Hello,

My partner and I were going to start doing local business advertising and we came across a stumbling block that we couldn't figure out a solution to. So I enlist the help of the forums to aid in my knowledge gaps.

We want to go around and do person to person sign ups, however we have not figured out how to process credit card information since we are assuming we will NOT have a terminal available at the location. We thought about writing down CC numbers, but on second thought that seems a bit.....insecure and we were not in agreement with doing that.

We also thought about doing sign ups on our phones since they have internet, but we tested a sign up and it was rather slow over a phone (treo 700)

So could someone help with some ideas on how to get around this?

Had you thought about just accepting checks for that purpose? If it is local you might do a yearly plan,offer and accept the check for minimum 12 months service.

Hello,

Thanks for the reply we do accept checks and this is not a problem, we are just trying to be considerate of some companies that want to use a CC. Rather than saying no, you have to go on the site and do that we want to be more personal? and handle the entire thing person to person.......but i suppose if push comes to shove we could just say for CC's they have to goto the website....but that just seems so.....un-friendly on our part

1.) Go around to locations where WiFi is available, and bring your laptop.

2.) Use Paypal mobile?

3.) Spread Ads/Flyers in your community with your location and let people come to you and signup in person?

4.) Web mobile through cellular network? Make your signup page optimized for mobile browsing/PDAs.

5.) Sit on different Cafes or Restaurants that offers WiFi each day and stalk on people ;-P

It's a very interesting idea nevertheless, good luck though! :D

Just get regular credit card slips, fill them out by hand at the client site. Get the client to sign. Run them through your virtual terminal login at your processor gateway. This way, you actually gain a better rate because it is not a "card not present" transaction. You will be obligated to retain the original as are all bricks and mortar businesses that use credit card slips. This is no different than a client who uses the credit card for a restaurant meal. You could also rent a wireless terminal to process the transactions. Pricey for the amount of activity that you will be using it for. This is usually reserved for things like merchants at flea markets, etc.

Whatever you do, don't ask the client to goto a website on their own. You will lose a bunch of sales because they "forgot" to do it. At the very least, carry a laptop with a cell phone connection and do it on the spot *with* the client. Make it a point to avert your eyes when the client is inputting the credit card info.

You could also use paypal email invoicing. Just say "thank you very much for your order, we will be sending you an invoice by email". That way, you have nailed the sale, payment is just a detail.
.

Thank you to everyone for your replies! Reading them all is getting my mind cranking!

plumsauce:

Very good ideas there, we could do the good old CC slips, but what about security and all that jazz? I have also heard rumors that if your merchant catches you doing paper transactions when it is not in the contract you will get shafted, can anyone confirm or deny this?

You hit the nail right one the head! We don't want to tell clients "remember to sign up" because it will NEVER get done, that's why we wanted to get the necessary bases covered.

Again, thanks to all for your input....keep the responses coming!

your area offer wireless broadband for laptops?

perfect way to do it! get a decent laptop with a wireless card for like sprint/etc and take it along :)

(i always dreamed of doing this just for the heck of it... but my area is to remote to offer it :()

I think that is going to be the way to play it.....i personally have a wifi card i just have to swap the sim and whala, we'd have to setup my partner with a setup like that for his laptop though.....i think that is the easiest way to do it....

Why not just sign the people up and then send them an invoice later? Going around person to person is a nice idea.

I would ask the customer to sign a purchase order, which commits them to paying and then send them an invoice.

You guys are making this way harder than it has to be.

Most credit card merchants offer over the phone charging of credit cards. Call them up on your cell phone, give them the info, charge them, bam your done.

In my experience most local clients that are businesses would rather be invoiced than pay by card.

You can have the best of both worlds if you invest in a wireless terminal. You get the great rate of having a card-present transaction, plus an immediate approval. It takes literally 3 seconds to process a transaction this way, and mobile terminals are very small. They can connect to your cellphone, but do not need to run up "data" charges on your cellphone. (it connects where a microphone would go.)

The only downside is that its around $300 to $700 for a good one, so its well worth it if you are going to be doing a lot of these transactions.

Most businesses prefer to pay by check, usually anually. For those that want to pay by credit card, just include a credit card payment form when you mail them an invoice. It seems silly to run credit cards in front of your new customers.

Wow, thank you to everyone for ALL your feedback.....i'll definitely get back to everyone once I do the first transaction of this type and let everyone know what we decided.....thanks to all that chimed in......and if anyone else has any other ideas feel free to add them.....this is for the community =)

Like someone said here, if you are going to go to businesses you will most likely get a check anyway. Very rarely will a business pay with a C.C.

It doesn't seem like very good business sense to limit your customers to only one form of payment. Very rarely or not, why risk losing sales? Its not that hard to be prepared. It will look unprofessional and amateur if your prospective client wants to pay another way and you don't have the means to accept their payment.

It doesn't seem like very good business sense to limit your customers to only one form of payment. Very rarely or not, why risk losing sales? Its not that hard to be prepared. It will look unprofessional and amateur if your prospective client wants to pay another way and you don't have the means to accept their payment.

I'm not really sure where that one came from.....the whole point of this is offering MORE options of payment to our clients rather than limiting them........rather than having them pay via check only we are looking at allowing them to pay via CC on site aswell....:confused:

It was a response to the post above it, from FTN BLZZRD, as well as a couple others higher in the thread that seem to be encouraging the acceptance of checks only. I was disagreeing with that concept, and agreeing with you, the OP. Please re-read both posts if you are confused and it should all make sense. :)

Ah, got it....sorry for the mis-understanding

Also, I would suggest reading my earlier post. Its very easy to accept credit cards through a mobile terminal. Not only will this impress your clients, but you'll save a ton on transaction fees as well.

Before focusing on hosting, eVerity set up merchant accounts and sold physical terminals, so I can assure you from first-hand experience that this is a good way to go. It could greatly boost your in-person sales. You should contact your merchant provider to get this set up if you are really serious about projecting a professional image.

Laptop, data card, subscription to WorldPay's virtual terminal system "WorldAccess" would do just fine :)

What kind of transaction fees would that entail?

What kind of transaction fees would that entail?

AFAIUI the fees are same as if you used the "normal" WorldPay service - the virtual terminal is just another way of putting the transaction through.

Sounds simple enough. The only problem is that if you use a physical terminal the transaction fees are significantly less. That is the advantage of a terminal. Its an investment that pays for itself pretty quick if you are doing a lot of volume.