Taking payments....making it easier for the client

[nick_j007]

Hi all,

I am often taking payments from clients that may be heading towards a thousand pounds.

Most pay cash or cheque, but some whilst wanting to go ahead find this payment 'up front' hard to do.

I don't normally offer terms or split payments, as it complicates matters and leaves me vulnerable to receive the full amount in the end. I want to be able to help where possible though, and I am wondering if offering CC payments would improve my uptake? I assume that would cost me a monthly fee though?

People have paid via PayPal previously, but that attracts a 3.4% levy.

How about Direct Debit payments?

Any thoughts on various pros and cons would be welcome.

[BigAlinEmbra]

The most obvious solution would be to get them to perform bank transfers. Depends who your clients are, most individuals can do this for free, and depending on the size of your business clients they can probably do it too but the cost will lie with them rather than you.
CHAPS payments can be same day, BACS is a bit slower.

[Jayyy]

www.protx.com

Similar to PayPal but you pay £20/month and no transaction fees.

I believe this gives upto 1000 transactions per quarter.

[lenientism]

3.4% of levies counts nothing if you gain 50% benefit for every transaction.

[maser_spyder]

lenientism said:

3.4% of levies counts nothing if you gain 50% benefit for every transaction.

3.4% is also the entry rate for paypal.

Put a decent amount through and it quickly drops to a reasonable level.

We're paying 1.2% for paypal transactions now....

[maser_spyder]

Jayyy said:

www.protx.com

Similar to PayPal but you pay £20/month and no transaction fees.

I believe this gives upto 1000 transactions per quarter.

Protx is only a processor, it is not a merchant account.

i.e. You have to have card processing facilities with a merchant bank and a merchant number. Protx only cover the actual card processing part, mostly for e-commerce.

[anonymous-user]

It would be worth looking at taking credit cards - google merchant services. This will mean people pay you in one go, and then pay their CC back as and when they can afford it. Without any need for you to take a risk.

There are some costs involved by the merchant services company will talk you all through that. I have used streamline (RBS/NatWest) in the past and had no problems

[Snoggledog]

Talk to the business manager at your bank. There's a good chance that they'll have a rental scheme for a credit card terminal. You rent it from them for X per month and they have an engineer / helpdesk available to sort out any issues.

[neilski]

If they want to pay by credit card, get them to pay by credit card cheque. You bank it like you would a normal cheque so it won't cost you the fees a card transaction would.

[JonRB]

Direct bank transfer by BACS or CHAPS is the way to go. All they need is your account number, account name and sort code. This information is all printed on every cheque you write so it's hardly a security issue.

For BACS they use their internet banking or phone banking and it takes 3 working days

CHAPS is a same-day transfer and costs them around £25 to send and is generally done over the counter or by phone banking - I don't know of any internet banking that allows you to do a CHAPS transfer.

Edit: Everything else (credit card facilities, direct debit, PayPal, WorldPay, whatever) will incur a charge and/or a monthly fee so for low volume sales may not be worth it.

Edited by JonRB on Wednesday 8th April 19:07

[anonymous-user]

JonRB said:

Direct bank transfer by BACS or CHAPS is the way to go. All they need is your account number, account name and sort code. This information is all printed on every cheque you write so it's hardly a security issue.

For BACS they use their internet banking or phone banking and it takes 3 working days

CHAPS is a same-day transfer and costs them around £25 to send and is generally done over the counter or by phone banking - I don't know of any internet banking that allows you to do a CHAPS transfer.

Edit: Everything else (credit card facilities, direct debit, PayPal, WorldPay, whatever) will incur a charge and/or a monthly fee so for low volume sales may not be worth it.

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 8th April 19:07

Since faster payments came in most payments of around this amount will be there the same day, often within a few hours. Without the need for CHAPS.

[maser_spyder]

MRSNEAK said:

JonRB said:

Direct bank transfer by BACS or CHAPS is the way to go. All they need is your account number, account name and sort code. This information is all printed on every cheque you write so it's hardly a security issue.

For BACS they use their internet banking or phone banking and it takes 3 working days

CHAPS is a same-day transfer and costs them around £25 to send and is generally done over the counter or by phone banking - I don't know of any internet banking that allows you to do a CHAPS transfer.

