Taking payments by Credit/debit cards

[Jeremy]

We have found what seems to be a useful site for taking credit and debit card payments for bookings for our gite. This has been a problem in the past as some clients have asked to pay this way and we were unable to do it. This has resulted in lost bookings as people do tend to 'Want it now'..

The site offers a link to pay by card ( in sterling) at a very reasonable 3.5% charge.

If you gain one booking from this then to pay 3.5% is very cheap...

Anyway, the link is as follows;

http://www.villarenters.com/default.asp?sag=16145p&sc=emailref

They do all sorts of other stuff too which is probably of interest to anyone wanting to try to increase bookings/sales.

Happy 2005,

Jeremy

[Boiling a frog]

I wonder just how financially sound this organisation is From my reading of their conditions they hold the deposit and final payment and it is only when the client has had the holiday that you ask for payment.By that time perhaps 6 or 7 months after having the deposit (in our case 25%) which is an nice little earner in itself and then the final payment (in our case 8 weeks before holiday)   are they still in existance or have they disapeared with lots of money.Is it a scam or am I being cynical.  

[Jeremy]

Dear Boiling frog,

Can see your point, but they do SEEM to be legit and an e-mail enquiry was answered promptly.Re the deposit and holding they will release payments prior to holidays being taken, and again it all depends on the maths! If I will gain a booking( getting the deposit from the company too), and the end cost is < or = to 10 % then it is cheaper than most advertising mediums. Again its down to calculation of costs.

Sincerely jeremy.

[David584]

Don't hold your breath folks. I have viewed the site where potential clients can view the properties.
There is a fault with the website. If you click on details in any listing, it opens a new web page and produces the error

ADODB.Command error '800a0d5d'

Application uses a value of the wrong type for the current operation.

/inc/advert_log_view.asp, line 53

 

I have emailed them.

 

[suein56]

**I have emailed them**

David

Seems your emailing has had the desired effect and the site is now working well - great functionality for 'pickers and choosers' but the properties seem to be mostly in the Cannes area - or at least they were for a holiday for 3 weeks from late Feb to mid March.

Sue

[Owens88]

We use Villarenters. Thye send us bookings and we get the money ok.

I am glad somebody corrected the web site.

John

[Later]

I have been using WorldPay for credit card payment for my e-commerce site for the last two years. They are expensive, they take 30 days to pay and they seem to get lots of denial of service attacks.

At the end of last year I started using PayPal and I'm happier with them than WorldPay.  One of the advantages of PayPal is that almost any legit business can use them to take their online card payments with a minimum of fuss. 

PayPal should pay me a commission for this.

[Trevorhall]

  Hi - have you tried www.paypal.com - we have used it several times and it works just fine with all currencies - the guest pays in their local currency - you then withdraw in your currency directly into the bank of your choice.

 

[lizzy h]

hello there , I have joined pay pal  but how do you put this onto your website to collect the money off people if it is a various amounts not just one set amount ie for b  and b nightly stays, the amounts change  I dont know if I am stupid and just cant understand the directions

thanks Liz

[vrooje<BR>Cheers,<br>-Brooke<BR><br><B><A TARGET=blank HREF="http:www.experienceburgundy.com">http:www.experienceburgundy.com<A><B>]

I love PayPal -- we use it for almost all of our payments, since nearly everyone chooses to pay with a credit card.

What we do is use the "Merchant Tools" section, and create a "Buy it Now" button. You can include that button on your website, or (if you choose not to encrypt the button), they will create a link for you that you can paste into an e-mail. The latter is what we do!

PayPal has an extensive help section -- but of course, you have to know what to look for. Try looking at the Merchant Tools and Buy It Now help.

[lecabine]

Hi
Have also used PayPal to take different payments, easy to use, altho there charges tend to be a bit high, factor this into your budgets or you could find yourself a bit out of pocket!

They have different levels of service you can apply for.

Greg

[Coco]

[quote]Hi - have you tried www.paypal.com - we have used it several times and it works just fine with all currencies - the guest pays in their local currency - you then withdraw in your currency directly i...[/quote]

I've just signed up to Paypal and wanted to download the facility to allow payment in the email.  However, because I live in France everything's in French.  Can I download it in English so that I can send it to Americans and Australians, which was my main reason for signing up?

[Iceni]

Hi Coco (coo that is impressive,  you are not a line of asterisks any more - welcome back )

I have a French PayPal account and in the preferences there is a Language option, set it to English and everything is in English. I often send e-mail requests via Paypal and they are in English. If you need any further help, or cannot find the preferences, drop me a line.

[Coco]

Hi Di

Thanks for that - I now have the facility to ask for money in an email.  So this afternoon I shall be busy emailing the Americans who have already reserved rooms for this year (at the moment on trust) to ask for their deposits.  Then we'll see who's serious.  Last year I had 11 nights worth of no-shows, all of them from the States!!

Yes, and isn't it weird how I'm no longer censored.  What happened there I wonder?!

[Russethouse]

>>>Yes, and isn't it weird how I'm no longer censored. What happened there I wonder?!<<<

James and IT 'fixed' it.........

[Miki]

One problem with Paypal with UK clients, is:

That some will not have a computer to do the transaction with.

Some will not have a clue how to pay by it, no matter how many times you try to explain to them how to do it.

If I think correctly, the person who you ask the money from, has to be a member of PayPal or sign up to be one on the spot, do I remember that right ? (Being lazy here as I am actually a member, for ebay purposes mainly)

They are distrustful of such a way of booking, whereas in the USA it is pretty common way of paying. So with that in mind, for clients from the States, yes good idea but for UK clients I would go for NOCHEX everytime.

The same problem about computer counts of course but it is really easy to use for the client, a simple icon on the email and all done, so to speak !

It is much simpler and a lot more user friendly and all payments are guaranteed paid, but with PayPal it is possible that some one could claim money back after the transaction.

This is how I personally find the 2 companies, the one problem with Nochex is that it is for UK clients only but..............

[Coco]

If I think correctly, the person who you ask the money from, has to be a member of PayPal or sign up to be one on the spot, do I remember that right ?

Yes, is that right?  I think it would put me off - but then, although I'm expecting other people to use these methods, I tend to be very sceptical myself and I couldn't work out from the Paypal site whether they have to sign up or not.

They are distrustful of such a way of booking, whereas in the USA it is pretty common way of paying.

Well it's US travellers I had a problem with last year, so if it solves that problem it's fine.

So with that in mind, for clients from the States, yes good idea but for UK clients I would go for NOCHEX everytime

I've just had a look at NOCHEX Miki but I presume the payment can only be made in sterling and you have to pay it into a sterling account.  Is this the case?  Although the rates are a full 1% lower than Paypal.  And I do have occasion to pay money into my sterling account, so it wouldn't be the end of the world if I had to do that.