How to Accept Credit Cards at a Coin Shop

To accept credit cards at a coin shop, sign up with a payment processor that accepts coin and bullion sellers, then take cards two ways: a card terminal at the counter, and a pay link on the invoices you email to buyers who are not in the room. Before you start, work out what the card fee does to your profit on a typical sale, because on bullion it can take most of it. Then set rules for large card payments so a chargeback does not cost you both the coin and the money.

Most buyers expect to pay by card. Coins are also one of the easier things to sell to a thief with a stolen card number. The steps below cover the setup, the math, and the rules that keep card payments from turning into losses.

Step 1: Pick a processor that will take you

Not every processor wants coin and bullion business. Some list precious metals or bullion as restricted or prohibited, and some accept you and then hold funds or close the account after a large sale. Before you apply:

• Read the processor's restricted and prohibited business list.
• Tell them you sell coins and bullion, and give your typical and largest sale size.
• Ask about reserves, payout holds, and limits on single transactions.

Being clear up front is better than having your account frozen after your first $15,000 sale.

Two common setups

• A flat-rate processor. You sign up online, connect a bank account, and pay one published rate per transaction. Simple, and fast to start.
• A merchant account through a gateway. You apply for a merchant account and connect it to a gateway that takes card payments online. The pricing is often a negotiated plan, such as interchange-plus, where the fee follows the card type.

Neither is right for everyone. A shop doing a few card sales a week often starts with flat-rate. A shop running large card volume often finds a negotiated plan worth the paperwork. Compare quotes on your own sales mix.

Step 2: Do the fee math before you set prices

Card fees come off the sale price, but you feel them in your profit. The examples below use a made-up rate of 3% plus $0.30 per transaction so the math is easy to follow. It is not a quote. Use the rate on your processor's current pricing page or your contract.

A rare coin

You sell an 1893-CC Morgan dollar, PCGS VF30, for $1,800. It cost you $1,550.

• Profit before fees: $1,800 − $1,550 = $250.00
• Card fee: $1,800 × 3% + $0.30 = $54.00 + $0.30 = $54.30
• Profit after the card fee: $250.00 − $54.30 = $195.70

The fee takes $54.30 ÷ $250.00 = 21.7% of your profit on that sale.

Bullion

You sell ten 1 oz American Silver Eagles at $40.00 each, $400.00 in total. They cost you $37.00 each, $370.00 in total.

• Profit before fees: $400.00 − $370.00 = $30.00
• Card fee: $400.00 × 3% + $0.30 = $12.00 + $0.30 = $12.30
• Profit after the card fee: $30.00 − $12.30 = $17.70

Here the fee takes $12.30 ÷ $30.00 = 41% of your profit. That is why many dealers post a lower price for cash, check, or wire on bullion than for card.

Pricing for card payments

If you want the same $30.00 profit on the silver when the buyer pays by card, the card price has to cover the fee on itself:

Card price = (cost + profit + $0.30) ÷ (1 − 3%) = ($370.00 + $30.00 + $0.30) ÷ 0.97 = $412.68

Check: $412.68 × 3% + $0.30 = $12.68. $412.68 − $12.68 − $370.00 = $30.00.

Whether you can show the card price as a "surcharge" or the other price as a "cash discount" is a separate question. Card network rules and state laws govern both, some states limit or ban surcharges, and the rules change. Read your processor's rules and your state's current law, or ask a lawyer, before you print a card fee on a sign or an invoice.

Step 3: Take cards at the counter

At the counter you use a card terminal or a card reader on a phone or tablet from your processor. The buyer taps, inserts, or swipes. A card the buyer has in hand is harder for a thief to use than a typed card number, and processors often price card-present sales differently from online sales. Check your plan.

Write an invoice for the counter sale like any other, and record that it was paid by card. That way your sales records match the deposits from your processor.

Step 4: Take cards from buyers who are not in the room

For a phone, email, or show-follow-up sale, the usual ways are:

• A pay link on the invoice. You email the invoice, and the buyer clicks a link and enters the card on the processor's payment page. The card number never passes through you.
• Typing the card into a virtual terminal. The buyer reads you the number over the phone. This works, but you now handle card numbers, and you carry the risk if the card turns out to be stolen.

A pay link is safer for both sides. Never write a card number in an email, a note, or a customer record.

Partial payments and deposits

A buyer who wants a $9,000 coin may put $2,000 on a card today and wire the $7,000 balance next week. Let the buyer pay part of the invoice by card, record the wire when it arrives, and ship when the balance is zero. Note that the card fee applies only to the $2,000 the buyer charged: at the example rate, $2,000 × 3% + $0.30 = $60.30.

Step 5: Cut chargeback risk

A chargeback is when the cardholder disputes a payment with their bank. If the bank sides with the buyer, the money comes back out of your account, and processors usually add a dispute fee on top. On a shipped coin, you can lose the coin and the money.

Example: a new buyer pays $2,400 by card for a gold coin and gives a ship-to address that does not match the card's billing address. The coin ships without a signature requirement. A month later the real cardholder disputes the charge. You lose the $2,400, any dispute fee, and the coin, which is gone.

Rules that help:

• Watch the first order. Be careful with a new buyer's large first card payment, a rush request, or a ship-to address that differs from the billing address.
• Use the processor's checks. Address and security code checks, and any fraud review the processor offers. Do not ship a payment that is held for review.
• Require a signature on delivery for card orders, and keep the tracking.
• Keep evidence. The invoice with your return terms, the payment record, photos of the coin and the packed box, and the delivery scan.
• Answer disputes on time. Processors give a deadline. Missing it usually means you lose.

Step 6: Refunds

Refund a card payment back to the same card through the processor. Do not refund a card payment in cash or by check. It confuses your records and is a common fraud pattern: a thief pays with a stolen card, then asks for the refund another way. Ask your processor how fees work on a refund. Some do not return the original fee.

How CoinManagerPro takes card payments

With CoinManagerPro online payments, buyers pay your invoices by card through a pay link. In Invoice payments settings you set up one of two processors:

• Stripe. Click "Set up Stripe" and finish Stripe's steps. The section shows "Ready" when Stripe can take payments, and Stripe pays out to your bank account.
• Authorize.net. Use your own merchant account. Enter the "API Login ID", the "Transaction key", and the "Signature key", and click "Save keys".

Under "Card processor", choose "Stripe" or "Authorize.net", and turn "Partial payments" on if buyers may pay part of the balance. The smallest payment is $0.50. Choose "No online payments" if you do not take cards online.

On an invoice, "Email invoice" sends the invoice PDF with the pay link, and "Copy pay link" copies the link so you can send it in a text. The buyer pays on Stripe's or Authorize.net's page, so CoinManagerPro never sees or stores the card number. The payment records on the invoice, and the buyer gets a receipt. An Authorize.net payment "Held for fraud review" does not count as paid until Authorize.net approves it. When you record a return with "Return items", a refund of a card payment goes back to the card through the same processor.

For a card you take on your own counter terminal, click "Record payment" on the invoice and choose "Card" as the method, so the invoice and your deposits match. CoinManagerPro does not add card surcharges. The steps are in Take card payments on invoices and Send an invoice and record payments.

The short version

Pick a processor that accepts coin and bullion sellers, and tell them what you sell. Run the fee math on your real sales, especially bullion, and price card payments to match. Take cards in person on a terminal and remotely through a pay link, and never keep card numbers. Hold large first-time orders, require a signature, keep evidence, and refund to the original card.