Online payment

[Calvin Bellows]

Hi everyone. I have been asked by a few clients if I accept MasterCard or Visa. Unfortunately I don't have that many clients that want to pay that way so I have never looked into the costs associated with it. My bank is trying to set me up with merchant services but I hear that is pretty expensive. I was wondering about adding a paypal or google check out link to my website. Starting in the fall I will be selling DVD's online as well and thought instead of getting checks in the mail to just have them order online and use credit. I am just wondering what you guys use out there (what do you like, don't like, fees to watch out for etc) Thanks in advance.

[Don Bloom]

I've been using Paypal for a number of years and while there is a service fee (IIRC it's either 2.5% or 3%) it works out fine for those folks that wish to pay with a CC. It's pretty close to the same fee as being a merchant. A friend of mine is a CC merchant and I THINK his fee is close to 5%, I could be wrong, it might be a bit less. the only thing about Paypal is it takes a few days for the money to get to the bank account and be released but it's not a big deal. Most of my clients (wedding and others) pay by check.

[Mark Williams]

I agree with Don. I have had a paypal merchant account for several years with hundreds of DVD sales transactions and never had a problem. If you are concerned about linking it to your bank account, go out and open a new account just for that purpose.

[Nate Haustein]

I use PayPal as well, under 3% with no commitment or fees. Another thing to take a look at is the Square credit card reader http://www.squareup.com for if you ever take payments on site. The reader is free (again, no commitment) so it's nice to have it in my bag when I'm heading to a meeting or event - easy to take a down payment on the spot, and the "swipe your card and sign with your finger here" really wows a lot of people. Square is 2.75% per transaction, but such are the costs of doing business - that's why I don't believe in adding a "credit card fee" to any of my transactions.

[David Chilson]

I have had a merchants account on my web site for over 8 years and unless you average hundreds of transactions a month, it probably isn't worth the expense. You also need a gateway account and a SSL certificate attached along with a tax ID# (at least in NY) for the Patriot Act. (Don't ask me why, it has never been adequately explained to me.)

Over the last couple of years, deposits into my account take longer and longer. After you close out the batch for Wednesday, any other online/phone or physical entry takes until the following Monday to show up in my account. Not sure how this compares to PayPal.

The rate I pay is 4% for Visa/MC (Discover and American Express are higher) which is typically one to one and a half points higher than a brick and morter store because you are not swiping the actual card. If you don't have any charges for a month you can also get hit with min fees so make sure you take that into account.

Also, stating anywhere there is a "credit card fee of X amount" will bring the wrath of the state down on you. I tried it once and I got a call from the attorney general. It's against the law. Don't do it.

I average over 7000 transaction a year so for me it's a necessity and having it has secured more customers and offered different ways to collect from the slow pay ones. Reading the statement of what it cost you at the end of the month can be down right alarming though!

[Roger Van Duyn]

Like others have posted in the thread, PayPal has been quick and easy for me too. Plus PayPal has a feature for emailing invoices that also works well. You can even set up templates.

[Calvin Bellows]

Thanks for the input. Sounds like paypal is the check out to use. Can you create a car with paypal say you have two different items or does that need to be done separately. I like the idea of square but unfortunately it doesn't work in Canada, and they said they didn't have any plans on expanding up here any time soon.

[Mark Williams]

Yes, it has a shopping cart and payment buttons that you make within Paypal. You can look at my simple one here http://natureflixs.com/

It is fairly easy to embed the button maker code into your website. Also, it can include any sales tax and shipping if warranted. If I recall, they have a tutorial in the merchant tools area of Paypal. I am not a "computer guy" so if I can do it anyone can.

[Kevin Spahr]

One of the things I like best about using a Paypal button is that security of the buyer data is something I don't need to deal with. Plus Paypal has a great method of creating shipping labels and you pay for it right through Paypal which is nice for keeping records. I've tried other methods but this works best for me.

I also use Square when at shows or festivals and I recommend this system - I love it!

[Dylan Couper]

Originally Posted by Nate Haustein

I use PayPal as well, under 3% with no commitment or fees. Another thing to take a look at is the Square credit card reader http://www.squareup.com for if you ever take payments on site.

That's brilliant. Thanks for posting!

[Matt Gottshalk]

I use freshbooks:

FreshBooks - Online Invoicing, Time Tracking & Billing Software

They use google checkout, which accepts all credit cards and is much user for the end user to navigate.

[Dylan Couper]

Anyone use this:

https://www.paypal.com/vtswipe