Why You Should Accept Credit Cards

Posted February 5, 2007 by Margie Zable Fisher

Accepting credit cards is good P.R.

Not accepting credit cards is bad P.R. Why? Because you’re making it harder for people to pay you. And this message can be detrimental to your business.

Here’s an example of a recent conversation discussing where to meet for a business lunch:

“Hey Margie, let’s go to x restaurant.”

“Nah, they don’t take credit cards, and I don’t have any cash.”

“Me either. Let’s go to y restaurant instead.”

A P.R. person recently posted a comment on a Public Relations discussion board regarding accepting credit cards. Here was my reply:

I use credit cards for 95% of my clients. The others pay me by check, upfront.
I use authorize.net. I love the service, and I’ve never had an issue with them in the five years I’ve used them.
I don’t use a machine. I input the credit card information through a secure Web site. I also have it built into my shopping cart.
I also make my clients pay upfront, via credit cards I keep on file, so I don’t have to deal with the collection issues.
The couple of percent that I pay for fees is totally worth it, as I don’t have to deal with the stress of payment.

Accepting credit cards in my industry is very unusual. But it shouldn’t be.

My comments to other P.R. firm owners focused on the “What’s In It For Me” factor. But clients also like the credit card payment option. Why? Not only can they get miles, but they get the “float” of the credit card billing cycle.

There’s no reason why a business owner shouldn’t accept credit cards. My personal pet peeve is a restaurant that does not accept credit cards. The typical excuse I hear is “I don’t want to pay the fees.” I guarantee that I am not the only one who avoids restaurants that don’t take credit cards, so I’m sure these restaurants are losing business that could easily be made up by accepting credit cards with fees.

And please don’t say that American Express charges more, so you don’t accept it. Give me a break. Most of my clients pay by American Express. It’s what many business people use, sometimes the only card they use. The fees are a fraction higher than other cards, and, again, are totally worth it.

So if you don’t accept credit cards, start looking into accepting them today. Your business will be glad you did.