Receiving payment by standing order.

[BliarOut]

Are there any reasons why I can't set my business up to receive payment for support contracts via standing order?

Direct Debit isn't going to happen for me but I want a way to easily receive regular payments for a contract without hampering my chances of a sale..

Any advice on the easiest/best/right way to approach this appreciated.

[JonRB]

BliarOut said:

Are there any reasons why I can't set my business up to receive payment for support contracts via standing order?

You do not need to do anything to receive a payment by Standing Order - it is all done by the sender. You give the sender your bank details (account number, sort code and account name) and ask them to set up a Standing Order. It then hits your account on the payment date just like a normal BACS transfer. In fact, that's all it really is - the only difference is that it is periodic rather than a one-off.

[BliarOut]

JonRB said:

BliarOut said:

Are there any reasons why I can't set my business up to receive payment for support contracts via standing order?

You do not need to do anything to receive a payment by Standing Order - it is all done by the sender. You give the sender your bank details (account number, sort code and account name) and ask them to set up a Standing Order. It then hits your account on the payment date just like a normal BACS transfer. In fact, that's all it really is - the only difference is that it is periodic rather than a one-off.

That's what I thought.... I just wanted to make sure it wasn't frowned upon or looked a bit Mickey Mouse.

[JonRB]

BliarOut said:

That's what I thought.... I just wanted to make sure it wasn't frowned upon or looked a bit Mickey Mouse.

Don't see why. Asking a customer to make regular payments by S/O is fair enough. My company pays our accountant by S/O, and my residential tenants pay their rent to me by S/O (ok, that's residential not commercial) so no problems there.

If you choose to take credit card payments, then WorldPay have a useful feature called FuturePay that lets you set up regular debits on a customer's card in much the same way as Direct Debit does. PayPal has a similar facility altough PayPal doesn't look that professional IMO.

Edited by JonRB on Thursday 9th November 15:39