Paypal is nice but if you want to be professional you might want to give the customer more options than just Paypal. It's good to have Paypal as an option, don't get me wrong, but you should probably have another option as well.
Okay, this post is mainly just generic info for anybody who needs credit card processing, to hopefully save you from future headaches
...
As
ajmo mentioned, your customers
DO NOT need a PayPal account to pay via credit card anymore (they did in the past, but not anymore).
Those customers who have a PayPal account can use that method, and those that don't just enter their credit card info.
I have been in business for 28 years, thus I have been taking credit card orders for a very looooong time
. Last year I totally switched to PayPal, because their fees are clear cut and they don't have any hidden charges, etc. (and also, because they don't require my customers to sign up anymore
)
I have tried several credit card processing merchants/vendors in those 28 years and many of them charge hidden fees, etc., so many times your rate is much higher than what they originally sign you up for (or what you
think you've signed up for).
One thing I didn't like about some of the merchant practices is that my refunds would get charged as a transaction, as well. I have had customers who've had to cancel their wedding, which resulted in canceling their order, thus my refunds would range anywhere from $200 - $800+, and when you get charged BOTH ways on the transaction (incoming and outgoing), it hurts!
The first time it happened, I thought my processing vendor made a mistake, but I found that it is what they do and many do it (a few don't but good luck in finding them
). And there are other hidden fees, as well. On my last vendor hunting, I sent all the potential vendors these questions, because they don't normally state these in their ads:
We understand that your current rates for "Mail Order" are as follows (as per your website):
Discount rate: 2.30%
Transaction fee: .25
Statement fee: $10.00/month
Please answer the following:
Your website stated NO application or setup fees, but do you have an "annual" fee?
What are your:
1) Mid-Qualifying rates?
2) Non-Qualifying rates?
Do you have a "batch" processing fee?
When we issue a "credit/refund" to a customer (we are NOT taking about a "chargeback"), do you charge us any fees on the amount credited/refunded aside from the "transaction fee"? Do we receive back the "discount rate" which was previously taken OR do you charge us the discount rate again on the credit/refund amount?
Do you lock us into a contract, thus having an early cancellation/termination fee?
Oh, and those other fees I was mentioning are those
"Mid-Qualifying" and
"Non-Qualifying" rates. You'd be surprised how many show up on your statement, thus making the initial rate considerably higher than the advertised rate. I did a calculation once on my statements and the rate came to over 3% after all those fees, so you see, you can't just take the advertised rate as gospel, because the other fees are standard procedures.
So, if you are shopping for a credit card processing merchant/vendor, make sure you ask the above questions because they will undoubtably come back with surprising answers to those. They won't tell you this info unless you ask, because it's in their fine print which most people don't read thoroughly or understand what the heck it means (you start understanding it real fast after you've experienced it on your billing statements, lol
).
Anyway, for myself, the last time I had to go hunting for a vendor (I must have checked out at least 10 of them) all of them had a combination of the above hidden fees, so I just got fed up and went with PayPal, cuz at least I knew what I was getting charged and they don't lock you into a contract (many others charge you as much as up to $250 if you cancel early).
PayPal also does NOT charge you for your customer refunds, and they even go one step further ... they refund you the fees they took out on the initial order! So, you take no loss on a cancellation
Sorry this is such a long post, but I felt it was necessary to share my experience, so you can make sure to get complete info from a potential processing merchant/vendor, cuz once you sign up, you're stuck with them for one or two years unless you want to pay the horrendous early termination fee
So, if you don't go with PayPal and you hunt around to find your best prospect, make sure you ask them those questions I stated above (you can just copy and paste mine in your own letter if you want
), because you want to know these things before signing on the dotted line
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