The hassles of credit card is making me lean towards not offering them on my site as a method of payment. I am targeting local businesses only and seems here people dont like using credit cards that much. What's your take on this issue? Think it's absolutely necessary to offer them?

CC payments will improve the image of your company as professional and will also offer a boost in new sales.

If you went to a high street shop and they didn't accept some kind of plastic would this stop you from purchasing a product? Well maybe not if you had cash on you. This isn't an option for an online business though.

And from your sig, no money = no dropped panties so you do the maths :)

Kevin

heh, yeah, thats true - although I think having our own merchant account is professional not paystems etc?

Oh yeah,

Your own merchant account is as professional as it can get IMO :)

People do prefer to pay with plastic because it affords the buyer protection - cash transactions although are generally cheaper offer little recourse in the future.

Kevin

Originally posted by ndxb
The hassles of credit card is making me lean towards not offering them on my site as a method of payment. I am targeting local businesses only and seems here people dont like using credit cards that much. What's your take on this issue? Think it's absolutely necessary to offer them?
If your market is the local market, then I see no issue with accepting payments through other methods. There's a tad more trust if your market is local, so you could setup their account, then send them the invoice. I would just check to make sure their mailing address checks out, before creating their account.

Just remember that if you're operating on a manual invoicing system, that you'll need some good software to automate and track as much of this as possible.

If you use checks, please; please open a business account!

"Please send checks to Robert Marsh" isn't professionnal :)

...and put something in your TOS if the guy have insufficiant funds :)

Oh for sure, we do have business account - and are planning on accepting post dated cheques as well - 3 months, 6 months and annual.

None of our clients so far have paid via credit card - all by cash/cheque - another reason we're thinking of not using cc.

Also, when you site looks really professional and then all of a sudden you end up at paysystems page (which honestly does not look nice at all!), I think it might do more harm to you image than good...

Our local customers prefer to pay with check/cash/money order.

In the local market...if you aren't accepting checks...you need some form of recurring billing so you don't have to collect a check from your clients every month. (Imagine what a headache that would end up being after a few hundred clients. Can you say billing nightmare!)

Also, in my experience with the local market...I've had nothing but trouble with accepting checks. For me the costs associated with credit cards are worth it for sure.

You might want to think about setting up a recurring EFT/ACH
debit system.

This way you can processing payments from your customer's checking accounts on an automated basis (just like credit cards) and at a lower total cost.

If you do ever intend to expand beyond your local market, however, I would highly recommend accepting credit cards as this will definitely be a necessity at that time.

As for accept credit cards there have been so many good points made already so ill leave that olone

But to accept checks try this software
http://checkman.com

Print a check for your customer and deposit it into your business account

Pretty good piece of software, Just dont like the fact that they make you buy the first set of check paper from them

my locals like to pay by cash or checks. They usally dont like using CC seems like it. I would rather though have a local client pay by cash or checks then CC.

I find most larger small businesses like to pay by check and they also want a paper invoice. This especially holds true when the company has dedicated people doing the finances. It also takes longer to recieve their payment and they almost always miss the due date.

Smaller business that consist of one or two people like the recurring billing option via credit card.

I don't worry about payment from a business until they are several weeks late. Payment from these clients are the bread and butter of the hosting industry.;)

I find most larger small businesses like to pay by check and they also want a paper invoice. This especially holds true when the company has dedicated people doing the finances. It also takes longer to recieve their payment and they almost always miss the due date.

Smaller business that consist of one or two people like the recurring billing option via credit card.
I bet the larger businesses have larger purchases also so it's not just a matter of the type of transaction but how large of a transaction also. i.e. a large biz may spend $100's on a dedicated server but a small biz may not even need a whole server and may only need a small account so plastic may be easier. Afterall, it seems like more of a hassle if you're waiting for a late check for $20 to keep a large biz online, but might be worth it if it's for a few $100.

Originally posted by Reality Hosting


Also, in my experience with the local market...I've had nothing but trouble with accepting checks. For me the costs associated with credit cards are worth it for sure.

Same here. We used to deal exclusively with the local market and on average it took our customers 90 days to pay. Unfortunately that is pretty standard in business here.

We had a few problems with checks bouncing but customers accepted additional charges for this and generally it was not a problem.

Credit cards are much easier to deal with but not necessary in the local market.

Originally posted by Adrian
Same here. We used to deal exclusively with the local market and on average it took our customers 90 days to pay. Unfortunately that is pretty standard in business here . . .
Yep. I mean, they have this website thingie that they thought they should have. Your invoice comes in and it's like, ho hum, put it in the invoice list and we'll pay that eventually. :eek:

I will be kicking off my local hosting business soon [I keep saying that :blush:] and it's just pure cc processing through Paysystems. Less hassles with having to manage monthly invoicing and tracking. :eek3:

I have better things to do. :D

hmmm, well maybe I will offer credit cards then. But what i want to know:

Is there any way paysystems can do anything with my business bank account - or anything in the contract that says they can?

Reason I ask is b/c Im planning on using another business account (which I also own but with my dad) to get the money payouts via wire transfer for the hosting business - its too much hassle to setup another business accnt where I live.

Also, we are not liable for fradulent transactions correct - thats paysystems responsibility? Chargebacks is our responsibility, I understand that.

Well, you seem to differentiate above between fraudulent transactions and chargebacks... but keep in mind that almost all fraudulent transactions *will become* chargebacks at some point.

This is because eventually the legitimate cardholder will see the fraudulent charge and charge it back. And then the merchant processor will naturally assess that back to you.

So in answer to your question... any sale that you transact becomes your responsibility - your profit - and your potential liability.

That being said, if you run your business prudently and utilize the safeguards and "best practices" that are available, chargebacks will be a very infrequent occurence for you.

For instance, we have not had a single chargeback in many years... even as our customer base has grown significantly as well as our processing volume.

thanks for the reply - how about my first question above about the business bank account? Can they physically do anything with that account?

anyone?

Originally posted by ndxb
anyone?

Try e-mail them?

In answer to your question - yes, they can.

And if you have a chargeback, they will. Whatever bank you specify for your funds to be deposited, the processor has the right to also debit in the event of a chargeback.

Originally posted by Aussie Bob
I will be kicking off my local hosting business soon [I keep saying that :blush:] and it's just pure cc processing through Paysystems. Less hassles with having to manage monthly invoicing and tracking. :eek3:

Bob, I'd think you would be getting large enough to have your own merchant account at this point. As someone else in this thread said, getting redirected to a Paysystems page is pretty tacky. Also, merchant accounts have far better transaction rates. What gives?

Originally posted by cdgcommerce
In answer to your question - yes, they can.

And if you have a chargeback, they will. Whatever bank you specify for your funds to be deposited, the processor has the right to also debit in the event of a chargeback.

Thanks for the info!