Paypal

jc bamford

Hi
Can anyone tell me if there is a simple way to use Paypal to accept occasional credit card payment at point of sale.

maxer68

most shopping cart programs allow you to offer paypal as a payment means - all you need to do is set up a paypal business account.

irishshadowfax

I'm looking for the same, we have a B&B and want to be able to accept credit cards as guests check out? I have heard the banks and paypal can be very costly, so looking into realex and sage... any advice?

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

irishshadowfax wrote: »

I'm looking for the same, we have a B&B and want to be able to accept credit cards as guests check out? I have heard the banks and paypal can be very costly, so looking into realex and sage... any advice?

Realex, Sage & Worldnet are processors, you would still need a merchant account with your bank to accept the payments. The merchants will charge about €30 fixed fee per month plus up to 2% of order value; the processor would charge €30ish per month also but this will include up to 330 transactions per month.

Paypal isn't really ideal in your situations, because if someones card is already associated with an account you will need to ask them to login to be able to use it. I'd be pretty unimpressed if someone asked me for my paypal password in person and I also wouldn't be putting my password into someone elses computer because it's easy to program it to remember keystrokes and steal your password for a spending spree.

I don't think it's too unreasonable for B&B's to insist on cash or for business customers wire-transfers, if the 60Euro per month ongoing cost isn't worth your while.

irishshadowfax

Thanks for the reply Ronan. Yeah I think it's more professional to have a physical terminal and I don't think my mother will master paypal! We were classed as 4 star B&B so it was recommended (insisted) by B&B Ireland to start taking credit cards. If I have to go with a merchants account, what would you recommend?

Cheers, IS

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

Anyone but AIB, Elavon and Ulster bank have reasonable reputations. Processors I'd recommend Worldnet TPS but worth shopping around for the best price. But if you aren't taking orders online you might not need a processor, you can just rent a chip and pin terminal from the merchant banker.

If you want pm me your email and I'll hook you up with the person who's does a decent job looking after me.

maxer68

irishshadowfax wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Ronan. Yeah I think it's more professional to have a physical terminal and I don't think my mother will master paypal! We were classed as 4 star B&B so it was recommended (insisted) by B&B Ireland to start taking credit cards. If I have to go with a merchants account, what would you recommend?

Cheers, IS

Expect to pay about €25/month for the terminal, 1.5% - 2% commission on cedit cards and about 20c for laser.

There is one huge advantage of cards - you have a payment form incase anything is "missing" from the room and also you can charge a cancellation fee if someone cancels at the last minute.

For the customer, paying by card is safer too and means their deposit is safe.

irishshadowfax

Cool, I'll check that out. We already allow guests to make reservations with credit card through our booking engine reseliva.com, I find them very good, it allows guests to book without a deposit, but explains (1) there is a 24 hour cancellation charge if they do a 'no-show' and (2) guests pay with cash on departure. We have never had to charge for a cancellation so far, however. Thanks for the advice all...

PCPhoto

irishshadowfax wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Ronan. Yeah I think it's more professional to have a physical terminal and I don't think my mother will master paypal! We were classed as 4 star B&B so it was recommended (insisted) by B&B Ireland to start taking credit cards. If I have to go with a merchants account, what would you recommend?

Cheers, IS

Irishshadowfax are you saying that B&B Ireland will strike you off the list if you don't comply with getting credit card payment system ...womder if they are getting commission from certain banks/companies who offer the service.

I don't see why a B&B should be required to have credit card facilities - generally B&B's are cash businesses as its short term stay and low cost.... would be very interested in B&B Ireland's response if refusal is made due to costs (pretty pointless asking a B&B to invest when tourism numbers are down and costs are rising - with the exception of the drop in VAT rate)

irishshadowfax

PCPhoto; I agree completely, I have already contact B&B Ireland to give me a detailed list of the services you need to provide to reach the different classes of stars. B&B’s should be cash only, but because some B&B can offer the card service, guests almost expect it now, particularly US travelers.

To give some background - this all started about 6 months ago when some guy tried to rip off my parents to design a new website for their B&B. I decided to do it for them, and set them up with a booking engine and a Facebook page etc. I set up my own hosting and transferred over the domains so we have ownership of the whole thing.

In my experience with this so far, everything from getting a B&B's online and promoting it using third party sites is pretty outdated. In my area for one, it seems to be a small group of people, who learned how to design a website in the late 90's and then use this to exploit not so 'technology-savvy' B&B owners. Some of the jargon they have fed my parents is simply ridiculous!

maxer68

PCPhoto wrote: »

Irishshadowfax are you saying that B&B Ireland will strike you off the list if you don't comply with getting credit card payment system ...womder if they are getting commission from certain banks/companies who offer the service.

