Customer Gave Credit Card Info for a Coaching Session, What is the Best Way to Process Payment?

13 years ago

Originally Posted by KevinK3

Hi, I just had a free initial coaching session with a customer a few days ago and I took down his credit card information for 2 more sessions in case he was unresponsive to the paypal invoice.

I followed up with an email and a phone call but he hasn't sent me the money yet. He was really interested though and I know that he will probably still going to be expecting to talk to me tomorrow so what is the best way to process the payment before we talk?

I want the payment to clear ASAP so I have the funds before we speak.

What are the best options for this situation and future credit card processing? If it's not possible to charge a client yourself through paypal, what would you recommend?

I strongly suggest that he does the charge on his credit card, himself through Paypal.

He never gave you permission to charge, and he never implied in writing, nor verbally that you can do so for him- and thats a big red flag there.

The best practice is to wait before you provide him your next service. Insist on him paying the fees before you do anything. There is nothing wrong to ask him to do that if he really wants your consulting.

Thanks

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Shannon Spoon

13 years ago

Hi,

Try Squareup.com

You can accept payments with your iphone.

Regards,
Shannon

Thanks

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timpears

13 years ago

Unless you have a merchant account, the card number is useless to you. And if you try to run it through something yourself, you are open to going to jail. It might not be identity theft, but it is damn close. Unless he gave you permission to run the card, which you didn't say anything about. But without a merchant account there is no way to do it, LEGALLY.

Understand I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. This is a personal opinion. If you want legal advice, consult a lawyer.

And if you use that card number, you better call a lawyer real quick. If he doesn't respond to your PayPal invoice, then forget about him being your student. It isn't worth going to jail for.

Thanks
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Tim Pears

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KevinK3

13 years ago

Thanks for all the responses everyone.

I let him know that I would be entering his credit card into my system and charging him and he agreed and went ahead and gave me his info for the purpose of charging it. It's not like he gave me his credit card information for my personal interest, it was for a clear and distinct reason and his consent to charge it was received.

However, after I got his information, I had suggested that I could also take paypal to make things easier. He has an account but is not too familiar with so I sent him an email with 3 simple steps to follow and no response. I let him know on our call that if for any reason he couldn't pay through paypal, I would just go ahead and charge it manually myself (to which he agreed yet again).

@timpears - where would you suggest opening a merchant account to process this payment?

Thanks
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Selmicro 13 years ago

Send him a paypal "invoice" then all he has to do is pay it. Much easier than getting him to figure out how to send a payment thru paypal.

Also consider that he may need to use his credit card to pay the paypal invoice as he may not have the funds sitting in his paypal account if he doesn't use it or is not very familiar with it... most likely he then hasn't set up a backup payment via his bank either then.

If you have permission to process his credit card, do not do it thru our computer on ur IP... If Paypal see the charge and the payment being made from the same IP, they will put a hold on t he funds until the credit card holder can clear the issue and approve the payment. this is pretty standard..

You should get a full merchant account with PayPal including the ability to process payments directly by machine or over the phone.
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timpears 13 years ago

Originally Posted by KevinK3

@timpears - where would you suggest opening a merchant account to process this payment?

You wouldn't want to open a merchant account to run one transaction. There are monthly fees, and most have minimum lengths. Kind of like when you sign up for a cell phone account. You would need the account from a provider plus a gateway such as Authorizenet.com.

I have not been to Authorizenet.com's site in years, but there used to be a list of providers for merchant accounts on the site. If this is going to be a regular thing, it is good to have. But when you are paying $25-$35 monthly for Authorizenet, plus the fee to your merchant account which may only be around $10, plus the transaction fee, it is not worth having if you don't use it regularly. Thus PayPal was born.
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Tsnyder

13 years ago

Originally Posted by KevinK3

Thanks for all the responses everyone.

I let him know that I would be entering his credit card into my system and charging him and he agreed and went ahead and gave me his info for the purpose of charging it.

But you don't have a system... why would you do that?

I swear 99.99% of the problems people have they create themselves.

Thanks
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rhinocl 13 years ago

Hopefully you will get paid soon, but my experience is that quality clients pay promptly. I think you may have hooked up with a loser. Send the Paypal Invoice and a couple of reminders (only takes a few minutes) and leave one phone call, but focus on finding some better clients.
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- Alexa Smith Banned 13 years ago
  
  Just send him a PayPal invoice, and he can pay it with his credit-card.
  
  It makes no difference whether he has a PayPal account himself: he doesn't need one, to pay you by PayPal.
  
  His credit-card number itself, whatever his intention when he gave it to you, is no use to you, since you can't process a credit-card payment anyway.
  
  Thanks
  
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KirkMcD

13 years ago

Originally Posted by KevinK3

he hasn't sent me the money yet. He was really interested though and I know that he will probably still going to be expecting to talk to me tomorrow

If he doesn't pay you, then you don't go. It's as simple as that. You expected to get paid before you go. It doesn't matter what he expects. He's not a paying customer yet.

Originally Posted by KevinK3

I let him know that I would be entering his credit card into my system and charging him and he agreed and went ahead and gave me his info for the purpose of charging it. It's not like he gave me his credit card information for my personal interest, it was for a clear and distinct reason and his consent to charge it was received.?

Can you prove that? An email isn't going to cut and a verbal agreement is worthless.

Thanks

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sbucciarel

Banned 13 years ago

Without an already established merchant account, you can't do anything with his credit card. The best bet is to send the Paypal invoice. If he doesn't pay, he doesn't play. Period.

Thanks

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KevinK3

13 years ago

Thanks for all the input guys.

He has already paid me previously through paypal for my eBook but for some reason his payments won't go through for the coaching session. I sent him an invoice but it's not showing up in his account for some reason, despite several reminders. I was on the phone with him trying to get it to work and nothing.

I will have him call paypal or possibly try a one time payment with that square thing that someone posted about so that I don't need my own payment processor with monthly fees and all that.

Thanks
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sbucciarel

Banned 13 years ago

Originally Posted by KevinK3

Thanks for all the input guys.

He has already paid me previously through paypal for my eBook but for some reason his payments won't go through for the coaching session. I sent him an invoice but it's not showing up in his account for some reason, despite several reminders. I was on the phone with him trying to get it to work and nothing.

I will have him call paypal or possibly try a one time payment with that square thing that someone posted about so that I don't need my own payment processor with monthly fees and all that.

Invoices should show up in his email and all he does is click on the link in the email to pay it.