Credit Card payments- any experiences

[BulldogTom]

I am meeting with a CC processing company on Friday to discuss accepting CC and Debit payments this year for the first time. The fees look reasonable to me and I can shut off the service after tax season and start it up again the following year.

Anyone have any good/bad experiences with accepting CC/Debit payments in their practices?

Tom

Lodi, CA

[Chowdahead]

Accepting credit cards is a necessary evil nowadays. I've been looking at Intuit's service http://payments.intuit.com/?xcid=int_intm_IPS_Home_nav_wfm_A

It's all online. No cumbersome POS card reader printer/machine. Those things are antiquated. Intuit even gives you a small swipe reader for quick entry. Fees seem reasonable. No contract.

[MAMalody]

I don't agree with the premise that CC are a necessary evil. I have never lost a client because of not having CC availability for payments. I have never had a new client that came because I took CC. I went through this about 10 years ago and began to take CC. All it really did was cost me money. Well, the set up was expensive then ($700). From that point it was not bad because the fees charged are based upon CC usage. I had little usage, therefore few fees. I don't handle charge cards directly now. I have had a couple of requests and had to find alternative ways to handle it. It could be that ProPay or PayPal could satisfy that need for a minimal fee.

[Gail in Virginia]

Accepting credit cards is a necessary evil nowadays. I've been looking at Intuit's service http://payments.intuit.com/?xcid=int_intm_IPS_Home_nav_wfm_A

It's all online. No cumbersome POS card reader printer/machine. Those things are antiquated. Intuit even gives you a small swipe reader for quick entry. Fees seem reasonable. No contract.

Which package are you looking at? The two on the low end both discount the fee if you use the card reader and swipe instead of entering the card number, but the only thing I saw about the card reader was on the lowest package, and it cost $69.95.

[BulldogTom]

Because of my employment, the company that I am going to work with is waiving any set up fees. I only have to pay the monthly statement fee and the transaction fees. The real reason I want this is the debit card service. So few people are carrying checkbooks anymore, but they all have a debit card in their wallet. When I get done with the tax return, it would be very nice not to have the discussion that goes "OH, I did not bring my checkbook. Can I bring a check by tomorrow?" To which I reply, "Sure, you can pick the return up when you bring the check and we will transmit the return at that time". It is an awkward conversation to have. And it causes an extra trip to my office, and of course they just barge in and want you to drop everything to take care of their payment. This is why I want to have this option.

Tom

Lodi, CA

[Margaret CPA in OH]

I am leaning very heavily toward Paypal but am a bit confused since I don't feel like a Business account is needed but I think the Buy Now button is offputting or misleading. Any Paypal users here? Willing to share experiences? Thanks in advance.

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

If you are a Costco member, check their offerings...

[Eric]

I am leaning very heavily toward Paypal but am a bit confused since I don't feel like a Business account is needed but I think the Buy Now button is offputting or misleading. Any Paypal users here? Willing to share experiences? Thanks in advance.

I'm no PayPal expert, but I have used them to take payments for services, and donations on this site.

I don't think a simple Buy Now button would work, unless you had constant prices for your services. Part of creating a Buy Now button is setting a fixed price for that button.

You can send requests for payments by e-mail to your clients using the "Request Money" feature or "Create Invoice" feature. Your client will get the request/invoice in their email, with a link provided to pay the total with their PayPal or Credit/Debit card.

Paypal Invoices

[SunTaxMan]

I used NOVA for years, then they were bought by NPC. I am not a heavy CC user. Their fees got too high for my taste - $45.00 a month minimum.

I changed to Elavon from Costco. Min. $20.00 fee, even if NO usage in a month. I can live with that.

[Catherine]

I'm no PayPal expert, but I have used them to take payments for services, and donations on this site.

I don't think a simple Buy Now button would work, unless you had constant prices for your services. Part of creating a Buy Now button is setting a fixed price for that button.

