jenscandles Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 I'll be getting a knuckle buster and the credit slips soon. I was wondering how you store the slips after shows/how long you keep them for?I've seen lots of posts about where to buy these things but can't find anything about storing after use. Thanks!Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mparadise Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 I typically store the "used" ones in a locked cash box inside a locked file cabinet drawer. I was actually wondering how long we are supposed to keep them on file??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenscandles Posted December 17, 2009 Author Share Posted December 17, 2009 Is your lock box / file cabinet fire safe?For some reason 3 years comes to mind but I may be confusing the credit slips with something else to get that number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mparadise Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 No, I haven't gotten a fire safe yet. It is on my wish list but I just haven't spent the $$ yet because there are always a million things I need more. Plus I figured that all of the information is imputted into the virtual terminal so they have all the info execpt the actual signature if something happens, god forbid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaturallyTru Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 My parents always told me you must keep records up to 7 years in case of an audit. Not sure if that is still true or not.Remember when you do get rid of old credit receipts...shred them well.Trudi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuminousBoutique Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 I used to manage a store and I know we saved them for 1 year before being allowed to shred and dispose of them, but we also sent one set to corporate and they kept those for 7 years.Found this: Legal: The IRS/Revenue has told us that they expect all financial records about a customer to be retained for 7 years as a gov't requirement. (on a website about digital information storage) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenscandles Posted December 17, 2009 Author Share Posted December 17, 2009 I used to manage a store and I know we saved them for 1 year before being allowed to shred and dispose of them, but we also sent one set to corporate and they kept those for 7 years.Where did you guys keep them when you managed the store? I like mparadise's idea of the lock box, but I can see the potential for that to get very large if you process a lot of cards and keep the slips for 7 years.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 This is a little off topic but thought you might be interested. I was reading on the Craftlister forum about vendors getting the new credit cards. What they meant by that was credit cards without the embossed numbers. You can't run them thru a knucklebuster because they don't record the card numbers. Several vendors have already reported getting them this year but none so far in Virginia and Pennsylvania.Just a heads up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenscandles Posted December 17, 2009 Author Share Posted December 17, 2009 This is a little off topic but thought you might be interested. I was reading on the Craftlister forum about vendors getting the new credit cards. What they meant by that was credit cards without the embossed numbers. You can't run them thru a knucklebuster because they don't record the card numbers. Several vendors have already reported getting them this year but none so far in Virginia and Pennsylvania.Just a heads up.That is interesting; thanks for mentioning it. Not sure I like that tho...you'd have to hand write the number and then you don't really have proof the card was present.It makes me want to reconsider ProPay's swiper. I just wish it would let you store more than 71 transactions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 That is interesting; thanks for mentioning it. Not sure I like that tho...you'd have to hand write the number and then you don't really have proof the card was present.It makes me want to reconsider ProPay's swiper. I just wish it would let you store more than 71 transactions. That was the concern of the other vendors-- the 'proof' of using a card. You can just write the number on the credit card slip. I was thinking that until I change to a credit card reader or switch to something like Propay I will write the card number down and have the customer verify the number by initialing it. They also sign so I think that should be proof enough but I'm just not sure or happy about it. CC companies are already causing my merchant to up their fees and I am seriously considering dropping charge cards altogether. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mparadise Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 I have only seen one card so far without the embossed numbers. I did have her initial the #'s like someone mentioned and did ask to see her license to verify that it was in fact her card because I had never heard about them until it was presented to me. She was a really good sport about it and said everyone that she had presented it to had questioned it too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandgirl Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 People take credit cards over the phone? So why can't we write them and have them sign the slip?No biggieAlso storage.. Always wondered about the in regards to the new compliance laws.. I would hate to have to keep 7 years of them on hand!! Maybe it is time to pay the money and get the swipe machine.. Maybe.:rolleyes2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenscandles Posted December 17, 2009 Author Share Posted December 17, 2009 Well I emailed ProPay and asked if they would be upgrading their card reader to take more than 71 transactions. Here is what they said.Hi Jennifer,We've had a few situations where customers need more than 71 transactions stored before they download or process but not too many. We could have a different chip put into the reader that holds 250 records but would cost more and need to be custom ordered. I'd be happy to chat with you about this and see if we can come up with an option that works for you. Feel free to give me a call if you like.Thanks,SteveI did not ask the price because if in my first year or two of doing shows I actually had more than 71 transactions in a day I'd be very surprised. But if anybody here has been considering the ProPay card reader and hesitated simply because of the 71 transaction limit, feel free to PM me and I'll give you Steve's number.So back to my original question, I would still very much like to know how others of you with knuckle busters store your slips and how long you keep them for.Thanks for the great discussion!Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardLOZ Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 (edited) Well maybe for once Australia is ahead of you guys....LOL.I keep on seeing posts about the credit card swipe machines that you do manually.We are getting in March (no point prior to that as we will do very little through Jan / Feb) a mobile credit / debit card terminal. It works on the cellular network and allows you to take debit cards as well as visa, mastercard, amex and diners if wanted. The money is transferred into your account of choice on a daily basis 364 days a year.Works out at $29.50 / month with a $20 minimum commission. From what I have discovered from talking to some others vendors at markets and such, the potential is there for up to about a 40% increase in sales just due to the fact that you can do cards.We also have 2 parties potentially booked for March, but they both said that they will wait till we get our terminal as most of them are first home buyers, so basically only use plastic to shop with. Fewer and fewer people are carrying cash these days so I guess the convienence makes sense. If it only generates an extra 3 - 4 sales / month then it has more than paid for itself. Edited December 17, 2009 by RichardLOZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenscandles Posted December 17, 2009 Author Share Posted December 17, 2009 Richard we've got those as well. I just can't justify paying the monthly fees at this time. While the ProPay discount rate is higher, the fee is annual instead of monthly. So if I don't do a show that month I'm not forced to pay the monthly fee. From what I've read, a lot of people on this board use ProPay for that very reason. I believe they are only offered in the US though. Could be wrong on that one.I'd love to have a wireless terminal with a printer and a "real" merchant account but that won't be in the next year for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 The $29.50 is a bit pricey. Is the $20 commission on top of that and is that monthly too? Yikes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardLOZ Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Yeah it sure is, but I guess that covers everything, including the cell calls, stationary etc. All of the banks charge about the same price so there really isnt anywhere else to go and no other options.Ahhhh such is life. We have less population here in total than you guys have in your bigger cities such as NY and LA, so we just dont get the same choice here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuminousBoutique Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Where did you guys keep them when you managed the store? I like mparadise's idea of the lock box, but I can see the potential for that to get very large if you process a lot of cards and keep the slips for 7 years....We kept them in the safe for a month, I bundled them every night, clipped them together with paper clips, and kept them in the locked cash drawer. At the end of the week I put the weeks worth in an envelope then the envelope would get stuck in the safe. At the end of the month I got them all out, did an audit, then it would go in a larger envelope in a locked file cabinet. At the end of the year, another audit, then it was sent to corporate. It took up about a whole file cabinet, then again we did an average of 200-300 Visa transactions a day so it was ALOT of tape! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuminousBoutique Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Richard we've got those as well. I just can't justify paying the monthly fees at this time. While the ProPay discount rate is higher, the fee is annual instead of monthly. So if I don't do a show that month I'm not forced to pay the monthly fee. From what I've read, a lot of people on this board use ProPay for that very reason. I believe they are only offered in the US though. Could be wrong on that one.I'd love to have a wireless terminal with a printer and a "real" merchant account but that won't be in the next year for me. I'm in the same boat! I've been approached at fairs by people trying to get me to "upgrade" to such a system but I only do the farmers market and in general one or two christmas shows. I cant justify paying almost $50 a month for something I will only use less than half the year. Its a nice "someday" wish though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeavenScentU Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 I have the knuckle buster but where do you get the plate??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mparadise Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 I don't have a plate. I just ordered a stamp from Vistaprint that has my company name, phone # and website so they know who the charges are for (stamp the customer copy). I also use this for my receipt book for custom orders at shows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanasnecessities Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 I use paypal for credit cards.I run them through a knuckle buster, (go to ebay for the plate they are about 5 bucks).I enter them into paypal and then I shred them.Heres why.They can only do a chargeback for up to 90 days on their credit card. Paypal will fight the charge back for you, although they do like the signed slip, so many people do it over the phone, so it really is not a big deal. In all the time and cc's I have taken I have had one chargeback. Paypla fought it and won. It is totally worth my piece of mind to shred them immediately. I do not have the worry that somebody may break into my house and steal other people's information from me. A locked safe is where they would steal from first. I do not tell my customers this. I have recently changed from coming home and entering them to entering the numbers while my customer stands there, this season has been awful with bad checks and cards with no money, so now, no checks (unless I know them) and cc's over the phone. I am looking to buy a netbook to be able to enter them more quickly soon. Just can't decide. I would just take my laptop, but then when I have other people working they would need it to take cc's, so some kind of mini book is needed.I would not keep a years worth of somebody else's cc's anywhere in my house, if you have to keep them, I would outsource it. Maybe a safe deposit box or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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