmo and PayPal are the easier options since both are very user-friendly, they are not always the best choice for business transactions. Currently, Venmo is designed for payments between friends and family only. Think paying your friend for that slice she bought you for lunch or sending your roommate your share of the utility bill – not accepting payment for business transactions. According to Venmo, “Venmo may NOT otherwise be used to receive business, commercial, or merchant transactions.”

4.  Venmo and PayPal are the Only Forms of Contactless Payments: There are many ways to accept contactless payments with today’s credit card equipment. Many cardholders have the contactless indicator on their credit cards, or use the cards stored in their Apple and Google Pay wallets if their physical cards are not yet equipped with NFC (near field communication). Tap and go at the terminal is an easy solution to process their contactless payment. Another alternative is to set up a smart, compact pin-pad at the point-of-sale with plexiglass shields in between the consumer and staff.

For businesses, accepting all forms of payment is critical. You never want to lose a customer because you did not afford them the convenience that your competitor did. As a true turn-key partner, we understand the importance of cost-effective pricing, quality products, emerging technologies and above all, unmatched customer support. We have processing solutions to fit your unique business environment and needs. To learn more on how we can help elevate your business, give us a call at 732-230-7702.

Sources:

Perrin, Andrew. “More Americans Are Making No Weekly Purchases with Cash.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 30 May 2020, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/12/12/more-americans-are-making-no-weekly-purchases-with-cash/.

Team Venmo July 24. “Can I Use Venmo to Buy or Sell Merchandise, Goods, or Services?” Venmo, help.venmo.com/hc/en-us/articles/217532097-Can-I-use-Venmo-to-buy-or-sell-merchandise-goods-or-services-