Used car dealer questions

revlis · ‎03-18-2018

Hello all,

I have a business that has been around for 10+ years. We have a great reputation and are an established member of the community. We sell used cars in the $2000-8000 price range. Naturally due to this, 85+% of our sales are done by cash or check. The main reason we dont accept credit cards is because I am afraid that if something goes wrong with the car months later, the customer can complain to their credit card company who will charge back the transaction and possibly put us in a bad spot. I am not trying to do bad by anyone, but sometimes things go wrong on a $2500 car because its a $2500 car. Just the way it goes, but I am worried that the credit card companies would issue the charge back if the customer screamed loud enough.

Again, not trying to do anything fraudulent or wrong on our end, but this concern has kept us away from credit cards for all these 11 years. Is this a valid concern? I fear that I am now losing clients by not taking cards (lesser and lesser people are able to save money these days..)

Would appreciate the input 🙂 Thanks

EJ_ · ‎03-20-2018

Hi @revlis

Welcome to the Seller Community!

This is absolutely a valid concern that not just you, but every seller accepting credit cards should have.

Every card holder has the right to dispute a transaction that appears on their credit card to protect them from fraudulent payments.

If you choose to accept credit card payments for your business, this is a risk that you unfortuantely have to take on. However, that doesn't mean that you're completely defenseless against wrongly disputed payments.

We have a few best practices that you can take to not only prove that your payment is legitimate to win the dispute if it happens, but also to prevent disputes from happening in the first place.

The three best practices are:

Communicate with your customers
Clarify your business name on your customer’s bank statements.
Make your sales policies clear on your transaction receipts.

We have an entire article that dives into the details around how you can prevent and win disputes in your favor:

Preventing Disputes

You can also read up on how Square protects and represents you in a payment dispute:

Payment Disputes Walkthrough