French merchant accounts and credit card facilities.

[Hells Bells]

I have a (UK) enquiry who for some reason doesn't want to use Paypal, but wants to book with a Visa Card. Does anyone use this in France, and how much does it cost, and how easy was it to set up the account as a Merchant account.

[vrooje]

I've had this once or twice too... but I just ended up doing a bank transfer.

I don't know about France, but in the US merchant accounts are anywhere between $10-30 a month for a basic account, plus a per-transaction fee and commission. And some of them have a setup fee.

That's all the info I have -- doubt it helps you, though!

[Ju]

I can probably find the details if I tried, but we pay about 26€ per month, I don't think we paid a set up fee - but then we already had a business account.

The banks will not give you a credit card machine unless you are a registered business, and you need to have a good level of credit card bookings.

I wouldn't have thought you would have enough turnover with one appartment to make it worthwhile.

HTH

Ju

[KathyG]

Helen, for a one-off transaction do you have any friends in business with merchant accounts? I did this once for a very last minute booking, my brother runs his own business and I got them to ring him up and do the transaction over the phone and then he paid me. Could that work for you?

[Hells Bells]

Problem not really solved. I have emailed him and suggested a bank transfer, and will call him tonight to see if we can overcome the problem. I can use a UK option of Paypal which has a virtual credit card terminal to take a booking by phone, I don't think it is available for my French account, but as usual £20 per month plus charges, and the money would then need transferred to France. It has been so much simpler for me to keep the apartment money in France, (and cuts my mortgage interest payments). Back to the drawing board,

[Big Sis..]

Hi Helen.

Maybe the person wanting to use the visa card hasnt got the cash at the moment.

SO wants to add it on his credit card bill so he can pay it off at a later date.

I dont accept Credit Cards and once lost a last minute booking when I said I didnt accept them, which surprised me.[Its only happened once]

Until my daughter said 'well they didnt have the money'.

[Hells Bells]

But I use Paypal, and he can pay with a credit card using that,even if he doesn't have a paypal account himself, so I don't really understand his problem.

[Big Sis..]

Hi Helen,

Sorry youre right of course!!

What about the guarantee that people get when booking/paying for a holiday with a CC..
does that still apply as well through Pay Pal??

If so I cant see why he wants to go this route either
[have you thought of asking him ]

Hope you maange to sort it.

[Hells Bells]

Ros, I have asked him, but not received a reply. People ae often confused as to what Paypal is.

[Big Sis..]

People ae often confused as to what Paypal is.

how true

[J&J]

There is a way around this, although it is probably against Paypal's T&CS but your client is unlikely to complain so Paypal will never know . . .

Set-up a new email address under your own domain, something like guests@mydomain.com etc. Then go into your Paypal account and raise an invoice in the name of your client but using this new email address as the client's email contact.

The invoice will then come through to you and you can simply click on the link to pay immediately (without opening a paypal account). All you then need are all the usual details of your client i.e. names, address, card number, exp date, cvv number etc. and you can charge the card. If you open this in front of you before phoning your client you can make sure you get all the right details, and it should all go through ok.

[Hells Bells]

I could just complete the online booking form for him, and take his details, which would be almost the same, then change the email address to his correct one afterwards. He has contacted me again, asking for some extra details, and a copy of the terms and conditions, so all is not yet lost. I will phone him this evening I think when I get home.

[Hells Bells]

I think his problem was handing money over to an anonymous Paypal account and not knowing if we existed or not. I called him this evening, put his mind at rest, and he's booked using Paypal.

[Nessie]

Good result Helen

I must say i never use pay pal, i think in some ways i feel a bit like your guest