When you work as a mobile or independent nail technician, your customers sometime want to pay for their nail services with credit cards. If you do not let your customers know beforehand that you only accept payments in cash then you might have an awkward situation at the paying time when your customer does not have enough to pay you.
Mobile nail technicians who work independently should accept credit card payments so their customers will have this option besides paying with cash and the credit-card payment will be deposited directly to the mobile nail technician’s bank accounts. This is made possible with an online app on a mobile phone or a portable terminal.
Because of these equipment, paying with a credit card is as simple as swiping the credit card’s magnetic stripe across a reader that can be attached to a mobile phone or a hand-held terminal.
Mobile nail techs should accept credit cards
You can increase sales with more payment options for your customers.
If you are either working as a mobile nail technician or an independent one and take cash as the only form of payment then you will miss out on potential upsell for additional services that your customers might not have enough cash for.
Your customers might spend more on the additional services that you recommend that are better or necessary for them knowing that they can conveniently pay for them with either cash or using their debit/credit cards. Having the ability to accept credit or debit cards will give you a chance to increase sales in these instances.
Some customers chooses to pay by debit/credit cards because they do not like the idea of carrying paper money and coins. Others want to pay with credit cards so they can keep track of their expenses.
Your customers also are more likely to give you a bigger tip too. Too often, I found it is easier for a customer of mine to write a number 10 on the credit card tip line than giving out a $10 bill.
The benefits of carrying less cash
As an independent nail or mobile nail tech, you will be responsible for keeping your money. If you have a lot of cash with you and if you are in a hurry driving to get to your next appointment, the chance of them getting lost or misplaced is always possible.
Another thing to consider is it is not a good idea if some people know you carry cash while you are driving around town alone most of the time, sometimes it can go very late in the day.
Our society is moving to a more credit card transaction one
Not long ago, a cash-only nail salon was acceptable. However, today customers will frown if they see that sign. The new generations are more accustomed to paying with their credit cards or their mobile phones with Apple Pay or Google Pay that was not available until 2014. If you do not give this convenient feature for these customers they might turn away and you will lose these customers.
Mobile nail techs can utilize great features from a credit-card processor
Different credit card processing companies can offer many options that can be overwhelming with technical jargon. All claim to be a great one for their customers. What features are applicable and will benefit a small business which is owned and operated by a mobile nail technician? The followings are ones that mobile or independent nail technicians should look for in a debit/credit card processing company before they make a decision:
Simple to use/process: with advances in software development, the credit-card charging process is user-friendly. Most of the time, you only have to swipe the card with a portable card reader, enter the amount, press the send button to complete the transaction.
Minimum initial investment in the hardware or terminals: many companies do offer free basic equipment but it is good enough for mobile nail technicians who are just starting on their business. Others offer lease or buy options. This requires more capital upfront.
No monthly fees: while many regular credit-card processor would add on a monthly fee, new ones would not. This is a plus because whether you have zero or 100 credit card charges in a month, you do not have to pay for this fee. These monthly fees are usually around $10 a month. However, it will add up to $120 for the whole year not counting others.
Low per-transaction fee: usually the advertising low rates only applicable for a short time, 6 months for example. They will go higher after the promotional period ends. For example, the promotional transaction fee could be 1.9% and the regular one can go up to 3% or even higher, depending on your credit history. A young mobile nail technician usually will get hit with higher regular transaction fees just because of having a brand new account and short credit history.
Monthly deposit/debit statements: while most regular credit-card processor would add on a monthly fee, other new ones would offer them free of charge. This feature is helpful for a mobile nail technician to know how much money she made was deposited directly into her bank account.
Virtual receipt printing capability: nowadays, many people are opting to get receipts via emails. This would save you from having to carry around a printer or a bigger point-of-sale terminal with you. After the transaction is complete, a receipt will be generated and you can send it to your customer’s email or by text messaging.
Ability to obtain a debit card on the account: this is a great feature. You can use this debit card issued by your credit card processing company to pay for all your business expenses and all your receipts will be in one place.
At the end of your tax year, all you have to do is print them out and you will have all the expenses records. Keep in mind you should also keep paper receipts for all expenses you made in the year and but having a complete printout to check whether you have all of them. It saves a mobile nail tech time and gives you a correct expense report.
A good credit-card processor is also a nail tech’s bookkeeper
If you lose an expense receipt, you will not be able to deduct the amount you spent from your income and you will have to pay additional tax on that amount. Your credit card processing company’s program can categorize your expenses into appropriate sections for tax filing purpose. It is a great time-saving feature for mobile nail technicians.
Year-end summary profit and expense for tax purposes: working as a mobile nail technician makes you a small business owner. You have to be responsible to keep, record all your profit and expenses related to your mobile nail businesses so you can file your tax and the end of your tax year which normally falls on April 15 of the following year.
The credit card company you choose to do business with will give you a year-end summary of all the deposits and debits on your account. This is another time-saving feature.
So, a good credit card processing company is also a mobile nail technician’s bookkeeper who is never calling in sick, work 365 days a year and never lose or misplace a single receipt, no matter how small.
Paying your credit card processing company for a small fee of less than 3% on what your customers paid with their credit cards, you also have a virtual bookkeeper. What a bargain!
All features above are typical in a credit card processing company that caters to brick-and-mortar businesses. Thanks to the advancement in mobile phone apps and the internet, they are now available mobile nail technicians or the ones who work independently.
How can a mobile nail technician accept credit cards?
The first step is to find good credit-card processing companies that offer the mobile features you will use. Next, you should do a comparison of those features from three or four companies and pick the one that gives you the best deal as far as total monthly fees, per-transaction fee, charge-back fee, equipment prices and their user-friendly interface among others that you think important to you.
To be able to accept credit cards for mobile nail services, a mobile nail tech has to find a credit card processing company that offers mobile transaction capability and applies either online or offline at the local branch of a bank. After approval, the nail tech can buy, lease all necessary equipment or get them for free. Now this mobile nail tech is ready to accept credit card charges.
In other words, you now can use the portable terminal or credit-card processing equipment the company provides to take credit-card transactions over the internet connection. Nowadays, many of them have created an app for mobile phones.
In the case of using an app, the mobile phone acts as a portable terminal and with a specific credit-card reader, together they can collect and transmit the information of the credit card and the amount of the charge to the company’s server and finalize the transaction online.
If you don’t have a credit card payment option for your customers then you should apply for one sooner than later.
There you have it. All the information about the mobile credit-card transaction for mobile nail technicians.
Now you wonder how you would find any company that offers the best deal for mobile credit-card transactions?
In 2014 I found a company that had all the great features I mentioned above for mobile nail technicians. I have used it and enjoy its mobile features. The company has found success as it has created an enormous customer base. This proves that it probably is one of the best mobile credit card processing company because of its user-friendly app and having one of the lowest rate structures for a mobile credit card processing service.
I also think it is a great choice for mobile nail technicians or independent ones who want to strike out on their own.
Next on part two of this series is my review of this company. You can read about it in the next article.
Related articles:
How to build up clientele as a nail technician Part 1.
Whether you just start out or a seasoned nail technician, this article is helpful to both.
How to start a mobile nail business Part 1
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