It’s on the Cards

Read on to find out how giving your clients the option to pay by card can help your small or medium business

Getting paid has been a longstanding issue for many small businesses: clients don’t always have cash on them; cheques are less-and-less used, and due to be phased out in a few years. Having the ability to accept cards would be the natural solution for most small to medium enterprises. Traditional card machines are not flexible enough, they are cumbersome, not to mention expensive, having costly long-term contracts and high fixed fees.

Payleven is a young British payments company, and has recently come out with the world’s first mobile Chip and PIN device. The intelligent technology works through a small, pocket-sized Chip & PIN reader, which connects via Bluetooth to an Application on either your Apple device, or your Android Smartphone or tablet. This converts your phone or tablet into a fully mobile debit and credit card Chip & PIN solution. It holds the same stringent security standards as a traditional card terminal, but at a fraction of the cost. It is truly mobile and will let you take payments anywhere with a mobile data connection (3G/ EDGE/ Wi-Fi) and quickly send email receipts to the customer.

Using a solution like this will allow small businesses to benefit from accepting card payments at a reduced cost and with more flexibility. Normally, a card terminal would lock a business in for a two to three year contract and cost around six hundred pounds per year. This is compared with paying less than ninety pounds with Payleven and a simple flat charge of 2.75% on all transactions – with no long-term contracts and minimum charges.

Jeanette – a holistic massage therapist and Payleven customer explains the benefits of accepting card payments: “As my business days vary a lot – some days I work in salons, but I also visit clients at their homes, so taking payments was quite complicated in the past. Now, with Payleven it could not be easier: I just need to access the app on my phone, key in the amount, and pass the card reader to the client. The good thing about Payleven Chip and PIN device is that I do not have to remind my customers that they need to bring cash with them. I would really recommend Payleven to any therapist – it makes life much easier and really helps me to grow my business.”

Last year, debit card spending was greater than cash spending in the economy for the first time, showing that consumers increasingly expect to be able to pay by card. Furthermore, a survey of businesses that have started accepting card payments shows that on average they manage to increase sales by up to 15%, either by cross selling or upselling their products or services. Accepting cards also helps small businesses manage their cash flow. Small businesses spend an average of ten hours a month chasing invoices and visiting the bank to cash in cheques and deposit cash. Combining the lost time and unpaid invoices, not being able to accept cards would cost the average business about five thousand pounds each year. So card payments are not only convenient for your clients but they can also save you time and money.