One of the most difficult things for a mobile auto detailer is getting paid. Many folks will have you come to their home or office and clean their cars every week, and then have you send them a bill. Your best customers will leave the keys and the money at the front desk at the end of the month or housekeeper, as you clean their car. Others will send you a company check, and sometimes it takes a little while for them to remember to put that in the mail to you.
You can talk to just about any auto detailer, and often when they are done detailing a car, the customer will ask them if they take credit cards or ATM. If they don't, there is often a little bit of a problem and the auto detailer has to wait until the person can come up with the cash or write them a check. That's unfortunate, because as a mobile service business you have to keep moving and making money. Chances are you also have to pay your workers, and therefore you must maintain adequate cash flow.
There was a very interesting article recently on Kurzweil's Accelerating Intelligence Online titled "Square launches iPad point-of-sale service" on May 24, 2011 - partially republished from InformationWeek on May 23, 2011. the article stated; "The cost to merchants is a 2.75% transaction fee for swiped credit cards or 3.5% + 15 for credit card numbers entered manually. "We think that this obsoletes credit terminals and cash registers," said Square CEO Jack Dorsey."
Luckily, Google payments is also coming out with a similar program and working in conjunction with VeriSign, and folks will be allowed to pay online, via their mobile personal tech device such as an iPad, tablet computer, or smart phone.
This is a bonus to anyone who operates a mobile service business, and having been in the auto detailing industry for a number of years, I can't think of a better technology to come available for this sector.
It will surely increase sales, and make things very easy, that is if you are wise and sign up for such a service so that people can deposit money directly into your bank account, or through PayPal. Being able to collect mobile payments means you can make more money, maintain your cash flow, and not waste your time trying to collect, or wait for a check to come in the mail. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it. If you run a mobile service business, and you have any comments or questions, please shoot me an e-mail.