The irony of "Small Business Saturday."

[Atman]

It is sponsored/promoted by giant American Express. Most small businesses don't accept Amex cards because their merchant fees are so high.

If you really want to help a small business, pay cash and let them keep the 2-5% fee in their own pockets.

[JNelson6563]

1. Thank you.

So many do not fully realize how much it costs small businesses to take credit cards. Thanks for posting this to raise awareness.

Julie

[rfranklin]

2. While I can see your point, on the other hand...

as a small business I found that accepting all credit cards made people spend more freely than if they had to pay cash. Also there is something to be said for the customer feeling that they have some recourse if the product or service doesn't live up to the promises. On a few occasions I found it aggravating to deal with a customer reversing the charges (usually without discussing it with us first) but it was a small price to pay for making more sales. Usually when the customer asks, do you take American Express, it is a signal that they are ready to buy. If you say no, you may have lost that one.

[Atman]

7. You make good points...up to a point.

I do understand the psychology of buying with a card. I guess I was thinking more about planned purchases. As to the security issue, you're absolutely correct. Last spring we purchased a countertop convection oven from a small kitchen shop in Great Barrington, MA (shout out to The Chef's Shop...awesome place). They said they would register the factory one-year warranty for us, and they extend warranties in-house, up to the terms of the original. AND, despite being a small indy shop, the price of the oven was actually less than at the big box stores. Anyway, we loved the Kitchenaide oven, it got good reviews, but after about six months pretty heavy use, one of the timers crapped out, making the oven useless for anything but toast. We called the shop, since they said they handled warranty claims directly, alas, they had experienced a big computer failure during one of the big storms we had this year, and many of their record had been wiped out. And we couldn't locate the original receipt. Since we purchased it with a credit card we were able to call up our own records and found the detailed purchase info, which they accepted as a valid receipt. They handled the warranty as promised, had a new oven shipped directly from the manufacturer. If we had paid cash we would have been screwed.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. My thought about Small Business Saturday...

It seems to me that having this event on the day before Thanksgiving would rake in more revenue than to run it on the day after Black Friday, when some people may have 'shot their wad' on sales held the previous day.

[Lost-in-FL]

5. Not really… Some people wait for Cyber-Monday.

:D

[Cirque du So-What]

6. Yes, but *some* are flat-footed broke by the end of Black Friday

Holding Small Business day *before* Black Friday may entice some people to visit small businesses before they spend all their disposable income. I'm quite confident that not everyone has enough money left over to order stuff on Cyber Monday.

[xchrom]

4. I took all cards in my clothing store.

But Amex fees are wince inducing.

[rfranklin]

8. You get a better percentage if you let them float your purchases...

I think I have a five day float which reduces their percentage quite a bit.

[DCKit]

9. Couldn't possibly agree more.

That commercial is offensive, on many levels.

[quaker bill]

10. I like cash

but also take Amex, Visa, MC, and Discover. As far as that goes, I have even taken a couple of nice oil paintings in trade. Cash is best for sure. I pay about 2 percent regardless of the card used, Amex just charges an additional monthy service fee. Whenever I get tempted to cancel Amex, someone comes by and uses one to purchase an expensive piece. I do not want to lose the sales.

[AllyCat]

11. I tried, but like another poster said, I eventually ran out of the cash I had on hand

and had left the house without my checkbook. I did apologize to the merchants for using plastic to at least show I acknowledged it was a hardship for everyone.

That said, our little town had a lovely turnout for the two hours I was downtown. I waited in LINES at two shops and there were people all over the place at the few restaurants we have left. It was really awesome to see. The only bank in the downtown is a local, indy bank that did not take TARP funds. They had a light up sign encouraging passersby to support "Small Business Saturday. Shop Local!"