My mom is a crafter, and often goes to craft shows and farmers’ markets and the like to sell her wares. She’s strictly hobby-level: In a really great year, she might bring in $2000 from sales, and this year was only $1000. Individual items range from about $3 to $30, with the occasional bespoke item going for as much as $100.
Historically, she’s mostly dealt in cash, and the occasional personal check. Some vendors at other booths take credit cards, but she hasn’t gotten into that because of transaction fees. But of course, nowadays, fewer and fewer people carry cash, and every show, she has a number of people who say that they’d love to buy something, but they don’t have cash on them.
But of course, there are a lot of other payment options nowadays. I’ve never looked into them much, because I don’t do many person-to-person transactions, but I know they’re out there. I’d like to get her set up with something that she could use her phone to accept non-cash payments, with either no fees or a fee structure that won’t wipe out her profits. She’s a bit of a Luddite, but I’m often at sales with her, so I could help her out with it, at least until I train her up. If it matters, she has a phone and a tablet, both running Android.
So what should I be looking at? Venmo, PayPal, CashApp? Is there some easy-to-use app that combines all of them?
Square (those little plug-in phone credit card readers) is “free” with a 2.6%+10¢ charge for each transaction. I don’t know what you/her considers to be a reasonable fee for use. It looks like the plug-in gadget is free for a stripe reader that uses 3.5mm plug or $49 for a chip reader model that connects wirelessly to your device.
I mention it over Paypal, Venmo, etc because I assume most people wandering the show have a credit/debit card and a lesser amount of people have a money-transfer app on their phone so you’d still get some number of people saying “Wait, to buy this I need to install and set up Zelle? Ehhh… I’ll come back later”
Of course, you can always accept multiple options. My wife has no issue with using Venmo and similar apps.
Posting not because I have any advice but because I’m interested in the answers.
I’m still holding out against taking cards etc. at farmers’ market due somewhat to hassle but primarily due to fees; but I may eventually have to give in and sign up for something.
I feel like in the last 2 years, its gotten to where the vast majority of people I know have Zelle or Venmo. It might be worth starting there and then seeing if there is still a need to take cards.
Based on my observations shopping at farmer’s markets, pretty much all the vendors who accept non-cash payments appear to be using Square, so that seems like the way to go. I imagine it is for the reasons @Jophiel mentioned; nearly everyone has a credit/debit card on them, but not everyone has a PayPal or Venmo account. At most maybe a few vendors also accept Venmo in addition to accepting credit cards via Square in case some customers prefer to pay that way, but they all use Square primarily.
Maybe. I suppose any answer (non-data driven) will have a bit of confirmation bias either way. I don’t use them (I used Zelle once but never again; not for any reason just because it never came up) and I guarantee that my mother and sister – a couple people haunting craft shows and farmer’s markets – don’t use them. On the other hand, I don’t know anyone who goes out shopping/browsing but doesn’t have a card on them.
There have been a number of occasions where Mom has regretfully said that she doesn’t take cards, and a prospective customer has replied “No problem, do you take Venmo?”. And the fellow who’s usually in the stall next to us takes, in his words, “Everything but bitcoin”, and I gather that he does a fair amount of business in apps.
Hmm… Maybe I should see if I have any contact info for him, and ask him how much he does in each.
Provided there’s no cost to sitting on a largely unused Square account, I suppose the best answer is to do both. Cast a wide net and all that. Depending on the charges, maybe have a sign saying that you take Venmo (or Zelle, etc) and if anyone asks if you take cards, have the option for that but hopefully they select the least cost-draining option first. But X dollars minus 2.6% is still better than 0 dollars because the customer couldn’t give you money.
Yep, one doesn’t have to exclude the other. I’d make a point of making sure I had an option where nearly everyone can pay me though.
Venmo:
I stopped at a garage sale with my 19 year old son a couple of years ago, and they wanted $30 for a chest of drawers. All I had was $15, and as I fruitlessly searched through my purse, the woman running the sale saw my son walk up to me and asked him “I’m sure you have Venmo?” Yes, he did. The seller gave my son a phone number which he entered in his Venmo app; the seller looked at her phone and within less than a minute she could see the $40 transferred into her account.
So once you have the app downloaded to your smartphone and linked to a bank account, all you have to do is enter a phone number and authorize a transfer.
Zelle:
there’s an app for it that can be downloaded to phones, but I don’t like downloading apps and just use it on my laptop or on my phone’s Chrome browser, through my bank’s website. Zelle accounts can be linked to bank accounts through phone numbers or to email addresses, so depending on which is linked for the person you want to send money to, that’s all you would need to type into your phone or your browser. No need to enter a bank name or routing number. And, like Venmo, the money arrives within 30 seconds or less.
OK, and the phone number you give out has to be the actual number for your phone? I’ll have to ask Mom how comfortable she’d be with that… Though I think she has business cards with it on them anyway…
And I’m sure there’s some sort of fee structure associated with all of these apps (they have to make money somehow, after all)… Is it just when you transfer money out of them and into your regular bank account? How much?
I have seen vendors some places with a QR code for customers to scan to pay with Venmo. I wonder if she print out such a QR code and display it at her booth or something?
For Venmo I’m fairly sure that you have to use your actual phone number. If there’s a fee, it’s a small percentage, in the low single digits. (I used to put money into my son’s bank account and review his spending so I’d see the Venmo transactions)
From the Zelle webpage:
“To receive money with Zelle , you’ll need to enroll your U.S. mobile number or email address (the sender needs to use the specific email address or U.S. mobile number that you enrolled).
Please note that only U.S. mobile numbers are eligible. Voice over IP (VOIP), landlines and Google voice numbers are not eligible for Zelle enrollment.”
I sent $3500 to a relative via Zelle last week and I don’t see any transaction fees on my account. The FAQ webpage says " There’s no fee to send or receive money with Zelle using our Mobile Banking app or Online Banking." This may vary from one bank to another; I’m using Bank of America, which isn’t known for being generous.
More from the FAQs Zelle is a fast, safe and easy way to send and receive money with friends, family or others in minutes,Footnote[1] between domestic bank accounts at U.S. financial institutions. Using just their U.S. mobile number or email address you can send money directly to their bank account right from yours with no fees using the Bank of America Mobile Banking app or Online Banking.
You need a cell number to sign up for Venmo, but people can pay using your email address or username. I have a personal account, not business and there is no fee if I’m willing to wait a couple of days for the money( I guess Venmo makes their money on the float) Business accounts have a fee, I think.