You can send requests for payments by e-mail to your clients using the "Request Money" feature or "Create Invoice" feature. Your client will get the request/invoice in their email, with a link provided to pay the total with their PayPal or Credit/Debit card.

Paypal Invoices

It is possible with PayPal to get and personalize the "DONATE" button instead of the "BUY NOW". The "DONATE" can be changed to "PAY NOW" or "PAY HERE" or whatever you want. Then your client can enter the amount of your bill, and pay you by direct debit or credit card. I worked with my web site folks to tweak that button, and somewhere I have the HTML code for it. If you can get the code, just look for the "DONATE" text and substitute your preferred text, and then use that piece of code for your button.

You can see my button at grant-financial.com in case you're interested.

Hope this helps,

Catherine

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Thanks, Catherine, that helps a lot. I just think I would like to provide more options this year than receiving a check sometimes months later. In nearly 15 years, I've only had 2 that have completely stiffed me but I'm inclined now to ask for payment before efile submission. My engagement letter says that but I've never actually enforced it primarily because I don't always have the invoice ready. I see changes in my behavior coming right up!

[BulldogTom]

Thanks, Catherine, that helps a lot. I just think I would like to provide more options this year than receiving a check sometimes months later. In nearly 15 years, I've only had 2 that have completely stiffed me but I'm inclined now to ask for payment before efile submission. My engagement letter says that but I've never actually enforced it primarily because I don't always have the invoice ready. I see changes in my behavior coming right up!

Margaret,

Because of some weather issues, I will be meeting with the representative on Monday. The fees she quoted me are between 1.35% and 2.4% depending on the type of debit/credit card. I will also have a $0.25 transaction fee and $0.30 settlement fee (once per day on days you use the machine) and finally a $5.00 statement fee monthly. I can turn off the service at the end of the month when tax season is over so I don't have to pay the statement fee the rest of the year. The machine is $189.

If this sounds good to you, would you like for me to have the representative contact you? I am not sure if they will waive the setup fees for you as they did for me, but I can ask.

Tom

Lodi, CA

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Tom, thanks so much for thinking of me. I really appreciate it! However, I do not want to handle credit/debit cards directly. My office is in my home and no client has even ever asked if I took credit cards. I really am more interested in the number of my tech savvy (more than I am) clients who would rather pay online than write a check. And of course I would be able to enforce my pay before filing standard not currently enforced.

Probably 85% of my clients never see me - they just fax/mail/email documents to me. I am seriously leaning to the Paypal button, especially now that Catherine and others have given some good tips. Thanks again, Tom, and all others here who help each other.

PS I received my MAX software yesterday - YIPPIE! Sure hope it works.

[Catherine]

Tom, thanks so much for thinking of me. I really appreciate it! However, I do not want to handle credit/debit cards directly. My office is in my home and no client has even ever asked if I took credit cards. I really am more interested in the number of my tech savvy (more than I am) clients who would rather pay online than write a check. And of course I would be able to enforce my pay before filing standard not currently enforced.

Probably 85% of my clients never see me - they just fax/mail/email documents to me. I am seriously leaning to the Paypal button, especially now that Catherine and others have given some good tips. Thanks again, Tom, and all others here who help each other.

PS I received my MAX software yesterday - YIPPIE! Sure hope it works.

My software arrived yesterday, as well. It's currently sitting on a shelf watching me sort papers and re-set for the coming tax season. That usually gets done in _May_, but this year was ridiculously busy.

The thing I really like about PayPal is that there are NO monthly fees (and no machine to lease or buy, either). I only pay a fee when someone uses it. Considering that I have about two people a _year_ who pay electronically, a set monthly fee would swiftly make it more reasonable for me to do those two returns for free! YMMV.

Catherine

[Lion EA]

I do have a PayPal button on my web site. Once a client went home and paid via her checking account on PayPal. It's pricey to get money out of PayPal, but one of my tax preparers' organizations takes PayPal for our dinner meetings and seminars, so I use it all up that way.

