Credit card processing and merchant services in Saanich, BC

The District of Saanich counted 117,735 residents at the 2021 Census, against 91,867 in the City of Victoria. Saanich grew 3.1% from 2016, less than half the provincial rate of 7.6%, and Statistics Canada ranked it ninth among B.C.'s municipalities.

If your business goes to its customers, sort out the licence first. B.C.'s mobile business licence page lists Saanich in the Greater Victoria partnership, a group of 13 communities that also takes in Victoria, Oak Bay, Esquimalt, Langford, Colwood and Sooke. Applications go through a participating local government rather than the Province, and each partnership sets its own eligibility and costs. Construction, trades, catering and mobile salons are the kinds of businesses the Province mentions. Ask the District whether yours qualifies before you book work across municipal lines.

Once you're working across those lines, the payment has to travel with you. Tap to pay or a mobile card reader takes the card when a job is signed off. For work billed later, or a lawn service that comes back every two weeks, the virtual terminal sends invoices and runs recurring billing.

Tax is the same across B.C.: 5% GST plus 7% PST on most taxable sales, 12% in all. A small seller, with $10,000 or less in gross revenue from retail sales of eligible goods, software and services over the past 12 months and the same expected for the next 12, doesn't have to register for PST. GST has its own federal threshold of $30,000.

Surcharging credit cards is legal in B.C. within Visa and Mastercard's limits, which the British Columbia page sets out. Before you add one, a free statement review will show what each card type costs you now and what it would cost on interchange-plus pricing.