Credit card payments? Paypal inovice?

dragon-av · Dec 11, 2009

Hi Chaps and lasses I am sure this will become a more common topic as we go on but due to the time of year and the great Xmas deadline, I have lost about £16k of business today due to not having a PDQ machine (credit card machine) and I am wondering if perhaps paypal inovicing is the way to go? There seem to be some good ePDQ solutions but all cost £10-70 a month either a real machine or a virtual one, so I am considering paypal invoicing send an email with a link to client and they pay with credit card online costs 1.4-3.4% +0.20p per transaction but if you add 2.5% it covers most of it (any idea how the vat works as if you send a bill of £100 you only get £97) but seems a decent way to take deposits and get payments upfront etc.

Anyone know how long it takes to get cleared funds?

There is a thread here http://www.electriciansforums.net/business-related/2423-taking-credit-card-payments.html but does anyone know how long it takes to get set up and how long it takes to get the funds?

1shortcircuit · Dec 11, 2009

dragon-av said:
Hi Chaps and lasses I am sure this will become a more common topic as we go on but due to the time of year and the great Xmas deadline, I have lost about £16k of business today due to not having a PDQ machine (credit card machine) and I am wondering if perhaps paypal inovicing is the way to go? There seem to be some good ePDQ solutions but all cost £10-70 a month either a real machine or a virtual one, so I am considering paypal invoicing send an email with a link to client and they pay with credit card online costs 1.4-3.4% +0.20p per transaction but if you add 2.5% it covers most of it (any idea how the vat works as if you send a bill of £100 you only get £97) but seems a decent way to take deposits and get payments upfront etc.

Anyone know how long it takes to get cleared funds?

There is a thread here http://www.electriciansforums.net/business-related/2423-taking-credit-card-payments.html but does anyone know how long it takes to get set up and how long it takes to get the funds?

Dragon, I seriously wouldn't use Paypal.

I have read stories of accounts getting wiped out and the customer service being absolutely diabolical.

I'll try and find the post so that you can evaluate it for yourself:thumbsup

Found it

PayPal Alternative - Pay Pal Lawsuits, PayPal Complaints & Fraud

dragon-av · Dec 12, 2009

hmm most of the issues seem to relate to ebay, not where i will do business I like the idea of email inovicing with a click to pay link. I would rather use google check out but they dont offer this service only other option is to have a PDQ machine and the protable ones arent cheap

hotXbun · Dec 12, 2009

ERm .. 1shortcircuit .... I just went to the redirect via your link and AVG came along and condemned it

On Wednesday, clients steam generator packs up ... along comes very efficient service engineer that afternoon, fixes the heater and tells me he will send me a bill via email with a request to settle bill by paypal which he said is a good way to do it. REceived bill that evening andI sent email to client who says she settled the bill via paypal today.

It seemed a good easy way to settle the account. With my clients, I give those with online accounting my bank details and they do a direct payment into my account.... that works very well too

dragon-av · Dec 12, 2009

IT seems paypal take 5 days to clear you the funds most are 2-3 looking for paypal alternatives i cant see many. Seems odd as banks try to phase out cheques no one else seems to offer a an electronic payment system for us types who have paranoid customers who will only pay by credit card, customers who dont have internet banking (or cant be trusted to actually do the transfer. I would have thought there would be a significant market for such a service perhaps not ?

drywax · Dec 12, 2009

whats the charges for using paypal seems a good secure idea I remember reading an article about been able to pay for such things like a taxi by text via paypal it will be the way forward but It'll take a while for it to become mainstream due to customers confidence in the internet

dragon-av · Dec 12, 2009

No set-up costs, and it's free to open your PayPal Business Account. Just a transaction fee of 1.4%-3.4% + 20p on each email payment.

https://www.paypal-business.co.uk/invoicing.asp it's 3.4% on monthly amounts of £1500 or less 2.9% on 1500-5000 and so on, there is a table somewhere on the site i saw it.

1shortcircuit · Dec 12, 2009

ERm .. 1shortcircuit .... I just went to the redirect via your link and AVG came along and condemned it

I've seen that mentioned before where I obtained the link from but it's fine. Norton did not flag it on mine

Perhaps Paypal own AVG or have their thumbs in it's pie

hmm most of the issues seem to relate to ebay

I think the main reason for that is it's ebays preferred payment method and probably Paypals biggest customer :thumbsup

only other option is to have a PDQ machine and the portable ones aren't cheap

How much are they? 16 Grand is a lot of money to lose out on:frown Everyone seems to want to put everything on Plastic now. I used to find this a problem when I was an Insurance Sales Rep

Good luck, I look forward to reading this thread and seeing how you get on

dragon-av · Dec 12, 2009

Mate of mine has a PDQ £53 a month for rental of the machine +merchant set up fees and then a % for the moment i think paypal is the way forward, if i start doing alot of business on Card then look to get a PDQ or virtual PDQ point one issue is for card holder not present payments which most are your charged a higher % on a PDQ and an extra if the client doesn't used verified by visa etc online. a fuly portable PDQ is best as you habd it over to the client just like they do in Tesco etc.

But for taking deposits/final payment electronic invoices with a click to pay link seem best idea an issue with paypal is it atkes 5 days to clear funds (my bank take that long with a cheque)

sparks72 · Dec 12, 2009

Steer clear of Paypal, after my experience with them
last week I won't be using them again, diabolical service.

dragon-av · Dec 12, 2009

sparks72 said:
Steer clear of Paypal, after my experience with them
last week I won't be using them again, diabolical service.

What happened were you the seller? or the buyer?

1shortcircuit · Dec 12, 2009

dragon-av said:
What happened were you the seller? or the buyer?

Please share :thumbsup

sparks72 · Dec 12, 2009

dragon-av said:
What happened were you the seller? or the buyer?

I was the buyer,

They put my account on hold for a week for no reason at all, supposed "suspicious" activity!
since when did paying a seller from my bank account become suspicious!!
Communication from them was none existant, they hide behind automated responses!
It's seems they don't want you to be a happy customer & do WTF they like,
then they have the cheek to send you an email asking to fill in a customer survey!
one question was "did you lose any earnings!", like they really care

boatnik1 · Dec 12, 2009

((I think the main reason for that is it's ebays preferred payment method and probably Paypals biggest customer :thumbsup))

The real reason is that Ebay own paypal and skype too.

Biggest problem with paypal now is if your costomer decides they might find a fault with your work or goods and notify paypal, then paypal will hold your funds for an indeterminate time and then the customer can do a credit card chargeback and you lose the lot.

Direct bank transfer is the way to go.