Any thoughts on the viability of using an online credit card merchant account instead of having a credit card machine to process the cards?
Actually, a first question is: can us non-Americans get one of the online credit card accounts (or rather one that's considerably cheaper than Worldpay)? I've seen ads for setting up merchant accounts but they all seem to originate in the US so I wonder if they'll accept us foreigners?
Arnold
Online Credit Card Accounts
I think that you get the best deals and lowest rates for merchant accounts if multiple people are using it. At least I think this is what I remember when I was first looking into it which is why I first decided to go with Pay Pal. I suppose it could be an idea if laymyhatters got together and set up a joint one but I must admit I am not an expert and do not even know for a fact if this would make a jot of difference. If it did though it might be worth considering.
Always Learning
Oh, it would make a difference alright. renters.org offer such a thing (US residents only though) with quite a discount on the rates charged for the cards.
What I'm looking for really is a way to do without the 35€ a month charge to rent the machine. Can't use paypal as a replacement as it requires too much information to process a payment - the ideal would be some system that let you just enter a card number, expiry date and possibly the security number on the card to process a payment.
Arnold
What I'm looking for really is a way to do without the 35€ a month charge to rent the machine. Can't use paypal as a replacement as it requires too much information to process a payment - the ideal would be some system that let you just enter a card number, expiry date and possibly the security number on the card to process a payment.
Arnold
You only need to add a bank account to your Paypal account and verify it with a direct debit test to be able to accept credit cards. You don't need to be a registered company or similar. Most users are verified anyway so it's just a case of adding as few more details to accept cards and clients don't need an account to pay you in any currency
Ah, but the problem is that paypal can't quite be used as a credit card machine replacement.
You can accept online payments (and we use it for that).
However, you can't accept phone payments nor can you use it for in-person credit card payments. Well, not strictly true but I'm not sure that it would be workable as you would need to register the person who wanted to pay you which requires more information than you'd normally have (eg dates of birth) and probably also is outside paypals rules.
Arnold
You can accept online payments (and we use it for that).
However, you can't accept phone payments nor can you use it for in-person credit card payments. Well, not strictly true but I'm not sure that it would be workable as you would need to register the person who wanted to pay you which requires more information than you'd normally have (eg dates of birth) and probably also is outside paypals rules.
Arnold
Sorry Arnold for jumping into your thread but can anyone enlighten me? Does all this mean that I can take Paypal payments? I have a Paypal account for e-bay and I'm verified ( my daughters tell me I'm deffo certified!!!)-what do I need to do to take Paypal payments from guests? Sorry for being a bit dense 
www.thepetitmanoir.com
www.thepetitmanoir.com
You certainly can.
The way I do is to use the mail wizard to create a little e-mail to send to people asking for the amount of the deposit. You download the e-mail wizard from the paypal site (under merchant tools).
In theory you can add a button to your website to take deposits but that can get you into a mess if people try to book dates that aren't available etc. and gets you into doing refunds.
Arnold
The way I do is to use the mail wizard to create a little e-mail to send to people asking for the amount of the deposit. You download the e-mail wizard from the paypal site (under merchant tools).
In theory you can add a button to your website to take deposits but that can get you into a mess if people try to book dates that aren't available etc. and gets you into doing refunds.
Arnold
What e-mail address are we talking about here? Our normal e-mail address? Doh!!!sorry Genuine questionwww.thepetitmanoir.com
You need to go to your account and updrade to a business account where it asks for your web address etc (nothing major). Then your account will change so you get a Request Money link and this is what sends out emails for you
(all you need is the payers email address)
The receiver clicks on the link and pays by credit card (or paypal if they have an account) and you then see the amount less commission in your Paypal account converted to sterling or pounds depending on which country your account is on. When you want to transfer the money to your bank account you can do so (as you have direct debit set-up already as a verified user) or leave it sitting in your paypal account
You can take payments in euros, dolars and pounds and refunds don't incure any charges (eg deposit refunded). You can ad bells and whistles like invoice templates and pay buttons on your site if you want or just use the email-request
(all you need is the payers email address)
The receiver clicks on the link and pays by credit card (or paypal if they have an account) and you then see the amount less commission in your Paypal account converted to sterling or pounds depending on which country your account is on. When you want to transfer the money to your bank account you can do so (as you have direct debit set-up already as a verified user) or leave it sitting in your paypal account
You can take payments in euros, dolars and pounds and refunds don't incure any charges (eg deposit refunded). You can ad bells and whistles like invoice templates and pay buttons on your site if you want or just use the email-request
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Paul Carmel
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I 'assume' from reading the list it's £1500 and the standard rate is 3.4% not 3.9%
Fees per transaction (GBP)
Standard Rate
£0.00 GBP-£1,500.00 GBP = 3.4% + £0.20 GBP
Merchant Rate (qualification required)
£1,500.01 GBP-£6,000.00 GBP = 2.9% + £0.20 GBP
£6,000.01 GBP-£15,000.00 GBP = 2.7% + £0.20 GBP
£15,000.01 GBP-£55,000.00 GBP = 2.4% + £0.20 GBP
above £55,000.00 GBP = 1.9% + £0.20 GBP
Fees per transaction (GBP)
Standard Rate
£0.00 GBP-£1,500.00 GBP = 3.4% + £0.20 GBP
Merchant Rate (qualification required)
£1,500.01 GBP-£6,000.00 GBP = 2.9% + £0.20 GBP
£6,000.01 GBP-£15,000.00 GBP = 2.7% + £0.20 GBP
£15,000.01 GBP-£55,000.00 GBP = 2.4% + £0.20 GBP
above £55,000.00 GBP = 1.9% + £0.20 GBP
I tried to use PayPal for an American guest and the sum was about $1300. When she first tried the transfer, PayPal said she didn't have enough credit, when she tried again with the ammount of credit they told her she had, they reduced the credit level even further to $600. We ended up doing a bank transfer as it could have gone on and on reducing her credit level, (for no valid reason). It has completely put me off using it now.
Susan: might have been something similar to the authorisations process that credit card places use. If you've ran a transaction through once, it knocks that amount off your credit limit and if you keep doing it, your available limit keeps dropping. Don't know if this applies to paypal though.
However, it's more likely that your guest hit their paypal payment limit. If you're not "verified" with paypay there is a realtively small amount of money that you can transfer through the system. It's never been a problem with us as we're talking of deposits around 100€ max.
Arnold
However, it's more likely that your guest hit their paypal payment limit. If you're not "verified" with paypay there is a realtively small amount of money that you can transfer through the system. It's never been a problem with us as we're talking of deposits around 100€ max.
Arnold