How do you charge credit cards manually, online?

9 replies
I need your wisdom on processing payments for my new lead generation business.

My model is basically, I find clients who need b2b leads and they will pay a fixed CPL for leads that are pre-qualified (to a certain extent). I then use my connections with various network partners and they generate the leads, which I then pass on to my client.

These network partners also charge by the lead, and I would essentially get a commission from them for bringing in the business, which is how I make my money without adding additional cost for my client.

What I'm struggling with is the best way to collect this money. My thought is, I would want to be in control of the payments to my vendors, because then I know when they are paid and for how much, and I have the documents to say "ok, I generated $X for you, now you owe me my commission of $Y with net 30 terms" or whatever we work out.

The problem is, my clients will probably want to pay on net 30 day terms as well if they did it the standard way which is what brings me to this post.

So the solution I am considering is basically setting up a clients-only website where they enter their credit card info. Then, when their leads came in, I would just debit it directly and pay my lead vendors the cost of the leads minus my commission. This way I get paid on delivery of leads, and my vendor does, which is an improvement to the current 30 day net terms they offer clients who go directly through them.

Does that sound like a good plan? If so, is there an easy all-in-one vendor who can handle all of this on the backend so that I just have to enter how much they should be debited and it handles the transaction? I looked at PayPal but I'm not sure that it works in this way...seems like it would require my clients to submit their CC details and make a "purchase" every time...

Sorry for the long post, but this is a fairly specific question and so I wanted to make sure I provided enough info/context. Happy to clarify further on anything.
#cards #charge #credit #manually #online
  • Profile picture of the author KirkMcD
    Did you look into Paypal Invoicing
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    • Profile picture of the author Haltingpoint
      Originally Posted by KirkMcD View Post

      Did you look into Paypal Invoicing
      Thanks for the suggestion, however this appears to just be an invoicing tool. I basically want the ability to get their credit card authorization and charge the card a specific amount each time a batch of leads comes in (the amount would vary by the volume of leads). That way I can get paid immediately upon delivery without waiting for them to pay an invoice.
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      • Profile picture of the author KirkMcD
        Originally Posted by Haltingpoint View Post

        I basically want the ability to get their credit card authorization and charge the card a specific amount each time a batch of leads comes in (the amount would vary by the volume of leads).
        How about the PayPal Virtual Terminal then to process the payments manually on your end?
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        • Profile picture of the author Haltingpoint
          Originally Posted by KirkMcD View Post

          How about the PayPal Virtual Terminal then to process the payments manually on your end?
          Originally Posted by KirkMcD View Post

          How about the PayPal Virtual Terminal then to process the payments manually on your end?
          Funny you should say that. After some further investigation on PayPal I just got off the phone w/ one of their reps and we discussed this. So it appears that would enable me to do what I want, however it comes with a flat $30/mo fee on top of the transaction fees. Additionally I need to be PCI compliant.

          Further research led me to Quickbooks which looks like it might meet all my needs if I use their merchant service as well. They have a free version for people just starting off which is good because then it will scale with me. Its $20/mo for the merchant service plus a minimum of $20 in transaction fees (and if you don't meet $20, they prorate it for what you did get, so if you only had $15 worth of fees, you'd just owe another $5).

          So probably a minimum of $40/mo to do what I want initially.
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  • Profile picture of the author The Pension Guy
    Let me google that for you

    You will need a merchant account and the security requirements if you want to accept CC on your own site.
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    • Profile picture of the author Haltingpoint
      Originally Posted by The Pension Guy View Post

      Let me google that for you

      You will need a merchant account and the security requirements if you want to accept CC on your own site.
      Thanks for assuming I didn't google this myself first. I am aware that I would need a merchant account and I know of the security requirements, however there are services like Paypal that alleviate the security aspects of it because they are the gateway and processor all in one. However to my knowledge they do not offer the ability to use their service in the way I desire.

      Thus my request for "all-in-one" providers that do something similar.
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  • Profile picture of the author mr2monster
    For my leads business, I invoice my clients weekly and they pay either by check or paypal (credit card).

    It's pretty seamless, I've just got some admin work to do on Friday for the previous weeks leads.... but once I get moving enough on those, I'll just hire an assistant to do the invoicing if it gets to be too much.
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  • Profile picture of the author scriptillusion
    I am not 100% sure, but I think 2co might have something like what you are looking for: 2Checkout.com - Merchant Account / Credit Card Processing Alternative
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    • Profile picture of the author Haltingpoint
      Originally Posted by scriptillusion View Post

      I am not 100% sure, but I think 2co might have something like what you are looking for: 2Checkout.com - Merchant Account / Credit Card Processing Alternative
      Thanks for the suggestion...looks like the client would still need to initiate the transaction each time though which is what I'm trying to avoid. Plus, their fees are astronomical. 5.5% transaction fee?
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