Have something to sell? Accept credit cards!

Yesterday I was visiting with my friend Mimi and her parents, and I was telling them about the cute new totebag I bought from a friend who sells them on Etsy. Mimi’s mother makes her own purses and other craft items that look like they were bought in stores, and I said more than once that she should open up an online store and sell her homemade goods. I would buy them! You should have seen this purse she made lined in real Thai silk, with double handles made from carved wooden beads. It was amazing.

So that got me thinking on the drive home, let’s say you do open an online store. There are sites like Etsy, but what if you wanted to do it yourself from your own site? My ISP gives me shopping cart software, and probably a way to accept payments, but what if I started making my own totebags and wanted to sell them at the East Lansing Art Fair or something? How would I accept credit cards, debit cards, or checks? That starts getting a lot more complicated. I poked around online a bit when I got home, and it turns out that there are sites that let you accept credit cards not only online, but they give you a wireless terminal that you can take on the road.

One company, First Data Independent Sales, takes it even further. They give you a free merchant account, free credit card processing software,free sales tracking and reporting, and more. They can help you get set up to take credit cards online, over the phone, in a restaurant or retail store, or wirelessly from virtually anywhere. People can’t buy what you sell if you can’t take their payment! I wonder if Mimi’s mom would go into business with me- she can make the amazing handbags, and I’ll sell them and process the payments! And then of course, split the profits with her If I knew how to sew, I might start making bags to sell myself!