Accepting credit cards for my lead-gen business?

[Haltingpoint]

I'm starting a lead generation business and would like to provide my customers with a contract form that locks them in with X number of leads and then has fields for their contact info and credit card information so I can charge them when I deliver the leads on a weekly basis.

So I'm wondering a couple things...

• What do I need to accept and process their credit cards? I know how to do it with an ecommerce setup (merchant account + gateway + integration with website) but I likely won't be having them enter their billing info into a website...I just want to deliver the leads every week and charge for them once delivered so that means I'll need to be able to submit that charge manually. Not sure what I'll need to do that and manage their accounts.

• How do refunds get handled with credit cards in terms of fees and such? So lets say there are some junk leads in the batch I send (there's always one or two) and I guarantee qualified leads so I will likely need to process a couple refunds roughly one week from when I initially charge them (I'm offering a 7-day refund window). Will I be screwed by the fees? Will I get my account shut down? How does that work?

Thanks guys, any help you can provide in terms of the logistics of this would be much appreciated. I got the lead-gen side down...I just never realized the operational stuff would be so damned complex!

[dbarnum]

I recommend Paypal's Virtual Terminal, try this link (not an affil).:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/websc...ricing-outside


...for details about pricing, fees, etc.


And you don't want to play around with charge backs. Instead, set up something where your clients know what to do in case of bad batches -- like issue a credit or something...letting them know how to respond (like use a Kayako or other Support Desk).

[Haltingpoint]

Originally Posted by dbarnum

I recommend Paypal's Virtual Terminal, try this link (not an affil).:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/websc...ricing-outside


...for details about pricing, fees, etc.


And you don't want to play around with charge backs. Instead, set up something where your clients know what to do in case of bad batches -- like issue a credit or something...letting them know how to respond (like use a Kayako or other Support Desk).

Thanks for the suggestions. Do you know of anything similar that is not PayPal? PayPal just doesn't look very professional when you're dealing with large established businesses...

Also, I'm not so much worried about the chargeback situation as that comes down to managing the relationship. Credits are a good idea but I know there will be instances where I will need to issue actual refunds (my understanding is that this is different than a chargeback). How does that typically happen and what sort of fees are associated?

[bobsedge]

Practice Pay Solutions (Authorize.net) will give you the e-commerce feature as well as a virtual terminal for manual charges (as well as refunds).

[dbarnum]

Pretty sure you can hook up Paypal's system with any cart and have your own customized look. And no one sees the Virtual Terminal ; you enter the data manually. So just post their VISA / MC images, no need to show Paypal; i.e. no one would know.


Another similar set up is with Quickbooks (no affil. link):

QuickBooks Merchant Service - Virtual Terminal Plus

...more professional, a little more costs, but integrates with accounting software. Not bad, either!

About charge back and other fees, just need to check each merchant's info. They're all a bit different.