Taking payments

[igw]

Hi, ;)

Can anyone advise me on how to take payments at craft fairs? Taking cash and giving change seem OK for small items, but I intend to try to sell some of my larger paintings circa £40~250 if I can! I don't have a card machine yet, and many people don't carry cheque books any more. I suppose I could ask for a holding deposit and post the paintings on later, after receiving payment? Does anyone have any experience of handling larger transactions?

igw:horse:

[Poppy4lee]

I don't have any experience of this, however, I think your idea of taking a holding deposit is a good one. Maybe you could either offer to send them an invoice via PayPal, or, issue then with an invoice there & then & allow them to post a cheque & say that you'll post the painting once it's cleared?

I think, whatever you decide to do, as long as you have your policy stated clearly & you have receipts & invoices that you can issue as appropriate, you should be fine. I think it always looks better if these things look as if they're being done in a professional manner (as if you've done it hundreds of times before).

Don't know if that helps?

[igw]

Hi,;)

What a good idea! I could get a proper invoive pad and set up a paypal account too. I'll have to take a look and see what paypal can do.

Your point about looking professional is all important, I'm sure! Thanks

igw :horse:

PS I like the stuff you do!

[MrSwirl]

Laptop with a USB modem, and offer the customer to pay via PayPal over the web there and then?

[Starstruck]

I think the idea of invoice/duplicate pad - deposit payable at the craft fayre is a good idea. They can then either send a cheque or as you say, pay via Paypal.

You might also want to look into Nochex - I have both Paypal and Nochex and i'd say that about 75% of my customers choose to pay via Nochex.

HTH
Kerri x

[Chris W]

Just to say be sure to take a deposit before reserving anything.
In my shop I do sometimes hold items for one week and about half don't want the item a week later.

[Swarovski Chick]

Paypal may be a good start for you I use it for sending custom orders to clients and its easy to do from within paypal. Have not had any problems with using this method yet, except for paypal cheques which I would be careful that they clear before you send the items out or disable this option in your paypal account. It also means you can be up and running in no time as its simple to set up.

Suzanne

[wendy]

I would agree that paypal is an option here. If you take your laptop and have wireless/mobile internet access it's easy and painless to take payment.

I have heard of an option called accept by phone, where you call them with the credit/debit card number, they accept (or decline) and pay the money straight into your account.

It sounds easy, you'd only need a mobile phone, but I don't know anyone who's used it. It may be American (I read about it on a US forum) but that doesn't mean they won't accept UK users. It may be worth investigating, don't know the web address, but it'll come up if you google accept by phone, I'm sure.

Wendy

[brad]

You do want take the payment , while the customer is in that frame of mind ( you know the saying strike while the iron is hot) You can get a virtual terminal from paypal eg take their card details and process when you get home . - There is a fee of £ 20 .00 per month for taking card payments like this. This is not alot if you are going to be doing the business.

Hope this helps

Brad

[MrSwirl]

If you taking a deposit, make sure that you make it clear whether it's refundable or not. Provide a receipt with the terms on it, and make sure you keep a copy of it.

[Carol29]

I have that problem too. If I take a cheque I'll take the bank card details and address and look for ID. I know it seems a pain but you can't take chances. When someone hasn't got a cheque book I take an order give a receipt and organise to deliver the piece to them cash on delivery.

Carol
carolshawjewellery

[crafty sara]

Hi

Ive not had any experience of this. But the last Craft fair I went to the stall holder next to me was using this laptop & their own website to take card payments.

This would only work if you had a website already though with your items on. They processed the payment through this.

Hope this help

Sarah