Jason, after 15 months of accepting plastic, I must say that it did take a while, but it is translating into more biz. I started advertising the fact after I was shocked how many used it without us letting it be known.
Useage of plastic is steadily increasing for us and now accounts on average of 13% of our days gross.

I do see much higher plastic use during times we have family films such as Over Hedge and Cars. And as such per caps jump nicely as well. I have to believe, junior hounded mom they needed to see that film, and mom obliged because she could charge it. During Hedge and now with Cars plastic can account for 20% of the days gross.

Thumbs way up.

We've been using the RTS/Mercury Pay system for several years now. The process is as fast as a cash transaction. We don't take checks or offer ATM machines here. All other theatres in our area take cards, so it's become an expected part of doing business. We find many group admits and larger concession transactions are made with credit/debit cards.

We have been happy with plastic too. Even with the stickers up I just had someone tell me they had to wait for their husband to come back from the bank so they could buy something since we did not take credit. I told her we have been taking it for more than a year. She was surprised and so was the person behind her because he went to the ATM before coming just for the same reason.

You should have gotten that VISA forehead tatoo

I, too, am glad that we are accepting them - more for the convenience than an increase in income. I would suggest going to their websites and ordering promotional materials. They are usually free. Some are attractive and eye-catching.

I also announce on the recording that "we now accept all major credit cards for tickets, snacks and gift certificate sales."

Am I reading my Mercury Pay statement correctly that we get charged each time a card is declined? Under "Other Fees", Amex, Discover and Decln Auth is listed with the latter being .19 each. Anyone know?

A charge for every authorization whether approved or declined is common amongst all merchant banks. This is not something unique to Mercury Payment Systems or HSBC Bank. While some companies incorporate the approval transaction fee into the discount rate, others charge it out separately. Regardless in the event of a declined transaction, the rate is charged as there is no percentage to incorporate it into. A fee is also charged for each authorization when no charge is actually submitted and for mail/telephone orders for each address verification.

Moral of the story, don't keep trying cards for different amounts. By the current V/MC merchant agreements, if a card is declined, you are not permitted to re-run that same card for a lesser amount. The customer 'by-the-books' is to pay by another card or means, or you run the risk of being responsible for the transaction if it is charged back.

Just as a follow-up for those of you who are accepting cards, some common fine-print mistakes businesses make... With V/MC you can not surcharge a customer for using a credit card. You also can not require minimum or maximum purchase amounts. It is also a violation of your agreement to ask for identification to make a purchase.

Each one reading this post can identify with many stores practicing non-compliant proceedures from small shops to large corporations. The fines and penalties for non-compliance along with the potential loss of acceptance priveleges make it worth taking some time to educate ourselves and our employees.

MasterCard Intl's Merchant Violation Form is available for your review at this address.

Thanks for the information RHEUS.

With regards to the decline transaction, should we only swipe a card once and never try again if we get any error message or just the decline message? I get a "times out" message at times and must reset the credit server. Am I charged for those as well?

Again, thanks for the information.

Approval/Decline/Hotcard (Code 10)/Referral(Call Center) are valid responses from a card issuer. Code 10 being a stolen card, referral requiring phone in approval. There is no need to re-run the card, the information will come back the same.

If you are getting a time-out message, communication wasn't successful, the information didn't send/receive and you would want to re-swipe the card to get a valid approval/decline response.

You shouldn't be charged for timed-out transactions as these are communication failures.

Thanks. You've made this very easy to understand. I appreciate the information.