Advice needed: Customer wants to pay but can't

[Michael Lee]

Hi Warriors,

Would appreciate your help to this simple concern. A potential customer emailed me this:

"I would like to order your course, but I do not have a credit card. I see an area on your advert re: "paypal-echeck". However, when I go to the order form, it only has access to credit/debit or paypal."

He wants to pay via e-check. What steps should he take to do that?

Thanks a lot,
Michael

[JayXtreme]

Hi Michael..

He needs to register for a Paypal account, and then link his bank account to it.

Once has has done this, he can pay you via Paypal with an e-check, which will pull the money from his bank account via Paypal and into yours.

e-check payments usually take a few days to process, so I would advise you not to send him the product until his e-check to you has cleared.

Peace

Jay

[AmyBrown]

Make sure you haven't blocked echecks. The setting is under Payment Receiving Preferences in your Paypal account.

[BigRedNotebook]

I don't know where you and your client live, but I've always told people who have issues due to mysteriously closed PayPal accounts, etc. that there is an easy fix.

They can pull out a checkbook or get a cashier's check from the bank. Then, they can FedEx payment to me. Assuming the check is good, they'll get what they wanted.

Not surprisingly, many people who are "gung ho" about finding some way to pay suddenly lose interest at that point. I'm NOT saying your customer is messing with you and/or is hoping for a freebie, but there are those who will feign a PayPal problem or some other limitation in hopes of scoring a freebie or as a means of skirting a bill.

Carson

[Scott Ames]

I think you can tell PayPal to accept or reject echecks somewhere. They have to clear before they go through I believe. Try Profile - Preferences - Selling Preferences

Don't be surprised if they buy your course and refund after you have jumped through hoops to accept their payment. That's what happened to me. Now I have a policy accept my forms of payment or forget ordering.

[Michael Lee]

Thanks a lot! You're very helpful.

Originally Posted by JayXtreme

Hi Michael..

He needs to register for a Paypal account, and then link his bank account to it.

Once has has done this, he can pay you via Paypal with an e-check, which will pull the money from his bank account via Paypal and into yours.

e-check payments usually take a few days to process, so I would advise you not to send him the product until his e-check to you has cleared.

Peace

Jay

Jay, this is for a Clickbank product. Can Clickbank delay sending the product if he pays via e-check?

Thanks again,
Michael

[VegasGreg]

Most e-check payment always result in fraud or bounced checks, so proceed with caution.

I would advise client to go to their local mini-mart type shop and buy a pre-paid credit card with their cash ( "check") and then use that pre-paid credit card to buy your product.

As mentioned above, when you give them alternatives that require actual money, they will probably just go away.

[midasman09]

For many years I've had customers either Fax me their check or, I simply have them read off the info on their checks, while I'm on the phone.

I then use a software program where I enter the info and the software prints out a "Draft" on my inkjet. I, and my Bank, treat this as a "regular" check, just as if I had received it in the mail.

On the line where the customer usually signs his name are the words, "Signature On File". This is perfectly legal and has been for years.

There are many software programs available to do this if you Google, "Checks By Fax".

Midas Man

Midas Man

[ruch1v]

don't send the item until the echeck has cleared! i had a customer once whos bounced, luckily i hadn't sent the item out!

[Alexa Smith]

It sounds to me as if a pre-paid or "securitised" credit-card is the answer here. You can normally get these with no credit-check, just an identity-verification. If he can get a pre-paid credit-card (and who can't?) he can use Clickbank in the normal way.

[Floyd Fisher]

Originally Posted by BigRedNotebook

I don't know where you and your client live, but I've always told people who have issues due to mysteriously closed PayPal accounts, etc. that there is an easy fix.

They can pull out a checkbook or get a cashier's check from the bank. Then, they can FedEx payment to me. Assuming the check is good, they'll get what they wanted.

Not surprisingly, many people who are "gung ho" about finding some way to pay suddenly lose interest at that point. I'm NOT saying your customer is messing with you and/or is hoping for a freebie, but there are those who will feign a PayPal problem or some other limitation in hopes of scoring a freebie or as a means of skirting a bill.

Carson

I have one problem with that.

Why fedex for? Just let 'em use a 42 cent stamp and use the postmark as the date if it's time sensitive. If the postmark is before the offer expired, then it's all good and I'd let them have it once the check clears.

But hey, if you want them to waste $20 on shipping, that's your choice.

[BigRedNotebook]

Originally Posted by Floyd Fisher

I have one problem with that.

Why fedex for? Just let 'em use a 42 cent stamp and use the postmark as the date if it's time sensitive. If the postmark is before the offer expired, then it's all good and I'd let them have it once the check clears.

But hey, if you want them to waste $20 on shipping, that's your choice.

Good point, Floyd.

I think the reason it's happened that way is because the person on the other end is usually in a BIG hurry to get whatever they want OR because they're professing an interest in a fairly substantial investment (in which case the $20 seems nominal or I'd be willing to let them use my account).

