PDA

View Full Version : Website Payments.



Lucie
19-08-2013, 02:17 PM
Just wondering if anyone had any ideas about this.
I have a purely online business & I ended up building the site myself (cause it was cheap that way!) I didn't add a "web shop" as I couldn't find a way to make it workable - I sell basic pendants or charms, but then people can add stones / engraving charged by the letter, etc.

At the moment people pay me by Paypal, but a lot of people are put off because this is the only payment method I can accept :mad:

Barclays said that I could install a payment system on my site via them that would allow me to take other card payments. I was really pleased until they announced that they would hold my customers money for 90 days!!!!
I can't exactly pay my casters, etc if haven't got access to my money.

Can anyone recommend another way of doing this? Thank you. x

Gemsetterchris
19-08-2013, 02:28 PM
I thought it was possible for people to pay via PayPal (with a card) without having an account :confused:

Lucie
19-08-2013, 02:33 PM
Thanks for the quick response!

As far as I know it is - it just seems to put a lot of people off not having any other options. Particularly older folk who would perhaps prefer to pay me over the phone.

I think I might have to go back & try to put together some kind of official webshop, but I can see it being really confusing & causing more of a headache and still doesn't solve the problem of taking phone payments.

pearlescence
19-08-2013, 03:09 PM
My merchant account (the account you have which handles the credit and debit and american express payments) is with worldpay. They hand over the money much more quickly (within about 5-10 days once a week). Charges aren't too bad
Having a merchant account will help your business. It makes a huge difference. People keep saying that you can pay through paypal without an account etc etc but they don't say that once they have a merchant account. You can also take orders over the phone with worldpay because some people don't trust the web with their info, or they've phoned with a query and now want to place an order.

Lucie
19-08-2013, 03:24 PM
Wow, thanks. That's much better.
You've hit the nail on the head - these are the exact problems I've come up against. My own father-in-law won't touch paypal, as he seems to think it is powered by evil magics ;)

The Barclay's merchant account wanted to hold my money for 90 days, unless I have a "insurance account" set up with £5000 in it (pigs are more likely to fly).

Is it quite straight forward to use?
Thanks so much :)

pearlescence
19-08-2013, 06:30 PM
Worldpay is pretty straightforward, you don't have much to do, it pretty much does itself. They do tend to speak bank or computer so you might need someone to set up your shop interface

You need to be vigilant about fraud of course.I thought the EU had stopped banks holding money for 90 days - it's in case of fraud because some frauds/chargebacks don't show up for months. The bank takes the money back off you of couse and you are also out the goods. I've only been caught once and that was when I was naive and - to be honest - a bit greedy for the sale and that blinded me to the obvious incongruity of the sale pattern which was all wrong.

Lucie
20-08-2013, 08:59 AM
Thanks for the advice on this one.
I've Googled Worldpay & a few other merchant accounts to make sure I can find one that doesn't require an actual webshop (and the cheapest monthly payment ;)
I must admit; I've been caught more than once "trusting" customers that I've made sculptures for - Never again!! They pay the whole lot up front now. It's a shame, but it can't be helped. Everything is bespoke, so it's not like I can sell it onto anyone else! x

ShinyLauren
20-08-2013, 05:23 PM
Lucie, I have a shop on my website using WP Ecommerce, which can take many forms of payment, but as I don't have a merchant account the only payment I can take is Paypal. I've not had anyone ask for a different payment method so far, but I'd be grateful if you'd let me know how you get on, as I'd like to be able to offer different payment methods.

Lucie
20-08-2013, 05:33 PM
Hi Lauren, I'll definitely let you know :)
I contacted the card payment people who work with the Guild of Jewellery Designers. The monthly payment seems to be pretty standard (£20 plus the vat per month), but then they give guild members special rates on transactions:
25p per debit card transaction (irregardless of the size of the payment you receive).
1.5% per credit card transaction
No set up and a 12 month contract.

I'm not quite in the position just yet, but hopefully very soon. This is definitely a problem for me as i'm forever getting people who want to pay over the phone.
ps: The company is in fact worldpay / cardsave!

