Business Advice

I own a pretty successful bike shop in a college town, and I still handle all our books. I can never seem to make sense of how much it’s really costing me to accept credit cards. I’ve switched three times in the past 8 years and every time a new sales rep tells me he can beat my old rate. The last guy’s rate was lower than the previous one, but then it jumped up after only 3 months and now it’s higher than my original rate, and on top of that it will cost me a boatload if I cancel early! How can I protect myself from the confusing and tricky credit card processing industry and, for that matter, is there any way I can get out of this slimy contract with my current card processing service?

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A new client recently asked me if they could pay my invoice with a credit card. I’m not set up for credit cards, however, but remember that there’s a way that I can use my Paypal account for this. I know there’ll be a small transaction fee, which they’re willing to add, but how do I send them a request to pay me? I don’t want their credit card info…

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Hey Dave. I am 17 years old and i have been working with computers since i was 6 (apple Macintosh; floppy always got stuck). I am good doing stuff to them like removing viruses, upgrading OS, etc. Anyway I want to open a small business in my home, where I can fix computers around my neighborhood. I already started some time ago, by means i have some good references here. My question is, I heard that you need to have some kind of degree to be able to fix personal computers, And without one you could be prosecuted by the law. Is this true? Should i stop fixing computers?

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