Accept card payments online

[Mister Musicman]

Could someone please suggest the best method for accepting card payments online.

Some may have a dedicated "payments" page for the transaction, and I suppose there are others who have opted for use of a 'card-reader' supplied by a company like izettle.

I have heard that Paypal may be launching something new this year for mobile sole traders and wondered whether it may be best to wait and see?

Many Thanks
:DJ:
Rob

[ukpartydj]

Could someone please suggest the best method for accepting card payments online.

Some may have a dedicated "payments" page for the transaction, and I suppose there are others who have opted for use of a 'card-reader' supplied by a company like izettle.

I have heard that Paypal may be launching something new this year for mobile sole traders and wondered whether it may be best to wait and see?

Many Thanks
:DJ:
Rob

I use PayPal on my website, the fee is £1.90 for every £50 deposit I take.
Because the fee is quite steep in my opinion I only accept balance payments via bank transfer or cash on the night.

I'd say 90% of my customers use PayPal, there are cheaper alternatives out there but PayPal is well known and trusted and everybody with a bank account can use it instantly.
Feel free to have a look at my website if you want to see how it works.

... If you want to test it - feel free to send me some money :D:D:D

[Mister Musicman]

Thanks for your rapid response to my query, I have visited your excellent site and the relevant page.

Do customers need to have a PayPal account to use the pay-by-card facility on your website?

Sorry - didn't send you any money. By the way, is begging now allowed on our forum? :jawdrop:

Rob

[Ryu]

Thanks for your rapid response to my query, I have visited your excellent site and the relevant page.

Do customers need to have a PayPal account to use the pay-by-card facility on your website?

Sorry - didn't send you any money. By the way, is begging now allowed on our forum? :jawdrop:

Rob

I too utilise PayPal and no, you don't need to have a PayPal account to make payments :)

[ukpartydj]

Thanks for your rapid response to my query, I have visited your excellent site and the relevant page.

Do customers need to have a PayPal account to use the pay-by-card facility on your website?

Sorry - didn't send you any money. By the way, is begging now allowed on our forum?

Rob

Not sure about other people but if you follow the link it asks you to login to paypal or below is a "pay by card" or similar option.

How very dare you suggest that my magic PayPal experience is begging! - The exact number you type into the box gets deducted from your account almost instantly before your very eyes...

[Mister Musicman]

I was referring to Quote ... "If you want to test it - feel free to send me some money"

Did get the pun, but not sure whether you accepted my response as an attempt at a comical reply

Rob

[ukpartydj]

I was referring to Quote ... "If you want to test it - feel free to send me some money"

Did get the pun, but not sure whether you accepted my response as an attempt at a comical reply

Rob

I did, on a more serious note which happens to be regardings notes ... PayPal could really do with allowing notes to be written so clients can say "This is the deposit for my disco on the 27th of whenever" currently mine just comes through as the text I typed - Deposit for disco or something like that. Most times it comes up with their name and address which I match to the contract and it's not too difficult.
Quite often the name on the PayPal account is somebody elses and It can get a bit confusing if you're expecting more than one deposit of the same value.

[Shaun]

I did, on a more serious note which happens to be regardings notes ... PayPal could really do with allowing notes to be written so clients can say "This is the deposit for my disco on the 27th of whenever" currently mine just comes through as the text I typed - Deposit for disco or something like that. Most times it comes up with their name and address which I match to the contract and it's not too difficult.
Quite often the name on the PayPal account is somebody elses and It can get a bit confusing if you're expecting more than one deposit of the same value.

I used to have the same issue with taking deposits, until I mentioned it to my web guru (Marc J). Now any paypal payments that come through my website show the date of the clients event. No idea how it's done, but it's an automated process.

[Mister Musicman]

I have done some research and have discovered that PayPal is launching a European version of its PayPal Here mobile payments service for small merchants in the UK this summer (if we ever have one) after all.

Last year, PayPal launched this service in the United States and several other countries, including Japan and Australia.

PayPal unveiled the new device, about the size of a smartphone that allows small merchants to accept credit and debit cards under the Chip and PIN system we are all now familiar with. The gadget connects to a new PayPal app that merchants can run on Apple i Phones and Android-based smartphones, and the good news is that it may come free to the first customers who apply. However, they will be charging a nominal fee for the device, but I’m sure having one will be worthwhile for all DJs.

The card reader attaches to smartphones and handles payments for a flat (low percentage) fee. This new European version of PayPal Here comes with a different device designed from scratch by the company's U.K. team because of the more complex Chip and PIN system we have. The approach in the United States, which relies on older magnetic stripes on cards, is considered simpler but potentially less secure.

I have decided to wait until this is rolled out and I'm sure it will start a small war between the different competition in this sector which can only be good news for the likes of us.

Thanks for all your input.

Rob
:DJ:

[ukpartydj]

I used to have the same issue with taking deposits, until I mentioned it to my web guru (Marc J). Now any paypal payments that come through my website show the date of the clients event. No idea how it's done, but it's an automated process.

Sounds like some clever web trickery, haven't really explored the issue much hopefully somebody has posted a solution online!

//

oh and the card reader idea is something other companies have already introduced... I don't see it as a benefit to myself as 99% of payments made to me are - PayPal, Bank Transfer or Cash. I've had somebody pay a £50 extension to their wedding by going to my website and logging into paypal which only took 2 mins. Also if the signal is bad then surely the card reader wouldn't work.
I personally wouldn't feel safe paying for something which kinda looks like something a dodgy waitress would use to clone your card though.

That's my opinion anyway, but I should also say I think a lot of new technologies are pointless and people still love them.

[Mister Musicman]

Sounds like some clever web trickery, haven't really explored the issue much hopefully somebody has posted a solution online!

//

oh and the card reader idea is something other companies have already introduced... I don't see it as a benefit to myself as 99% of payments made to me are - PayPal, Bank Transfer or Cash. I've had somebody pay a £50 extension to their wedding by going to my website and logging into paypal which only took 2 mins. Also if the signal is bad then surely the card reader wouldn't work.
I personally wouldn't feel safe paying for something which kinda looks like something a dodgy waitress would use to clone your card though.

That's my opinion anyway, but I should also say I think a lot of new technologies are pointless and people still love them.

Hi all,

Click on the link to read about it: https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/credit-card-reader (https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/credit-card-reader)

Regards,

Rob

[Marc J]

I used to have the same issue with taking deposits, until I mentioned it to my web guru (Marc J). Now any paypal payments that come through my website show the date of the clients event. No idea how it's done, but it's an automated process.


Sounds like some clever web trickery, haven't really explored the issue much hopefully somebody has posted a solution online!

It's fairly simple, just make your website post a form to Paypal (using the code they give you) but add any extra fields you want to it, for example: -

<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Booking Fee for 28-04-13'">
<input type="hidden" name="custom" value="Mr. Customer - 28-04-13">

Obviously the values there are dynamically created, in Shaun's case in his client area (the client is logged in and so details are already known and pre-filled), but if you want them to be added by the customer just make them text input fields (instead of hidden) before submitting to PayPal...

[ckpr2]

I don't do it for a disco but I use paypal buttons on my software website.
You have to cut and paste in some HTML on your webpage but its not too difficult.