Dramatic Drop in Shop Visitors Report on Sundays

Has anyone else noticed a very big dip in shop visitors on Sundays for the last couple of weeks?

I am seeing this in both the RL & RP shops

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by CheriShops - Admin on April 30, 2012 at 1:23pm

ah and it seems the 2.7% is only for swiped cards...it is 3.5% plus 15c for transactions entered to the virtual terminal

I would be a bit cautions to link my bank account to them tho as I hadn't heard of them till today? Have they been around long??

Permalink Reply by Ornaments on April 30, 2012 at 2:07pm

I have heard that Authorize.net is supposed to be good, but they aren't cheap. $99 setup fee, $20 a month, .10 per transaction and .25 batch processing fee. I have been tempted, but right now it is hard to justify the cost.

Permalink Reply by San Marcos Art Glass on April 30, 2012 at 2:31pm

I accepted credit cards for a year when I was with another online site. There was a subscription fee for the service in addition to the charge fees. The service was used once during the year, so I couldn't justify keeping the service. Everyone used PayPal pretty much. I like PP just fine, so have no problem with that.

I had 2-3 telephone calls last year with people hoping I took credit cards. I considered signing up for the service with Sam's Club, but didn't know if it would be worth my effort. I would dislike missing a good sale because I don't take CC's directly. I am going to have to look more at Sam's service. I have been thinking about it for too long now. I don't think there is a subscription cost involved with it.

Permalink Reply by CheriShops - Admin on April 30, 2012 at 3:08pm

We used to use ProPay for cc's but left after a little old lady said she forgot that she had made 3 purchases from us and did chargebacks on all 3 simultaneously!!!!... Even tho she wrote a letter admitting her error, they told us we had to keep $600 in escrow with them to continue...even tho we had years of stellar records....so we left.

Since then, using PP for cc's even when customers dont have or want a PP account has really worked just fine...and is cheaper overall.

Permalink Reply by Pearl's Parlor on May 1, 2012 at 7:12am

Cheri - you mentioned customers using PayPal for credit card transactions, even if they don't have an account. Are there any instructions that you give them on how this works? Just curious if it's relatively easy. I was checking PayPal and they had instructions for sellers on making sure a certain button is turned "on" under Selling Preferences. Mine was turned On, although I don't remember ever doing it. Maybe it's a default. Thanks.

Permalink Reply by CheriShops - Admin on May 1, 2012 at 7:38am

Carol, I just send them a PayPal invoice direct from my PP account to theirs, and tell them to select the "one time credit card payment" option. I let them know I am sending it and that they do not have to sign up for PP to make payment that way. It shows as a money request in their PP account so they know it is all legit.

Apparently they can also do that directly on RL if they choose the PP option, it also shows a one time cc payment to select

Permalink Reply by Pearl's Parlor on May 1, 2012 at 10:34am

Thanks for the reply! I just noticed when I went to PayPal that there is a heading "Don't Have a PayPal Account" below the one I usually use of "Have a PayPal Account". I clicked under the Don't Have to see what would happen. There's a page to fill out with your credit card or debit card information, along with your address. Good to know.

Permalink Reply by 2Hearts Uptown @Ruby Lane on May 1, 2012 at 10:36am

Yes, I meant free to set up the account. All credit cards have fees, so I expect that as a part of doing business. It can be very handy, as I can take my CC processor (small attachment allows you to swipe CC) with me to facilitate on site sales at shows, etc. as well. You can also send an instant email to customer of their transaction, including a photo of what they have bought. Hard to see a down side to the Square set up! (And Square does not maintain customer CC info).

CheriShops - Admin said:

I just checked square (squareup.com) and it seems they aren't free? as they charge 2.7 % per transaction...so am assuming you mean no annual/membership fee.

2Hearts Uptown @Ruby Lane said:

Continue to recommend "Square" program for processing credit cards. It's free; just need a smart phone. Although folks who use it DO have to give you all their private CC info. PayPal is actually so much more secure, in terms of the buyer not having any idea who we are, and what we might do with their info!

Ornaments said:

My last two sales were to people who can't or won't use PayPal. They're paying by money order. I wish that we did have some other way of accepting credit card payments. A lot of people seem to be biased against PayPal even though PP has a rep for almost always siding with the buyer and immediately issuing a refund in any dispute.

I knew that sales would drop off as the weather got better, I guess I just wasn't expecting it to drop off of a cliff at the beginning of April. I hope it does pick up a little bit at least. I don't know if I can keep things going if I have to go 6 months at a time with almost no sales.

Permalink Reply by Ornaments on May 10, 2012 at 7:40am

I just checked Google Analytics as I do every morning and noticed a dramatic drop off for yesterday (May 9). My shop visitors count in RL looks fine as it is in line with previous days. Anyone else seeing this?

Permalink Reply by San Marcos Art Glass on May 10, 2012 at 10:06am

I think Google Analytics had trouble. I checked mine and saw the chart had bottomed out yesterday.

Permalink Reply by Kathy's Vintage Jewels on May 10, 2012 at 10:10am