Staging Sips
Staging Sips
Lori Fischer
The Truth About Credit Card Fees and Getting Paid Faster
27 minutes Posted Aug 8, 2026 at 12:00 pm.
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Let's talk about a topic that sounds boring but isn't: how you get paid. 

I started this episode wanting to talk credit card processing fees, but the deeper I went, the more I realized the fee is the smallest part of the story. 

The real question is what it actually costs your business to collect money, most of which is invisible. Checks, e-checks, Zelle, Venmo, ACH, Apple Pay, Google Pay; every payment method has a price tag, even the ones that look free. 

I'm walking through the hidden labor behind manual payments, the legal side of credit card surcharges you need to know, the exact math for building card fees into your pricing instead of tacking them on, and a policy lesson from my mom's very hot, very expensive 4th of July weekend. If you've ever resented that 3%, this episode is for you. 

 

What You'll Learn:

  • Why a payment with "no processing fee" often costs you more in time, follow up, and delayed cash flow than the fee itself
  • The real tradeoffs between checks, e-checks, ACH/PAD, Zelle, Venmo, and Apple/Google Pay for a staging business
  • The exact percentage to add to your prices if you want to build card fees into your pricing instead of surcharging clients
  • Why holding firm on your payment policy even when a client has a great excuse protects your business

 

RESOURCES:  

If you want to learn how to streamline your operations so you can grow with less stress and burnout in your staging business, enrollment is open for Staging Business School Accelerate Track. I'd love to see you in the classroom!

 

ENJOY THE SHOW?