Anyone take credit/debit card payment?

[newtimber]

Now if you are paying for your HA advert rather than doing it on commission, their charge to take to CC payment is 1.4% from UK, 1.9% from europe and 2.4% rest of world. So you could simply direct your enquirers from other sources to HA to make their payments.

HA then get the details of the guest -

so the guest uses HA next time instead of the listing site that gave you the business in the first place

and they then also send them details of other properties to book instead of yours next time.

[Gettingthere]

HA then get the details of the guest -

so the guest uses HA next time instead of the listing site that gave you the business in the first place

and they then also send them details of other properties to book instead of yours next time.

Mmm. Good point.

[pjmatos]

I hope this post makes sense here.

I have had quite a few cancellations on Booking.com (something that seems to be normal) and need a solution to charge the credit card and, if possible, to pre-authorize it in advance in order to know if a reservation is reliable.

In Portugal the cheapest solution that I've found is a Virtual TPA, for which I'm asked 20€ per month + fees, which is too much to be used only for reservations originated from Booking.

After reading every post here, the only solution among those cited available in Portugal seems to be PayPal, but when I phoned them some weeks ago, they said I can't enter the credit card details manually and that it must be the client to process the payment online.

I am a bit lost here, so any help would be much appreciated.

[pjmatos]

Anyone, please?

PayPal just sent me the following reply:

"As much as i want to give you a positive answer here, but unfortunately we do not support any Product in Portugal that would allow you to process credit cards offline. I am really sorry, but there is nothing we can do here for you."

[kevsboredagain]

There is no way, I would ever call some small, possibly unknown business and give my credit card details over the phone. At least online, most systems are secure and prevent your details from being known by the person billing you. They go direct to the system handling the card and encrypted accordingly, not written on a scrap of paper by Joe Bloggs while he tries to enter it into his machine.

[pjmatos]

I already have the credit card details, including the security code.
My question is not whether Booking.com is doing the right thing by giving this information, but rather how can I validate and charge the credit card.

[la vache!]

I'm a little lost, why can't you use the Paypal online payment system? I'm with Kev, I would never give my credit card details over the phone or by email.

[pjmatos]

Thought that I already explained everything in the previous post:

I hope this post makes sense here.

I have had quite a few cancellations on Booking.com (something that seems to be normal) and need a solution to charge the credit card and, if possible, to pre-authorize it in advance in order to know if a reservation is reliable.

In Portugal the cheapest solution that I've found is a Virtual TPA, for which I'm asked 20€ per month + fees, which is too much to be used only for reservations originated from Booking.

After reading every post here, the only solution among those cited available in Portugal seems to be PayPal, but when I phoned them some weeks ago, they said I can't enter the credit card details manually and that it must be the client to process the payment online.

I am a bit lost here, so any help would be much appreciated.

So, Booking is giving me all credit card details and I need a solution to validate and charge it, which PayPal doesn't have for Portugal.

There are some pricy solutions which charge per month, but given that I have few bookings from Booking, I was looking at a less expensive solution, preferably one that would charge per transaction only.

[kevsboredagain]

Not as confused as me. If you were to pass on the credit card details and show complete disregard for security like booking.com obviously do, then I could enter them into PayPal or my website to charge against the card. I don't need a machine to do this.

Having now researched a little about the credit card processing of booking.com I am shocked. So glad I gave up on them.

[greenbarn]

If that's how Booking.com are operating I can't believe it falls within the requirements of PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), and you would also have to be compliant if you are receiving that data from them (or anyone else). It's supposed to be a worldwide standard so I can't see how they can escape?

Fines imposed for non-compliance start at $5,000 (that's per month) and rise rapidly.

Surely Booking.com aren't really sending full card data to an individual, by secure or any other means?

[La Chouette]

Hi pjmatos

We're with B.com and can't accept CC payments from guests, in the sense that we don't have a merchant account, card machine etc. To avoid the problem I think you're referring to (non-show guests) we ask for a deposit. Obviously, you need to establish this as part of your T&Cs with B.com.

French guests send us a cheque (they're still wedded to cheques) but for guests from other countries I send a link by SMS or email from PayPlug, a French company but which operates in French and English. It's very like PayPal but a little cheaper, and when guests click on the link, they're taken to a secure site and pay. I get an email the minute the payments made. I have to say that relatively often I get a cancellation the minute I ask for a deposit, but I've yet to have a no-show for someone who's already paid for their first night with us. If I don't hear from a guest when I've requested a deposit, B.com are quite happy to cancel the booking if the guest's been given a time limit for paying.

Hope this helps.

Jan

[pjmatos]

Not as confused as me. If you were to pass on the credit card details and show complete disregard for security like booking.com obviously do, then I could enter them into PayPal or my website to charge against the card. I don't need a machine to do this.

How?
I don't have that option in PayPal, which also told me there is no way I can do it.

Surely Booking.com aren't really sending full card data to an individual, by secure or any other means?

They do not send them literally.
The credit card details are available in their backoffice where it can be viewed a maximum of 3 times.

We're with B.com and can't accept CC payments from guests, in the sense that we don't have a merchant account, card machine etc. To avoid the problem I think you're referring to (non-show guests) we ask for a deposit. Obviously, you need to establish this as part of your T&Cs with B.com.

Thanks, La Chouette.
It helps and I already tried to ask B.com for that, but they always told me that my backoffice version didn't allow me to do that change.
Well, at least until today because at last they have changed my T&Cs and now I can ask for a 25% deposit.
Finally...

I will keep the option of accepting credit cards, though.
Especially because now I do not need to pre-authorize them and may soon enough charge the 25%.

So, my original question still remains somehow:
Do you know any better option than renting a card machine or a virtual terminal that would allow me to process the credit card details manually?

By the way, I guess that I will be PCI compliant if I don't store that information anywhere, right?

[kevsboredagain]

Not as confused as me. If you were to pass on the credit card details and show complete disregard for security like booking.com obviously do, then I could enter them into PayPal or my website to charge against the card. I don't need a machine to do this.

How?
I don't have that option in PayPal, which also told me there is no way I can do it.

You said they do not support any product which allows you to process cards offline
Paypal have no idea if it's the client entering the number onto their website or a thief. It's maybe against the law or something to take someones credit card details and enter them into an online payment system as if you were the client, although I don't see any difference between this and a card reader where you enter the number yourself manually.

Card readers need a card to swipe. If you have to enter the number by hand into the machine, it's the same as doing it online.

[pjmatos]

I agree with you and don't see any difference between entering the numbers in PayPal or in a card reader.

In fact, I think the cardholder customer can dispute any transaction, right?

Still, where can I do it in PayPal?
I have a merchant account and cannot see how.

[kevsboredagain]

I agree with you and don't see any difference between entering the numbers in PayPal or in a card reader.

In fact, I think the cardholder customer can dispute any transaction, right?

Still, where can I do it in PayPal?
I have a merchant account and cannot see how.

I'm just guessing here but once you're logged into Paypal, you can only send using your balance or from your registered account/card. I'd imagine though that you can send an email to an email address which is not your Paypal email. Then you would have the choice to pay by credit card or log into Paypal. This is exactly what a client would see if you sent the invoice to them.

You could also integrate Paypal or another online payment system, like Payplug or Stripe into your website and you wouldn't need the invoice but that would be more work.