Credit cards

[pete]

Autumn is approaching on on my todolist is sort out credit card acceptance. We have had a few no shows this year and feel that that we should make this happen next year and in the long run it may pay for itself.

Thoughts at the moment are

use our bank (CA) this involves having a business account at 40 euros per month and then 2% on card transactions.

paypal - 4% and difficult for customers to pay if they are not at their own computer, also other well noted problems as well as customer having to 'do' the payment

have found RBS worldpay - 20 euros per month and 3.9% transaction fees and a oneoff payment, but can take cards over the phone and online payments,

anyone use anything else ?

any other ideas ?

is rbs worldpay trustworthy ?

many thanks

pete

[Hells Bells]

PP have a virtual terminal option allowing you to take them by phone. I think Musetta uses this. There will be a monthly charge too.Worldpay is a common method of payment, some of the listing sites use it to accept our payments. Not sure if you will still need to business bank account though. However, for me, that would work out more expensive than Paypal.

[la vache!]

Hi Pete,
I know CA works differently depending on where you live, but my business account is 15€ per month, then to take credit cards I go through Payboxmail which they have an agreement with. I pay around 120€ a year for this facility and pay 0,45% commission on all transactions in Europe and 1% on international payments outside of Europe. It all depends on your turnover, but it is much cheaper for me to use the service of CA and Paybox than it is to use Paypal, for example.

[Mountain Goat]

have found RBS worldpay - 20 euros per month and 3.9% transaction fees and a oneoff payment, but can take cards over the phone and online payments

That % is highly negotiable. If you're based in the UK, join the Federation of Small Businesses and then apply to RBS. No oneoff payment and depending on forecast turnover you should be able to reduce that commission rate.

See another thread to see if this may not be worthwhile - that monthly payment can hurt.

MG

[CSE]

We are not in France, but we managed to get a machine installed in the house. We can now take money off (for reservations) without the card being present. The only thing we cannot do is pre-authorise the payment.
We are charged a standard monthly rate, but the amount of interest does vary as to whether the card country of origin.
If your bank allows you to have a machine I would go for that. If you feel it is working out too expensive chat to the manager to see if they can reduce the charges or return the machine.

[pete]

Ian Irene

what do you mean by pre authorise ?

we are off to the bank tomorrow to discuss the charges, I know we must have a business account to have card access, but a few years ago when we first discussed it it was far too expensive, now I feel more confident to haggle, especially after LVs post as we have the same bank.

We could buy a machine in metro but it would not take non European cards which really does not make it worthwhile.

[CSE]

You sort of check the CC for price of a reservation. This will tie up part of the cardholders credit. You do this to make sure the cardholder has sufficient funds available to cover the reservation costs if they do not turn up.*
The problem lies with us in that our bank does not give this facility for some reason.

* We have ONLY once had someone not turn up and found out afterwards the CC number was not valid. Other times when they have not turned up we have been able to take CC payments for the reservation.

[Andu54]

This has been on our to do list for some time. We are based in France but have held accounts with our English bank for many years before moving out. I telephoned the other day - it took two days to be passed from pillar to post - final department was RBS Streamline International who firmly told me that they could do nothing for us as we were not UK resident!!!
First that springs to mind is: Why are they called International? and second why are we in Europe?
Still trying to find a way around without paying monthly fees.
Anji
www.legrandsaule.co.uk

PS and well done on the site Lay my Hat - I joined some time ago but there seemed little on here, but returned today and so much information I wished I had continued 'watching this spot'

[pete]

Dont be frightened to negotiate with the banks here, we had a figure in mind and have managed to come in below that for monthly fees, its not set up yet as we didn't need it till march but we halved the fisrt quoted fees.

[la vache!]

What system did you go with in the end, Pete?

[pete]

went to CA who we bank with and got a deal on a business account and then on paybox, seem to remember someone here suggesting it !

[la vache!]

It's a great system. I've had nothing but praise from guests who have used it to pay. It is quick, efficient and so much easier than phoning over credit card details, organising a bank transfer or sending a cheque. Plus they get a receipt immediately for peace of mind ad proof of purchase. And of course it is cheap for me and easy for me to keep a record of email addresses and who has paid what and when. I can't remember how I managed before it.
I just wish the French were less attached to their cheque books and braver about paying on line by CB.

[Hells Bells]

Does anyone on here bank with Barclays France? I would prefer a more user-friendly solution to Paypal, but they haven't given me any joy re Paybox, and couldn't suggest anything else as my turnover is not that large.