a paper trail? When you use a credit card it goes onto your statement....with cash that doesn't happen.

Most gals do not take CC's.  It leaves a paper trail, not good for either of you.

On this board, no  question is too dumb, that's why this forum is here.

Swi

But some might consider it common sense.

The fact is some ladies actually do accept cc, but as you said mist don't.  
The main reason Is discretiin. This business is all about discretion and secrecy for most people. Credit cards leave a paper trail. Not very discreet or secretive.

CC Charges can be disputed.  Wife finds bill, man claims it's a false charge.  Provider has money taken back.  
PayPal & other payment services will sometimes put a hold on an entire account for 'suspicious activity' & it is months trying to get the funds freed, if ever

Nowadays it is so easy to take credit cards.  We have to have something to report on taxes and it just saves everyone a trip to the bank.  No so many guys will use them so taking a 1-3% hit on a small percentage of your biz is no big deal for the convenience aspect.  

Disclaimer:  However, I do report all my income not just what comes from cc charges.  

The sky doesn't fall, trust me.  

-- Modified on 8/27/2013 2:37:50 PM

A hobbyist can easily get into financial ruin if they aren't careful about keeping to their budget.

I am going to add my 2 cents in, because I don't think this has been highlighted. When others have said it’s a paper trail, it’s a serious paper trail....

When you establish a merchant account for accepting credit cards you have to state what the nature of your business is. They have thousands of codes that define what these are: farmer, firearms manufacturer, health club, etc. Adult entertainment establishment is one of the codes. I guess that is what would be used. The banks routinely monitor the transactions, and if they see anything they don't like, they hand it all over to the FBI. The FBI will be able to easily identify that it’s not really an Adult entertainment establishment. This is wire fraud, it's basically when you transfer money electronically under false pretenses. It's a federal felony, the penalties are severe, and it's investigated by the FBI, so you don't want anything to do with it. Lots of things can trigger the investigation, like if you do a transaction with someone who later gets caught for being a drug dealer. The reality is that agencies, and providers are small fries, so they probably wouldn’t take much notice, and they probably get away with it. Also, this information applies to merchant accounts who get a POS terminal, there might be other ways to get credit card payments, but however it's done I think it's playing with fire.

As a client I would never, ever give my credit card number to an agency or provider. They don't exactly hire a team of security experts to vet their websites, so I am sure many of them can be easily hacked. If you are taking to someone whose phone number you got on a website, it’s asking for trouble. I would’t do it in person either, even if it’s someone you know. They may seem be ok now, but can change later, and it’s not like you can just all the police and report it without consequences to yourself.

So IMHO clients, providers, and agencies should never ever even think of taking or using credit cards. There is no reason to throw this dirt on your grave.