I don't see why a B&B should be required to have credit card facilities - generally B&B's are cash businesses as its short term stay and low cost.... would be very interested in B&B Ireland's response if refusal is made due to costs (pretty pointless asking a B&B to invest when tourism numbers are down and costs are rising - with the exception of the drop in VAT rate)

why the suspicion?
and tourism number are UP (quite substantially) so far this year.

imo, if a B&B has 4 stars it should offer every convenience possible including payment by credit card. - My guess is its part of a 4 star classification as anyone staying in a 4 star B&B should expect a certain level of business management - even down to internet access these days.

If it was a 3 star B&B, I'd expect a lot less added services, but an excellent standard of accomodation

A 2 star, I expect good standard accomodation but virtually no added services.

In this case, its 4 star B&B and 4 star service is what they need to be providing. - and I assume they also charge a rate cosummerate with the 4 start rating too.

irishshadowfax

Maxer, the problem I have with it is - there is no transparency. For the rating inspection, a lady calls and takes a look around the place, makes a few suggestions and leaves. Then a few weeks later you're classified. There is no list of standards a B&B should reach, i.e. credit card facilities, breakfast menu's, wifi, hairdryer etc. etc. The market is poorly regulated by the historical nature of how B&B's evolve and are run in a private home. Personally I would prefer to be able to pay with credit card or laser, and I'm guessing most of my generation would be the same

PCPhoto

maxer68 wrote: »

why the suspicion?
and tourism number are UP (quite substantially) so far this year.

imo, if a B&B has 4 stars it should offer every convenience possible including payment by credit card. - My guess is its part of a 4 star classification as anyone staying in a 4 star B&B should expect a certain level of business management - even down to internet access these days.

If it was a 3 star B&B, I'd expect a lot less added services, but an excellent standard of accomodation

A 2 star, I expect good standard accomodation but virtually no added services.

In this case, its 4 star B&B and 4 star service is what they need to be providing. - and I assume they also charge a rate cosummerate with the 4 start rating too.

Tourism numbers up ??? compared to .... last year, 2009, 2008, 2007 ?? Based on what I see I say tourism numbers are down but you can believe whatever statistics you wish.

Ireland has been well documented as being an expensive place to visit and many visitors (mainly American) have expressed the opinion that they will not return as it is too expensive to eat out, or do tours etc.

in terms of this thread and the "recommendation" of getting credit card facilities .... yes it is nice if a corner shop or B&B can accept laser/credit card particularly in rural areas of Ireland however I do not think it should be made a requirement for businesses which may be struggling, how can the government introduce a lower tax to facilitate tourism and then someone somewhere decides that all B&B businesses should be paying out more to get the credit card service - if it was subsidised then no problem.

As irishshadowfax has said - there is no transparency with the "standard" .... what should a tourist expect of 2* or 3* or 4* - I know if I goto Thailand I expect their 4* or 5* to be excellent quality, I expect their 3* to be average and I expect their 1* and 2* to be ...well... lets say cheap and cheerful....if I goto USA I have different expectations of the star ratings 4* over there is better than 4* here,

I recently stayed in a 2* place and a 4* in Lanzarote - the 2* place was better in terms of facilities, location ...both were on a par in terms of comfort, the 4* was €100per night, the 2* was €30 ....I know which I will be returning to.

mneylon

Paypal can be very expensive per transaction unless you are doing quite high volume (both number of transactions and monthly turnover)

If you want to be able to take credit cards in a B & B then your bank should be able to assist you. Unless you're planning on taking the entire payment online then I'd assume you'd be using a physical terminal in the location.

As for what people expect in B & B - I don't stay in them that often, as I usually end up in hotels, but if I was staying in a B & B I'd expect to be able to pay by credit card.

TylerIE

You could set up a Paypal business account then if you know somebody is checking out they can log-on to either a page you set up with your "products" and buy them and pay with their credit card (even if they dont have a Paypal account).

Alternatively you can email them an invoice for the exact amount.

If you have wifi they can pay on their own computer (if they have one) or else you could have one they could use.

While customers may consider exposed, they are no more exposed than if they turn their backs to you when using a terminal.

Paypal costs around 3.3% - 4% for this, so I expect unless you have a high number of credit card payments this may be the cheapest option, particularly with quiet seasons.

There is another Irish provider who charges 7% flat fee, and also accepts laser. If interested PM me and Il find their details.

jacknarvy

One of the most popular features of paypal is the ability to simply sign in to your PayPal account to submit payments, merchants using PayPal can also accept credit cards directly just like a traditional merchant account solution would provide.