I've just lost my day job, so I really need to make it work with my jewellery now :( Think I should probably work up the courage to get some critique on my website to see where my other issues are. xx

ShinyLauren
20-08-2013, 05:45 PM
Thanks Lucie. I don't even have a business account, so I'm not sure I'm eligible for one of the GoJD ones, and £20 a month is a bit more than I have to spend at the moment.

Sorry to hear about your job :( Much as I hate my day job, it does pay the rent until (hopefully) one day jewellery can pay a bit more of it!

Lucie
20-08-2013, 06:04 PM
£20 is a lot - that's my problem. Busy looking through to see if I can cut our outgoings somewhere else :)

LydiaNiz
20-08-2013, 08:26 PM
I've got to say noone has ever complained re paypal payments to me so far (it's all my site can take), for commissions people usually pay me by bank transfer.
I veer between wanting a 'proper job' again (usually when studio rent is due or when the Mr is too ill for me to go to work!) and loving that this is what I get to do.

pearlescence
20-08-2013, 09:06 PM
You'll find the increase in takings more than makes up for the monthly fee.

Lucie
21-08-2013, 09:45 AM
Hi guys, Thanks for the input.
LydiaNZ - I guess my problem with this has been that I don't actually have a physical studio that people can visit and have no physical shop presence. I know this would probably help me, but i'm not sure how to approach "shops".
Being purely online seems to make some customers uncomfortable as it is, especially when their handing over £600!! I was thinking that taking other online payment methods would help.

Pearlescence - My only worry with this, is paying out another £20 per month and customers still not actually "finding me". Do you have any words of wisdom regarding this?

Thanks again. xx

pearlescence
21-08-2013, 04:01 PM
I think that you have to become a bit of an online flasher, ready to open your coat and show off what you've got, at every possible opportunity. Blog, facebook page, twitter. Think of where your customers might be and go there (either electronically or physically) It's the same for all marketing really and if marketing was easy I would not periodically tear my hair out and big chains of shops would not fail.
What sort of stuff do you make?

Lucie
21-08-2013, 04:55 PM
Hey, Thanks for the advice :) I make fingerprint jewellery (everyone rolls their eyes in unison ;) but in sterling and 9ct gold mostly, not PMC, so I suppose that's my niche.

At the moment, i'm working on simplifying my site (thanks to lots of lovely advice from Medusa) and i'm saving up to have everything re-photographed by the guy at Ward's, as I know my attempts with my Kodak & photoshop are pretty terrible and not doing me any favours.

After that I have to get my head down and concentrate on my social networking a lot more.
I get work...... just not enough, so need to do something else - possibly have a serious price review. I'm using a pretty standard pricing formula, but think I might have to come up with another way of working prices out!

LydiaNiz
21-08-2013, 07:15 PM
No, I don't sell from my studio, I just work there (I rent the smallest house in the world and there is nowhere I could safely work here).
I'd be interested in worldpay's fees, and also if anyone has any experience with elavon or iZettle for card payments

LydiaNiz
31-08-2013, 07:59 PM
have now applied for worldpay zinc (means a phone upgrade, but no biggie), means can take over the phone payments too, so will see if it helps...

Lucie
01-09-2013, 12:25 PM
Wow!!! How on earth did you stumble across this? I spoke with worldpay & they didn't mention any plan with no monthly charges!
Was the application process long or very involved?

Thank you sooo much - You've made my day :)

ps_bond
01-09-2013, 12:33 PM
I've got the older system from them, almost identical in behaviour - now that they've gone for Zinc, I'm going to have a chip & pin reader that's obsolete.

Lucie
01-09-2013, 12:56 PM
I've spoken with them about 3 times now & every time they said the cheapest plan for me was one with a £20 + vat per month payment plan :(

How long did you use the older system for before they changed over to zinc?

ps_bond
01-09-2013, 12:56 PM
I've had it since April; every time I've tried to use it in anger it has failed to connect to the phone...

