taking credit cards

[moira rowe]

can anyone help with advice on taking credit cards for my florida rental home.

I am based in the UK (Wales) and I have decided to offer this facility to rentors.

[Darren]

Hi Moira, you could try www.nochex.co.uk - basically you sign up and receive a free account, you give potential holidaymakers the address of your account on nochex and they simply pay by credit card and this money is deposited to your account.

You can then transfer the money into your bank account, which I would suggest doing on a regular basis. I am not sure of the fee's payable but have a look at the website and see what you think.

It's a lot cheaper than signing up for a merchant bank account, and credit card processor.

I hope this helps
Darren

[Fi]

Hi Moira

Another site to try is paypal - www.paypal.com. Works on a similar basis as the other site posted but more widely known.

Fiona

[paolo]

Welcome to the forum, Moira!

I am very happy with credit card payments using PayPal. In the UK, you pay 3.9% per transfer to your account (I invite the sender to split this with me). It's free to set up an account, and free to transfer the money electronically into your bank account.

It's not like having a merchant account because some people sending money will have to be authorised by PayPal - they want to check the sender is the card-holder and not an imposter. This takes a couple of days. You also have to overcome a little bit of distrust in a system where you have to give your credit card details online and send money to an email address.

Rentors.org, which is something put together by 4 big US listing sites, offers merchant accounts for rental owners, with these costs:

"A $99 one-time set-up fee,a monthly fee as low as $19.95, and a discount rate (the amount the credit card companies charge per transaction) from 2.19% to 3.69%"

In more detail:
If you are going to process less than $5000 of payments in a year, you pay $19.95 per month plus 3.79% per payment. For between $5000 and $36,000 you pay $24.95 per month plus 2.59% per payment.

That is going to cost you quite a bit more than PayPal, but would be more convenient for people making payments.

Here's the rentors.org site for merchant accounts:
http://www.paradata.com/ccacceptance/cy ... index.html

[paolo]

To carry on from the above post - maybe that isn't available outside the US?

[SANDCLUB]

I use a bookings and availabilty calendar that takes credit cards for just 3% commission. Transfers into your bank account are free to UK bank accounts and £15 for each transfer to non UK bank accounts. They also can pay you before the renter starts. It also sends automated emails to the renter and any nominated managing agent. If you need the link please email me.

[enkkc@aol.com]

can anyone help with advice on taking credit cards for my florida rental home.

I am based in the UK (Wales) and I have decided to offer this facility to rentors.

Go to Paypal.com Its the easiest way to take credit card payments.

[sleekitbeastie]

Before using Paypal visit www.paypalsucks.com - it might influence your decision. I know our moderator won't allow me to express my opinion of them here but this site gives an insight into some of the problems which you might expect to encounter. There is a interesting UK thread.

[paolo]

Sleekitbeastie,

As I told you, you can say anything you like on this forum, as long as it is within the rules of the forum - but if you are going to say something that could be construed as libellous/slanderous/defamatory, you need to be able to back it up with evidence. Otherwise it is my head on the block, not yours.

[sleekitbeastie]

Sleekitbeastie,

As I told you...

I'm not sure what you are referring to or indeed why you would have found it necessary to have told me anything of the sort. However it is not my intention to defame PayPal - they don't need my help to tarnish their reputation. My reference was to the sort of Anglo-Saxon language which they engender - language which I was sure, as I suggested, you would disallow.

[Alan Knighting]

I have only had one experience with PayPal and it was not a good one. The payment system itself was OK but a month after everything was done and dusted and I had confirmed with the seller that payment had been received I got an e-mail from PayPal telling me I hadn't paid and I should do so right away. I ignored it and it went away.

Some might say it was an attempted con trick but I doubt it. The e-mail contained precise and correct information of the transaction.

Alan

[Fraise]

In my experience they take quite a while transferring money .Not quite sure where it goes to between leaving one account and entering another.One of life's little mysteries

[paolo]

Sleekitbeastie,

Sorry - mistaken identity - it was an old post on PayPal I had to delete but it wasn't one of yours.

PayPal does have its knockers, but I have only had good experiences with it - instant money transfers, and free transfers of money to my bank account.

Are the problems associated with PayPal relevant to our situation? As soon as I receive money I transfer it into my bank account so my PayPal account is always empty. Does this eliminate the chances of bad things happening?

[vrfinder]

I do a lot of accepting credit cards over papal. I like the fact that after a short time they will send you a debit card. This way I can take cash out or pay with this credit card. Are there problems with papal, everything has problems in my opinion, however for me the benefits outweigh the problems.

[DivineMrsM]

Are the problems associated with PayPal relevant to our situation? As soon as I receive money I transfer it into my bank account so my PayPal account is always empty. Does this eliminate the chances of bad things happening?

Hi Paolo - Happy New Year!

I use Paypal ALL the time for my eBay transactions (buying and selling). Although this hasn't happened to me, you should be aware that Paypal can "chargeback" funds paid to you, should the buyer file a complaint about non performance or cancel their payment via their credit card company. Even if your account is empty, they will take steps to reclaim it from you after a certain period of time if you have not rectified a negative balance. They do have a Seller Protection Policy however, but I think that might be limited to £500 which is unlikely to be of any help with the sums of money involved in holiday rentals unless your property is quite small.

Here is the page from their "help" section on Chargebacks:
http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cm ... home&flow=