Edit: Everything else (credit card facilities, direct debit, PayPal, WorldPay, whatever) will incur a charge and/or a monthly fee so for low volume sales may not be worth it.

Edited by JonRB on Wednesday 8th April 19:07

Since faster payments came in most payments of around this amount will be there the same day, often within a few hours. Without the need for CHAPS.

+1

FPS (Faster Payment Service) is now live with pretty much all major UK banks, there's a few Building Societies that haven't caught up yet, but almost all payments, even cross-bank, are completed almost immediately.

[nick_j007]

http://www.apacs.org.uk/payments_industry/document...

Thank you all. very informative as always.

I think I need to evaluate wether accepting credit cards would benefit things my end. I'm on the fence a bit I admit.

The link as above explains the Fast Payments thing, and they should all be there end of May.

Nick

[JonRB]

Sorry, yes, I should have said "up to 3 days" for BACS really, shouldn't I?

I'd heard FPS was incoming but I confess it slipped my mind when I made my post.

Anyway, I'd say that encouraging your clients to pay by BACS is the way to go as it doesn't incur any charges to either party and is quicker and more convenient than a cheque for an identical result.

[kong]

JonRB said:

Direct bank transfer by BACS or CHAPS is the way to go. All they need is your account number, account name and sort code. This information is all printed on every cheque you write so it's hardly a security issue.

For BACS they use their internet banking or phone banking and it takes 3 working days

CHAPS is a same-day transfer and costs them around £25 to send and is generally done over the counter or by phone banking - I don't know of any internet banking that allows you to do a CHAPS transfer.

Edit: Everything else (credit card facilities, direct debit, PayPal, WorldPay, whatever) will incur a charge and/or a monthly fee so for low volume sales may not be worth it.

Edited by JonRB on Wednesday 8th April 19:07

Most business accounts cater for Chaps online...

But as already said, it is fairly useless now faster payments has come in. You can check your sort code http://www.apacs.org.uk/sortcodechecker/index.html

[nick_j007]

Can I clarify something pls?

If I send someone an invoice via PayPal to their email address and they do not have a PayPal account, can they simply pay it with a credit card anyway?

Would this if possible not be an easy way to accept Credit cards?

Sorry if that's a silly question.

Thanks.

Nick

[JonRB]

nick_j007 said:

If I send someone an invoice via PayPal to their email address and they do not have a PayPal account, can they simply pay it with a credit card anyway?

Yes. That's correct.

nick_j007 said:

Would this if possible not be an easy way to accept Credit cards?

Sure, if you want to trust your money with a business that behaves like a bank but is not regulated like one, and who can take the money back with no recourse or debate if the payer raises a complaint, or freeze your account for no reason or debate whilst there is money in there leaving you unable to get it.

Edited by JonRB on Thursday 16th April 18:08

[nick_j007]

JonRB said:

nick_j007 said:

If I send someone an invoice via PayPal to their email address and they do not have a PayPal account, can they simply pay it with a credit card anyway?

Yes. That's correct.

nick_j007 said:

Would this if possible not be an easy way to accept Credit cards?

Sure, if you want to trust your money with a business that behaves like a bank but is not regulated like one, and who can take the money back with no recourse or debate if the payer raises a complaint, or freeze your account for no reason or debate whilst there is money in there leaving you unable to get it.

Edited by JonRB on Thursday 16th April 18:08

Oooo-er. Since you put it like that maybe I shouldn't then.

I thought PP had more cred than that?

[JonRB]

nick_j007 said:

I thought PP had more cred than that?

Awwww bless

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=paypal+... suggests otherwise.

Note: My AVG Internet Security link scanner identifies the first link (the .com) as dodgy so beware. But PayPal suckage has been known for yonks.

Until they are fully regulated by the FSA or equivalent, I won't have anything to do with them apart from trivial payments as a buyer (but never a seller). Anyone who can mess with your money like a bank but isn't regulated like a bank and is accountable to nobody but themselves is not to be trusted in my opinion.

(Allegedly. Normal disclaimers apply. I didn't write this. You didn't see me, right?)

Edited by JonRB on Thursday 16th April 20:53

[nick_j007]

I aint seen nuffink