Lucie
01-09-2013, 01:05 PM
Oh no, that's worth knowing. Have they suggested any reason for that?

ps_bond
01-09-2013, 01:57 PM
Technology spite, gremlins or the fact the Bluetooth is notoriously unreliable at connecting.

Wallace
01-09-2013, 02:06 PM
I have iZettle link here if interested - this also gets you a free transaction with them, but you can just type in izettle in a search engine (https://secure.izettle.com/register?code=A9LY4G)


same terms. Unless you get a lot of custom, then the % drops.


I understand Lloyds are looking into this now and Paypal. Wonder if all banks will start doing it at some point??

mizgeorge
01-09-2013, 02:34 PM
The paypal option's already available. Slightly more expensive, but useful, I suspect, for people wanting to keep all transactions on one basic platform.

Lucie
01-09-2013, 03:04 PM
Thanks everyone, I'll have a look. I'm looking for something with no monthly charges as to be honest, I have enough already!

Peter - would you say Worldpay zinc is probably best avoided then?

Wallace - Is iZettle reliable?

I already use Paypal, but loads of customers (especially older ones) seem to be allergic to using it & would prefer just to make a card payment :)

ps_bond
01-09-2013, 03:25 PM
Peter - would you say Worldpay zinc is probably best avoided then?


Nope, just be aware that it needs to be checked & double-checked - and if you're in an area with no phone or wifi coverage you're pretty much stuffed.

Lucie
01-09-2013, 03:44 PM
The phone company seems to be doing slightly better in the village lately, so hopefully I'd be ok. When you say it needs to be double-checked; you mean I'd need to double check that the payment had gone through?

ps_bond
01-09-2013, 05:06 PM
Nope, double-check that the thing is up and running before you have a customer on hand - don't power it up and expect it to work immediately, it may need a few goes.

Lucie
01-09-2013, 05:30 PM
Thanks for the heads up :)

LydiaNiz
01-09-2013, 05:40 PM
should have the reader by the end of next week, so will let you know how I get on.
Will also have a referral link (if it's any good) meanign you get the reader for £39.99 instead of £59.99 if you fancy trying it.
All info here, application took about 5 mins, customer service good too (rang to ask some questions).
Apparently all billing (2.75% per transaction) is taken out around 18th of the month, and cash takes 4 working days to hit your account.
There is an option of paying £12 a month and paying no transaction fees, but depends on your sale valume.
www.worldpayzinc.com
ETA: Peter, I'm also looking forward to the inevitable moment the wi-fi drops out at my studio in the middle of a market. I'm priming my swear-jar.

Lucie
01-09-2013, 08:42 PM
Hi Lydia, That would be really great if you could let me know. Thanks for the info & the link :)
I'm still rebuilding my site at the moment, so i'll hang on :) Thanks again. x

Patstone
02-09-2013, 02:31 PM
I use Elavon, and have found them very good and easy to talk to if you have a problem. The machine I have, is one where you have to put the card in, I can only use it in the presence of a customer is what I am trying to say. It has definately enabled me to take more sales, as people just dont carry much cash around now. You have to have a merchant account before they will set it up, we went to Santander as they give you a free account for the first year. The card machine we went for was £99 which you could pay for in monthly installments, and after the £99 is paid the machine is yours. Not sure exactly what the processing fee is, but its not much. The only downfall is that you cant take over the phone payments, which would be useful.



No, I don't sell from my studio, I just work there (I rent the smallest house in the world and there is nowhere I could safely work here).
I'd be interested in worldpay's fees, and also if anyone has any experience with elavon or iZettle for card payments

Patstone
02-09-2013, 02:36 PM
That is the same with my card machine, I had a pay as you go orange sim, but it just wouldnt work consistently in one of our regular craft shows, so changed to 02 and didn't have a problem.


Nope, just be aware that it needs to be checked & double-checked - and if you're in an area with no phone or wifi coverage you're pretty much stuffed.

Lucie
02-09-2013, 02:54 PM
I only work from my studio & never meet my customers (all done online or over the phone), so I only need to be able to take over the phone payments.
It would be great if I could find a way of taking them via my website to, but from what Ive read, that would definitely involve some kind of monthly payment plan :(
I'm hoping the phone signal should be OK as I'm not taking it around to different places.

