Method of payment for local businesses

You didn't say WHAT you're selling....so...I'll assume you're selling a Website with SEO.

Now...if you;
1) Get the Domain
and
2) Host it on YOUR Server

If client doesn't pay....take site down!

To keep client from even "thinking" about not paying you....or canceling later....make sure he understands that YOU....CONTROL the Domain and Hosting!

Also....what I've done with "Monthly" clients or clients with big amounts....is....get a "Checks By Fax" or "Checks By Phone" software.

Ask client to give me an Intital Check as a Deposit (Even $100 on a $5,000 deal) I then enter his Bank Account Info into the software program and....ON the date I'm to collect the next payment OR a Monthly Pmt...I have the software PRINT OUT a Check on my Inkjet (On the line where the acct owner signs is printed, "Signature On File")

I then deposit the "Check" I printed out...just as if I had received it in person or by mail or fax.

The Banking System authorized this back in the early 90's.

Don Alm

Thanks for your help Don, I dont have a problem accepting checks in any way. The reason some clients or atleast this client doesnt want to pay by check is because they want to finance their payment so CC is the only option.

I dont know how other people accept CC payments of $5000 and up

Get a bank cheque for the up front money you charge. Then another for the final payment. If he won't get a bank cheque, ask for cash. If he doesn't have cash, won't pay with a bank cheque, let him find someone else.

If you don't have a Merchant Account yet, you should get one. They are really easy to get as long as you have a business bank account. (And a business bank account is also really easy to get assuming you are registered as a business with your state-- which you should be if you are selling services, otherwise you are opening yourself up to personal liability.)

At any rate, the best Merchant Services Provider I've found is GoPayment by Intuit (Intuit GoPayment – iPhone credit card processing for mobile payments). Not only does it make accounting a breeze because it can synch of up with QuickBooks, it also allows you to accept credit card payments over your smartphone. You can either scan your client's card or input their credit card number manually. You'll find out if it was accepted or declined on the spot.

With GoPayment you can also set up monthly recurring payments where your client's card is automatically charged and they are also instantly mailed a receipt so that they have that for their account purposes.

Square (www.squareup.com) is also another provider that allows you to charge credit cards with your phone, but when I was looking into things only GoPayment allowed me to charge monthly recurring payments.

I've found that GoPayment makes things so simple and I highly recommend you check it out.

-Ben

You don't really have too many options if they won't accept a check.

1. You get a merchant acct. This will take 24-72 hours to setup. Running a high transaction like that, it might go directly into Risk Management and they'll hold that money for another 72 hours while they call the client and validate the transaction. After that, they're going to want to know the average "ticket" size (transaction amount). If you tell them your transactions are around $5k and you're doing $20k/mo in transactions, they could potentially hold 50% of that money.

Most people don't know this, but consumers can chargeback up to 6 months. If you take all the money from the merchant account and the client chargesback and you've taken the money and closed your business account or spent the money, the merchant processor is "holding the bag" and is out that money. That's why the hold the money upfront to safeguard themselves.

I've had a few chargebacks, but I've always won them because I have excellent reporting on the services I've provided, along with contracts. The consumer always seems to be "lying" about the "fraud" that they received. Just because they're having a hard time with their money doesn't mean they get to claim "I'm unhappy, I want my money back" especially since I did all the work that was stated in the contract.

2. Paypal - You could call PP and let them know what you're doing and they might be OK with it.

3. Take checks that are post-dated. This is up to you - they could give you X amount of checks and just space out the payments over time. Kinda depends on your relationship and if you can afford it with your vendors, if you have any.