[YoungsPainting]

Has anyone tried accepting credit card payments online? Dedicating a page on their website that provides online payment option or link to a secure checkout like paypal or google checkout.

I think this will provide another convenient way for customers to pay. What are the positives and negatives you see in this?

Thanks

 

[Rich]

Has anyone tried accepting credit card payments online? Dedicating a page on their website that provides online payment option or link to a secure checkout like paypal or google checkout.

I think this will provide another convenient way for customers to pay. What are the positives and negatives you see in this?

Thanks

Yes, yes, and yes

I offer credit card payments through paypal. The logo is on my website. I have about 1 out of 5 customers use the option. The only negative is the fact that there is a charge, but it's not that bad at all. It's something everyone should offer. It is REALLY easy to sign up :thumbsup:

 

[porkchop]

I decided that I was going to offer this service to my customers on my website. (its still in development, done in about 2 weeks) But google checkout seems like the best deal. No monthly fees, flat fee of 2%, can email invoices or pay online via shopping cart. I think this is a great place to start. If you have heavy volume, I would create a custom "online cart" with a developer and find a credit card company to process the payments. The benefit to this would be overall lower costs in terms of processing charges. It is a great option for for customers to have.

 

[Nathan]

I've found that PayPal is VERY QUICK to refund money to anyone who complains about anything. Just an FYI in case you are considering using them.

 

[T200]

I've found that PayPal is VERY QUICK to refund money to anyone who complains about anything. Just an FYI in case you are considering using them.

Is this from personal experience?
I've used paypal a few times and your post prompted me to go look at their claims policy. It includes:
"Claims must be for payments for tangible, physical goods that can be shipped, and not all other payments, such as payments for intangibles, for services or for licenses and other access to digital content."

I formerly had a merchant account but dropped it because:
- They set a monthly limit which would only cover a couple of jobs.
- They continually increased their fees. Even if I had no transactions, I was still paying them money every month...for nothing.
Paypal's fees are lower than the fees were on my merchant account.

I took a look at google's offering but the only thing I don't like about it, as compared to paypal is that the person making the payment has to log into their google account or create one. That takes a bit more time and could be troublesome for some of my more "mature" customers who use the computer infrequently.

 

[Firemike]

If your looking for a decent person/company to deal with, PM me and I will give you her name, I am switching to their company when my contract with my present company is up after the first of the year. She has a much better deal than I have now, and offers several options I never considered.

 

[Nathan]

I've had two experiences where PayPal pulled money from my account and never returned it even when I could show I was not at fault. It has more to do with their relationships to credit card companies that a cutomer may use to fund their paypal account. .

 

[Tmrrptr]

Well Nathan, that is theft, then. Is it not?

I've seen where Ebay merchants would NOT accept Paypal, and were quite vocal about why.

I don't work for profit.
I work to survive.

Anything I can spend at Micky D's is good enough for me!

Credit card capability is probably beneficial for a corporation, and I even advised in-house financing, for the big company I used to work for.

Got to go with the flow, or stay small.
I went small.
r

 

[Nathan]

Well Nathan, that is theft, then. Is it not?

I agree but they are both long stories. The first time it happened even the client knew it was screwed up and ended up paying me back on the side but it was still crazy how PayPal had handled it. The second time I'm in the middle of right now so we will have to see what happens.

 

[Tmrrptr]

Oops!
Sry to hear that, Nathan.

Maybe multiple accounts, set up for receiving funds transfer might be wise.
Never let the sun set on a deposit made to the account.

I dunno... it's always the little guy who gets the abuse.
Good luck, hope it gets resolved in your favor.
r

 

[YoungsPainting]

I read a lot of horror stories about paypal. They usually side with the customer. Google checkout says they won't.

Fair Treatment: Unlike other services that immediately deduct funds from you for chargebacks, Google does so only after a decision has been made as to who is at fault.

but that is still pretty broad and up to google. If google's mind set is like paypal, the customers will be getting the money in the end.

 

[Brian]

I had an experience where PayPal pulled money from the account due to a challenge to the charge. (It wasn't my account.) We had written authorization from the customer for the charge, and after about 45 days the money was returned.

I've taken credit cards for 12+ years through more conventional methods, and never had a challenge. I think accepting credit cards is great.

Brian Phillips