I wonder why that is? I mean, I understand that the cheque/check culture is a lot more prevalent in the USA, but the banks here have made it pretty untenable to deal with personal cheques these days. They charge a LOT more to clear them, a LOT more for you to draw them, and the dishonour (NSF) fees are unbelievable!
Switching to a credit union instead of a bank fixes a lot of those problems.
2. Paypal didn't work, it wouldn't accept my CC
This is actually not that farfetched, I've had several customers (both domestic and international) complain about issues with Paypal. Watch out for fees as well, depending on how the customer pays you may end up receiving their payment minus a couple percent.
Yeah I always end up paying fees, but when I looked into a business CC account (for accepting CC) with my bank, they said for such a light volume, Paypal is just as cheap as anyone else could offer until my volume grows (which it won't).
I consider it business expense to ease payments.
In this case I would think charging the fees back to the customer is appropriate. I always add the PayPal fees to the cost of the order in the rare cases where a customer pays via PP. If they don't like it, they can pay by check, but thanks to the customer's procrastinating that is no longer an option.
Just be careful how you word it if you do decide to have the customer pay extra for using a credit card. My dad makes it a nasty habit to call and report stores that charge him extra for paying with a credit card.
I copied this from a credit card website:
Q. As I was making a purchase, a store clerk wanted to charge me extra for paying with a credit card. His reasoning was that it covered the fee the store pays for processing the transaction. Is that legal?
A. No. Section 167 of the federal Truth in Lending Act states: No seller in any sales transaction may impose a surcharge on a cardholder who elects to use a credit card in lieu of payment by cash, check or similar means.
Bankcard companies also include in their agreements with retailers a section that prohibits businesses from imposing a surcharge on credit card purchases. Businesses that violate this or any part of their bankcard agreement may be dropped from the bankcard program.
However, businesses are allowed by law to offer a discount for purchases made by cash or check. Check your bankcard agreement to see what it says regarding these transactions.
The difference between a surcharge for credit (which is illegal) and a discount for cash (which is legal) is the advertised pricea retailer cannot charge a credit card customer more for an item than its advertised price.
Many call it a "convenience" fee to get around this law. I factor in my pricing the service fees, as if everyone is going to pay via paypal so if someone does pay me in cash I get extra money
A. No. Section 167 of the federal Truth in Lending Act states: No seller in any sales transaction may impose a surcharge on a cardholder who elects to use a credit card in lieu of payment by cash, check or similar means.
A PayPal transaction is not a credit card transaction.
A. No. Section 167 of the federal Truth in Lending Act states: No seller in any sales transaction may impose a surcharge on a cardholder who elects to use a credit card in lieu of payment by cash, check or similar means.
A PayPal transaction is not a credit card transaction.
that's confusing to me .... I'm not sending cash thru paypal.....
A PayPal transaction (in the context of a customer paying for a cake with PayPal) involves money being transferred from the customer's PayPal account to the baker's PayPal account. If the customer decides to fund their PayPal account with a credit card, that's a completely separate transaction that's between PayPal and the customer's credit card company.
On the other hand, if your business accepts credit cards and uses PayPal for merchant services, that is a credit card transaction, as the funds are being sent directly from the customer's credit card account to your business account.
I wonder why that is? I mean, I understand that the cheque/check culture is a lot more prevalent in the USA, but the banks here have made it pretty untenable to deal with personal cheques these days. They charge a LOT more to clear them, a LOT more for you to draw them, and the dishonour (NSF) fees are unbelievable!
Switching to a credit union instead of a bank fixes a lot of those problems.
Yep Jason - in one of my prior posts, I actually said I bank with a Credit Union. I have no idea why people still use banks!
Kitagrl - I am glad it worked out for you, and that you wrote the thread, because it gets a lot of people reading along and mentally preparing themselves for similar difficult circumstances Like you, my business volume is not great enough that Paypal fees are an issue - its the cost of convenience...and the only way I can (and will continue to) accept a payment made by a client's credit card.
A note re. Paypal...you don't have to be a member of Paypal to pay with it....my Paypal link has a place the customer can just type in their name and number and information without becoming a member.
So in essence, it is taking a credit card, not just transferring money from their account.
But the difference between using Paypal and actually being a merchant who accepts credit cards is this:
When you buy a large cake from me, I can invoice you through Paypal. You pay that invoice whenever and however you want.
When you buy a large cake from me and I take your credit card number for payment and you are late with "the check you put in the mail last week" I can immediately run your card number and get the money.
This is especially helpful if you're a caterer, too. The bigger I get, the more I seem to need to chase money and I certainly don't have time to do that anymore.
I love Paypal, but sometimes merchants outgrow the service.
Just to go back to contracts. Mine says something like, "Final payment is due 30 days prior to the event date. If the final payment is not received on time, the order may be cancelled at the discretion of Alison's Cakery, or will incur a $25 per day late fee. If order is cancelled due to late payment, all monies will be lost"
Once I added the per day late fee, I don't think anyone has paid late. I found that just having the date with no late fee, someone would pay late and I would still take the order. I never cancelled anyone, so basically I just kept calling or emailing them until they paid, then whats the point of having a date? I'm not trying to be a pain to anyone, but just make your payment on time.
Just to go back to contracts. Mine says something like, "Final payment is due 30 days prior to the event date. If the final payment is not received on time, the order may be cancelled at the discretion of Alison's Cakery, or will incur a $25 per day late fee. If order is cancelled due to late payment, all monies will be lost"
Once I added the per day late fee, I don't think anyone has paid late. I found that just having the date with no late fee, someone would pay late and I would still take the order. I never cancelled anyone, so basically I just kept calling or emailing them until they paid, then whats the point of having a date? I'm not trying to be a pain to anyone, but just make your payment on time.
Oh that's a great idea! What was your fee? Like $25 per day? You definitely earn that by having to hound the customer for their late payment....
So then when you do that....do you have a cut off date where the customer no longer gets the cake?
Say...the payment would be due 2 weeks before the event.....$25 per day late...then 1 week before the event, no payment, no cake?
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%