Accepting payments online

[Your PCMD]

Just because they contest and win with PP doesn't absolve their legal obligation to you. For most clients, just the threat of a suit or harassment by a collection agency is enough to get them to pay..

Right, however there's one important fact missing. The second time a customer did that, PayPal put a hold on the roughly $400 in my account for 90 days. Their tactics is not what I call professional.

 

[Diggs]

With Quickbooks, it takes anywhere from 4 to 8 days to reach my bank.

Hmmm..... I don't live that close to the wire on my financials. A few days was never an issue for me but I see now they are offering next day funds availability.

 

[Your PCMD]

Hmmm..... I don't live that close to the wire on my financials. A few days was never an issue for me but I see now they are offering next day funds availability.

Yeah, but that depends on 2 things. The level of plan you are on and bank you have. I'm on the Simple plan and Quickbooks doesn't consider my bank a priority bank - like Chase, First State, etc, as an example.

I too am not concerned about the time it takes for deposit, however, when I have 2-3 jobs that I need to order $3-4 grand worth of stuff, I kind of need the money as quick as possible. I don't front the cost of equipment.

 

[fencepost]

For my "side hustle" I'm on a grandfathered Freshbooks account and will likely keep it for some time ($15/month, 2.9% + $0.30, limited to 25 active clients). By the time I outgrow that I'll probably be looking at something like self-hosted InvoiceNinja or the like along with investigating a merchant account through Costco.

 

[cypress]

EDIT: To add. When I first started I did use PayPal. But more than once I got burned because a client would pay for a virus removal but then a few days later get another virus and blame me for not doing the job correctly then they would hit up PayPal to contest the charge and win - ALWAYS - even when I sent in my statement explaining I cannot be held responsible for the person getting reinfected as I cannot control what they click, etc.

Goodness gracious that sucked! I'd be upset as well.

 

[ryan_fts]

I'm still getting my business started up but I installed Invoice Ninja on my web host, it integrates with Stripe so customers have the option to pay with a CC when they're emailed an invoice. You can also set up a customer portal through Invoice Ninja so customers can login and pay their invoices. Invoice Ninja is free as long as you host it yourself on your web host or a private server. Still need to pay the Stripe transaction fees. I also have a Square reader to accept payment in person, if needed.

 

[Sky-Knight]

I use Authorize.net attached to a real merchant account with fees that aren't bankruptcy inducing. If you're using Square, I presume your credit sucks. The same deal with Paypal, Amazon pay, and all other services like them. There's certainly no other reason to use them, other than pure ignorance. You get to keep so much more of your money once you've got the credit to get with a real processor.

 

[VISA MC]

I use Authorize.net attached to a real merchant account with fees that aren't bankruptcy inducing. If you're using Square, I presume your credit sucks. The same deal with Paypal, Amazon pay, and all other services like them. There's certainly no other reason to use them, other than pure ignorance. You get to keep so much more of your money once you've got the credit to get with a real processor.

We work in merchant services. We steer low volume merchants (less than $3,000/month) toward Square because it’s cheaper for the merchant. We always tell them once they hit that mark to get back with us and we can start saving them some money.

 

[fencepost]

I haven't looked at Stripe or Square transaction fees, but unless their rates are 2-3x the "real merchant account" then a solo provider may not really be saving a huge amount. It may still be worth changing, but it's probably not a slam-dunk.

On the other hand if you're running more than a million a year in charges for multiple techs then a 1% change is real money.

 

[VISA MC]

I haven't looked at Stripe or Square transaction fees, but unless their rates are 2-3x the "real merchant account" then a solo provider may not really be saving a huge amount. It may still be worth changing, but it's probably not a slam-dunk.

On the other hand if you're running more than a million a year in charges for multiple techs then a 1% change is real money.

Stripe is 2.9% + $0.30
Square is 2.75% swiped or 3.5% + $0.15 keyed.

We charge a $9.95 monthly fee but have merchants paying 1.8% - 2.2% out the door, but it usually takes around $3,000 to wash out the $9.95 fee.

if you do $100 in volume and I don’t charge you anything but the $9.95, your out the door rate is still nearly 10% but change that number to $5,000 and now the monthly fee is only 0.19% of the total and you see savings.

 

[Mike McCall]

Square is 2.75% swiped or 3.5% + $0.15 keyed.

For keyed transactions Square is 3.5% + $0.30.

I'm too small for anything else so I'm stuck.

 

[VISA MC]

For keyed transactions Square is 3.5% + $0.30.

I'm too small for anything else so I'm stuck.

Hmm that’s interesting. Their website says virtual terminal keyed sales are 3.5% + $0.15 and invoice sales are more.



https://squareup.com/us/en/pricing?solution=pricing-card-not-present-payments

 

[Mike McCall]

Hmm that’s interesting. Their website says virtual terminal keyed sales are 3.5% + $0.15 and invoice sales are more.



https://squareup.com/us/en/pricing?solution=pricing-card-not-present-payments

Yes, interesting. I don't mind being wrong on this as it saves me $0.15 per transaction. I think I was confusing it with the fees listed at the top of the click-through page to the VT.


Wouldn't be the first time I've gotten my wires crossed.