Paypal for payment of business invoices

James,

I have used it that way, but I am never comfortable until the transaction is complete. As you noted, it can be a nightmare, so its always caveat emptor. Its a risk I take now and then. The worst part is not having any way to call and speak to a real person if things go wrong.

That said, I have never had any problems, but I know folks who have. Some get screwed and never get it fixed up, others have had it solved for them.

Never gamble more money than you can afford to lose :-)

JB

WHY can't you wait for a check?

...Jim Thompson

PayPal is backed by a bank. As a web developer, I've built sites for small businesses as well as residential housing offices to accept credit card payments via PayPal. If you'd like more information on how this works, e-mail me or ask questions thru this post.

Easy Jim. I guess you missed the sentence, "I've had a few customers ask about it...". I can wait but my customers like the convenience of it.

I often require a partial payment to begin a job with new customers as a show of good faith. If they want to start right away and not wait for the post then this may also be of interest in that case as well.

My business bank, BankOne, Chase, whatever it's called today, used to do that hold shit on me, particularly for checks over $20K. Then four more banks sprang up on the corner, and I said, "I'll take my business across the street". No more holds.

I tried that transfer stuff once, from within the same bank, just in another state, to send money to my daughters when they were in college. They charged me $12 on EACH END :-(

From then on I simply stuffed some bills in a FedEx envelope... never lost a dime.

...Jim Thompson

All these are good options. The more choices you can present, the more chances you will have of getting the work. Some people are just enamored with technology and whatever is cool at the moment. Hence the morbid fascination with microsoft windows...... Anyway, paypal is simple, easy, and if it works, just as fast as any other method. I would venture the statement that if you cannot accept paypal, some might think that reflects on your business choices. Not to say that is a fair assement, but I think it could be one factor.

I am of the impression that the US banking system with checks has upgraded to where checks clear pretty much the day you deposit them. Isn't that right? Ebay and other sellers all still seem to be stuck with the old "check payment will require 7-10 days to clear the bank' when I think that has gone away and the waiting period is pretty much nonexistent.

I asked the fellow at the bank when I will be able to transfer funds from my account, to say my son's account at another bank, the same way I do my electronic bill paying, and he just smiled and said "if you can do that, what good is a bank" My reply was, what good is a bank now?

One day tho.

JB

I'm doing some hourly work right now for Agere. They do an EFT into my account every two weeks... billed every two weeks... net two weeks... nice!

...Jim Thompson

my account every two

I've done work for several government-like agencies that only pay contractors via electronic transfers (ACH is the acronym). In several cases the deliverable and invoice were all-electronic too!

Tim.

Yep, I've done Motorola, Austin, like that.

...Jim Thompson

I haven't heard of it being used in this way but it made me think that it's an interesting alternative to accepting credit cards directly.

I noticed the following recently on the paypal pages in the UK.

PayPal (Europe) Ltd. is regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the United Kingdom as an electronic money institution. PayPal FSA Register Number: 226056.

The FSA also regulates banks in the UK.

Graham

Hello James,

Suggest a wire or electronic funds transfer. Usually much lower in cost and blazingly fast.

Electronic transfer should fix that.

Regards, Joerg

Hello Jim,

Ouch. They shouldn't do that at the receiving end. But anyway, for large invoices that's still a lot less than the 2.9% commission that Spehro mentioned for Paypal.

Regards, Joerg