[mixelplik]

Hey guys,

I'm going to use my site to drive my offline business, what is a good way to handle credit cards online? I will be using this as my processing terminal when I make my appointments with customers.

 

[splathead]

Who do you use for your offline business? You should be able to set up a virtual terminal with them.

If not, paypal is an easy option. They take all credit cards.

 

[mixelplik]

I'm just starting out and the business was designed to work out of my home so the online site is the virtual storefront, "We come to you, at your convenience" is our motto.

So an online terminal option would be ideal. Paypal is a good way to go I suppose, don't my customers have to be paypal subscribers to use it?

If I take their orders over the phone though, I guess I could do it without them subscribing? What do you think?

 

[splathead]

don't my customers have to be paypal subscribers to use it?

No, that changed some years back. You can take anyone's credit card and they don't have to be a member of paypal.

 

[Daniel Slatkin]

I use Pay junction they have a great range of services.

 

[Rodney]

Hey guys,

I'm going to use my site to drive my offline business, what is a good way to handle credit cards online? I will be using this as my processing terminal when I make my appointments with customers.

You could use a merchant account that has access to an online gateway. For example, I use e-onlinedata which uses the authorizenet gateway.

I can process transactions online by logging into authorize.net or I can send customers to a secure order form on my site and have them fill their their payment information and get an instant authorization for the amount.

I can also setup a shopping cart and easily integrate it so that the shopping cart talks to the authorizenet gateway which talks to the customer bank all in realtime and approves/denies transactions on the fly.

I can also setup an invoicing system like through freshbooks.com (I use them for invoicing some clients) and the freshbooks online invoicing system will integrate with the authorizenet gateway so that a customer can click a link, go to a secure website and view their invoice and make a payment.

I also use PayPal to do all the same stuff for those customers that prefer to pay with PayPal, but I also have a merchant account for those customers who don't want to use PayPal.

 

[printchic]

I use Quickbooks Merchant account for my offline transactions and for any orders i get online i just login to their site, plug in the info and get the authorization.

I also use a shopping cart on my site that gives the person a choice "pay using a credit card" or "use paypal". In theory both allow you to pay using a credit card but some customers don't want to use paypal they would rather deal directly with you.

Paypal has a merchant account now with a virtual terminal that is transparent so people don't know they are using paypal so you will need to visit their site and read up on the different options.