I use paypal for accepting credit cards. I currently have the business account, but not the merchant account. If people ask if I accept credit cards, I say, "Yes I do, through paypal. You can go to my website and click on the paypal link and pay with a credit card."

Well, I had a bride and groom over for a consultation last week. They wanted to book and pay thier deposit with a credit card. I told them I would accept credit card through my paypal acount on my website, or they could mail me a check when they got home. Well, he said, "can you just do it now on your computer?"

I never thought of that before, but I said sure. I went to my website and cliked on my paypal link, and entered in all the info for him. It workded fine.

Then today I had a grandmother who wanted to order prints from her grandaughters wedding on the phone. She wanted to give me a credit card # on the phone to pay. So, the light bulb went on agian, and I took her information and entered it myself through the paypal site again.

So, now I am thinking that I can take people's credit card info over the phone and pay for them on paypal. I think it is really meant for them to do it themselves, but what does it matter?

Then, I told my husband. He didn't think it was a good idea, because he thought I could get into trouble for entering all these credit cards from the same computer. I might get questioned on the lagitamacy of it all.

Any thoughts?

I don't think thats an issue, but you may run into an issue if the person has a paypal ID associated with the card and they don't log in.

But I think you could also do better with an actual merchant services, they're usually the same if not lower priced that paypal

I pay 20.00 a month for Paypal virtual terminal and it is super easy. They can give me the info on the phone and volia it is in my account.

Yeah, I wanted to get my feet wet first by the regular business acct first. I thought I'd test it out and see if I want the merchant acct. Now, I think why do I need to pay $20 a month for the merchant account, when I can just enter it myself?

Don't you have to ask for the person's 3 digit security code? If so, this would not be a good idea.

Yes, and why wouldn't it be a good idea? People ask me that all the time when I use my credit card on the phone.

We have encountered issues with PayPal when our clients tried to pay balances that were several thousand dollars. We recently set up an account with NOVA Merchant Services. We have an online terminal called Via Clix where we can enter credit cards at given at the studio, over the phone, or with a payment authorization form. It's about the same price as the PayPal Virtual Terminal, but it's MUCH more secure, and it has given our business a more professional edge than the PayPal option. Just a thought.



Any virtual terminal will ask you for the CV2 code. This is not at all unusual. This basically confirms that the actual card is present, and that the number wasn't just stolen off a receipt or something.

Yeah, I do the virtual terminal thing too. I spoke w/ Paypal when I set this up and they said it's made for those that do not have a paypal account.. and that I can just 'do it over the phone'. It's way slick.

There's nothing wrong on the technology side with doing it all from the same computer but I am fairly certain that it is against PayPal policy. The end-user is the one who has to be the one to enter all the information. I have also heard from photogs that they are having a problem processing large transactions via PayPal. I have Website Payments Pro w/Virtual Terminal from PayPal and haven't had any problems yet but I haven't tried to process any $4k transactions yet either. So I am moving away from them.

I am setting up a real merchant account with Humboldt Bank and Authorize.net. The rate is a lot better than PayPal and even after you add the monthly fees it works out better assuming you are doing at least a few thousand a month.

Pretty much all the shopping carts have Authorize.net integration which is the reason that I chose them.

Because, now they have:

Your Credit Card Number, expiration date, and the card's security code. If you were not a nice person, you can now go out and buy that D2x!


Try Midwest Transaction Group ask to speak to Charlie Creamer. Tell him that you are a photographer. He'll hook ya up!

Hi Kari! I don't know if this will help, but you can send email invoices to clients through your paypal account. It's super easy. I don't want to have to [ay $20 a month right now for the virtual terminal and so far the invoice thing has worked really well. I just did one today and now I have my money!

This is absolutely true! We use Midwest Transaction Group, and we pay only $5 per month to have merchant accounts with Visa, MC, Discover, and AMEX. I didn't pay for the "knuckle buster" (manual card impression tool), or the card swipe since I never run cards in person.

I also have a handy little [Credit Card Authorization] form that I have everyone complete when they are making a retainer payment or a balance payment (see attached). We also run all of our web orders through this terminal.

*** NOTE: the language in the attached document is not "lawyerified". This was just what I made up, so before using it, you may want to check it carefully!

Great tip ya'll I'm not a fan of having client credit card information, at least not without a signature and perhaps some assurance (from me) of what I am using it for, and the amount authorized. I'd like to have paper copies of those sorts of things. I know, as a consumer, I prefer that as well, so I want to offer the same thing (especially in the age of identity theft, I think it's good for a merchant to have those things in case a bank/cc company is checking on charges - I don't know that they do, but I venture to guess this, or something similar, may happen sooner rather than later with all the problems there are)

Hmmm, you all have given me a lot to think about. Like I said, I am just starting with credit card payments. I'll have to keep track and see how much I am doing to see if I need a merchant account or another bank credit system. Thanks.

I too use PayPal's Merchant Account with the Virtual Terminal. The only drawback so far is that PayPal & AMEX don't always play nice, so quite often I have to call my customer who tried to pay with AMEX and get their info over the phone.

I like offering PayPal to my customers, but I know that I can do that when I move to using another merchant service such as NOVA - and it looks like Midwest Transaction Group just might be getting a call from me! Thanks for the 411!

Here is a very basic question so sorry, but when they pay through paypal do they already have to have a paypal account set up? also do you have the paypal account linked to your bank account so you KNOW the funds have went into it?

thanks

jb

Nope, a PayPal account is not required in order to pay via PayPal.

Another thing to consider is that when using PayPal, "PayPal" shows up on the credit card statement:

Example: (for illustrative purposes.... I don't know if this is the actual wording)

With PayPal:

Your client will see "PayPal*NealJacobPhoto" on their statement

With a merchant account:

Your client will see "Neal Jacob Photography" on their statement.

thanks neal for the reply! Do i just go to paypal to set up an account? I have been wanting to for a long time offer credit card payments but cant afford the machine, the monthly fees, and the charge per transaction. I know tons of people that offer pay by paypal, but i just didnt know how to go about it.

jb