You're absolutely right. Good old-fashioned USPS mail will do the trick just as well. Guess the circumstances I was thinking about just didn't shake out that way.

Carson

[netkid]

Here is a great solution....get your customer to send money to you via Western Union. It is the fastest and gauranteed way to get money from point "A" to point "B" from any country in the world to you. That way you are paid in advance too.

Regards,

Bruce

[jasonl70]

As someone else mentioned, they should be able to buy a 'visa gift card' type of thing from various stores and banks. I use them myself quite often for buying things online when I do not want to use my real CC info.

[seasoned]

Originally Posted by BigRedNotebook

I don't know where you and your client live, but I've always told people who have issues due to mysteriously closed PayPal accounts, etc. that there is an easy fix.

They can pull out a checkbook or get a cashier's check from the bank. Then, they can FedEx payment to me. Assuming the check is good, they'll get what they wanted.

Not surprisingly, many people who are "gung ho" about finding some way to pay suddenly lose interest at that point. I'm NOT saying your customer is messing with you and/or is hoping for a freebie, but there are those who will feign a PayPal problem or some other limitation in hopes of scoring a freebie or as a means of skirting a bill.

Carson

I only fedexed some financial instruments twice. BOTH times I got SHAFTED!!!!!!! The first time, the company was SHUT DOWN by the FBI, and went bankrupt! NO JOKE! Bear in mind that THEY were trying to seel ME something.

So if you suggested that to me, I would ALSO suddenly lose interest. And that is assuming a time element or impulse wasn't involved because, in such a case, there would be NO POINT!

One company actually sent a product to my BILLING ADDRESS as opposed to my shipping. THEIR MISTAKE, since I covered it a LOT of times with them. I almost disputed the charge, etc... because of the really STUPID way they handled it. Ironically, the POSTMAN knew I wouldn't be there and saved them 3 weeks. Had THAT not happened, I WOULD have disputed the charge. I would have ALSO insisted that they give me an account number to ship it back when I finally got there, assuming it was still there, etc....

ANOTHER company, that did it RIGHT several times got it WRONG, and sent me something the FDA considers PERISHABLE! They risked my health with that one. They ended up having to send me ANOTHER box.

I'm certainly NOT saying all those guys are good and honest, but saying it is STUPID to assume they are all DISHONEST simply because they suddenly lose interest.

BESIDES, the REALLY dishonest people can find SO many ways to cheat you anyway.

Steve

[Steven Carl Kelly]

Originally Posted by netkid

Here is a great solution....get your customer to send money to you via Western Union. It is the fastest and gauranteed way to get money from point "A" to point "B" from any country in the world to you. That way you are paid in advance too.

Wow, I just checked the Western Union site. To send $50 within the United States (not even international!) the cost was $15 if you go to an agent or $20 if you send it online!

YIPES!

I need to get into the money-sending business.

[seasoned]

Anyway, NOW I'll say the flip side... There are too many ways to cheat with a check. I once had a LEGITIMATE check debited from my account about 3 MONTHS after the fact because the bank had an INTERNAL problem. If I were you, I wouldn't trust a strange check unless it was written on a traceable bank, was PHYSICAL, had security measures, was from the paying parties account, or a cashiers account, and looked rather new, from a reasonable country. Unless you are willing to risk the money, I would wait an extra week for it to clear.

Most probably ARE problematic. I paid those two times with check because THEY asked for it! I may NEVER do that again!

Steve

[seasoned]

Originally Posted by Steven Carl Kelly

Wow, I just checked the Western Union site. To send $50 within the United States (not even international!) the cost was $15 if you go to an agent or $20 if you send it online!

YIPES!

I need to get into the money-sending business.

I think I heard that walmart is doing it for less.

The HIGHEST profit business that seems to "sell" to MANY and is consumable, etc.... is one that USED to be ILLEGAL! TECHNICALLY it still is, and I am surprised Obama didn't even MENTION them! "PAYDAY loans"! Check out the interest rates! One advertising on TV has an APR of 144%! And NO, I did NOT forget a decimal point1 There is NO decimal point!

And to THINK, even "married with children" talked about the mob with loan sharks!

Steve

[Jay Jennings]

Regrading holding the product until the check clears...

If it's a digital product, don't mess with that. Worse case scenario is that you don't get paid. Big whoop, it also didn't cost you anything.

But waiting for the check to clear is just a time sink -- you probably have better things to do with your time than watch for that and then send the product link.

Jay Jennings

[Steven Carl Kelly]

Originally Posted by seasoned

The HIGHEST profit business that seems to "sell" to MANY and is consumable, etc.... is one that USED to be ILLEGAL! TECHNICALLY it still is, and I am surprised Obama didn't even MENTION them! "PAYDAY loans"! Check out the interest rates! One advertising on TV has an APR of 144%! And NO, I did NOT forget a decimal point1 There is NO decimal point!

Yeah, but there's risk with payday loans. With money transfers, you have the money UP FRONT!