I want to make it as easy as possible for my clients to pay me now, not have to track what I haven't yet received. So, I accept all major credit cards and PayPal. Most of my clients write checks, but I want to be able to accept any type of payment. I'm out in the boonies, so even going to the bank to deposit checks is a hassle and doesn't happen immediately. I think QB will offer an electronic acceptance of checks.

I use the Intuit merchant services, because as a QB ProAdvisor I get some savings and it dumps the info directly into QB for me. I don't have a swiper; many of my clients are giving me their number over the telephone anyway and are not present in my office at the time I complete their return. It's easy, and I only pay fees when I make money. If I end up paying my assistant for her time to make bank deposits, then the small fees for accepting credit cards makes sense and saves me time &/or money.

DollarsSenses.com

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Thanks for your comments, Lion. What do you mean about getting money out of Paypal being pricey? That may be a glitch I hadn't considered.

[ILLMAS]

Thanks for your comments, Lion. What do you mean about getting money out of Paypal being pricey? That may be a glitch I hadn't considered.

There is a fee when you transfer a certain amount of money to your account, I haven't used paypal in a while, but from what I remember, if you transfer more then $500 at once they charge you a fee, last time I used paypal was in 2005.

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-fees-outside

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Thanks, MAS. I knew about those fees which I think are quite favorable to credit card fees. I thought Lion was mentioning something else. At least I hope that I understand correctly that there isn't a double fee assessment. That is, 2% + 30 cents for a client to pay into Paypal for my invoice then another 2% + 30 cents for me to transfer the money to my checking account. If that is the case, I have to re-rethink!

[Lion EA]

I was thinking I had to pay about $3 to put the money into my checking account, so I left it there to pay NY/CT-ATP fees throughout the year. But, it was way back in February that I looked that up and made that decision.

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Thanks again, Lion. I just need to keep researching to make as informed a decision as possible. Retirement keeps looking better all the time!

[Chowdahead]

Which package are you looking at? The two on the low end both discount the fee if you use the card reader and swipe instead of entering the card number, but the only thing I saw about the card reader was on the lowest package, and it cost $69.95.

http://payments.intuit.com/products/online-credit-card-processing.jsp

Service

Cost

Discount rate for Visa, MasterCard and Discover® Network

Card-swiped: 1.90%3

Key-entered: 2.90%4

Monthly service

$12.95

Per-authorization fee

$0.30

Monthly Minimum fee

None

One-time set-up fee

None

Cancellation fee

None

[Karen Lee]

I have used Propay for 3-4 years and have never had a problem.

Karen :)

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

I have used Propay for a couple of years, also. I only had two people pay with a card last year and three the prior year.

[HV Ken]

Interesting that nobody on this thread is talking about the new ATX relationship with iTransact. Not only can you use this relationship to have access to competitve national pricing (instead of more costly low volume alternatives that small businesses typically have access to), but you can also become an advisor and offer credit card processing to your clients, often at a savings of 20-30%. I am now an iTransact advisor! We offer a free "Sure Save Analysis" to our small business clients.

I will be glad to talk to anyone about this service, and if you are not interested in becoming an advisor yourself, I can help you find out if using iTransact as your merchant service provider will give you access to more favorable rates.

[Catherine]

Interesting that nobody on this thread is talking about the new ATX relationship with iTransact. Not only can you use this relationship to have access to competitve national pricing (instead of more costly low volume alternatives that small businesses typically have access to), but you can also become an advisor and offer credit card processing to your clients, often at a savings of 20-30%. I am now an iTransact advisor! We offer a free "Sure Save Analysis" to our small business clients.

I will be glad to talk to anyone about this service, and if you are not interested in becoming an advisor yourself, I can help you find out if using iTransact as your merchant service provider will give you access to more favorable rates.

I've never mentioned it because I've never heard of it. In your copious free time (hah - hah) tell us about it (or where we can find more info ourselves). Thanks!