Gemsetterchris
03-09-2013, 04:59 AM
If you have to pay a monthly fee, so be it..just split & bury the cost across your items..It's all tax deductable expense.
Or as I used to do, had my account number onsite or given via email..all customers did was do a transfer to it.

art925
03-09-2013, 09:30 AM
If you have to pay a monthly fee, so be it..just split & bury the cost across your items..It's all tax deductable expense.
Or as I used to do, had my account number onsite or given via email..all customers did was do a transfer to it.

This is what I do Chris; I process the order and email out the invoice to be paid prior to postage, the invoice contains my bank details and they use the invoice number as reference for the bank payment. Even at an art fair, when a customer has insufficient cash, I take their details, provide them my bank details and when the transfer is complete, I post the item.

Lucie
03-09-2013, 11:22 AM
It's a fair point - I think i'll wait to see how Lydia gets on with Worldpay Zinc (just the telephone payments) first. I already pay out £10 a month on hosting and £30 on my "address", so i'm trying to stop the monthly payments getting out of hand.

LydiaNiz
13-09-2013, 01:38 PM
well new posh phone is here, and now chip and pin is here.
All really stupidly easy to set up.
Works great, even in my house which has the worst signal strength ever.
The customer not present payment couldn't be simpler (you do it online, just enter their details and card number and amount - they can choose to have receipt by email or sms).
Payment takes 4 working days to go into your account, billing takes place around the 18th of the month.
I am really, really pleased. Looking forward to the end of the month when I've got an open studio to see if the chip and pin makes a difference to people purchasing!

Lucie
14-09-2013, 12:49 PM
Hi Lydia, Thank you sooo much for remembering about this. You've made my day :)

Did you have to jump through hoops for your application to be accepted?

LydiaNiz
14-09-2013, 07:47 PM
Not at all, the chip and pin machine was slower than I expected which was why I didn't post sooner, but no issues at all. I've tested the chip and pin and that's been all fine too. You can choose to send an sms or email receipt - it's all seems very straightforward. If you do fancy trying it, drop me a message and I'll give you the referral code as the £20 off the chip and pin handset is on until the end of October I believe.
I really won't give it a true smashing until 29th! I do like that it lets you log cash sales too (obv it doesn't charge you a percentage on those) but I imagine will be handy to keep track on a stall day. I'm a sceptic though, so naturally waiting to find out something pants (but haven't yet!)

LydiaNiz
13-11-2013, 07:27 PM
forgot to update this, but is has paid for itself many times over already. For offline payments, you can send customers a link so they can enter all their details securely, without you seeing their card info (have used this for custom work mostly), and it has definitely made a difference to sales at events. If anyone does want the referral code, it's FR372191

art925
13-11-2013, 08:11 PM
I am really happy this has worked out well. I have recently had an increase in clients making online transfer via their mobile, which is immediate and saves me waiting for the transfer to take place. Also at events it works well; a lot of people have online network as part of their mobile subscription so even outside payments are easier.

pearlescence
14-11-2013, 08:59 AM
Without going back over 5 pages I'd just like to heads-up this thread to all those who poo-poo credit card handling facilities and say that paypal and cash is enough. It isn't.

Lucie
14-11-2013, 10:55 AM
Thank you so much for remembering about this. I'll definitely be going ahead as soon as I get a new mobile.
Only having Paypal has been causing problems for some time now. It puts so many customers off (& that's just the ones that have been in contact, never mind the ones who spot it on the website & don't even get in touch)!

Do you know how I use the referral code or if there is a deadline to use it by? Thanks again :dance:

LydiaNiz
14-11-2013, 02:29 PM
no problem! Think it's until the end of November at least. When you fill in the application form, (at the www.worldpayzinc.com site), there is a bit that says 'do you have a referral code, I believe on page 5, and you pop it in there. To reiterate, they don't charge you until the 18th of the next full month for the chip and pin and any sales percentages.
:-)