A few weeks ago I posted a question RE a company that allows you to accept credit cards at craft fairs via cell phones. The company I was looking at had some things in their contract I didn't like - like monthly minimums and a monthly charge.
Recently, an Internet friend pointed me in this direction http://www.propay.com/
Propay seems to meet my needs now. There is an annual fee of $60. No monthly fees or statement fees. No monthly minimums, although there may be an upper limit on your account for individual sales as well as monthly totals. MC, Visa, Discover and AMEX are accepted.
Transaction fees are $0.35 + 3.25% for everything but AMEX. AMEX will cost you $0.35 + 3.75%
It works kind of like PayPal in that the funds are kept in an account for you. If you transfer to your bank account you pay $0.30 transfer fee regardless of the amount transferred.
While their rules do say that "flee market" businesses are not eligible, it seems that if you have a real address and a real phone mobile transactions are OK. I was told this by the rep on the phone and am awaiting confirmation.
All in all it seems like a good deal.
Has anyone here used this service? What do you think?
Ed
Certainly looks like what I have been looking for with little success. Please keep us posted what you find out and if you sign up how it is. In the little show about the service it said the the yearly fee was $34.95 has this been changed to $60? Either way still a very good deal for someone that only uses or needs an account for a few months a year. Thanks again Ed for finding this!
Thanks for responding Dennis. They still have a plan for $34.95. However that plan will not let you do phone in charges. The % discount is also a bit more. I need the phone in charge ability since it will give me remote access to accept credit cards.
Are there rental or purchase fees for equipment? We just had to replace our automatic, gee whiz, push button card readers at $300 a pop because of changes our company made in their system- not because anything was mechanically wrong with the two we had.
Kind of reminds me of the "latest" from AT&T on business phone accounts. That's another rant, but I'll provide a teezer. They now require businesses to pay a monthly surcharge of around $30 if you don't spend at least $100 a month on long distance calls. That in spite of exhorbitant business rates. Spend $99.99 this month on calls and they're still going to pop you the surcharge on top. Yeah, we dropped their long distance coverage entirely.
Any kind of penalties or "surcharges" floating around their system in addition to equipment charges? I'm concerned about this: "although there may be an upper limit on your account for individual sales as well as monthly totals" Our largest transactions (several thou) are virtually always paid by card.
Hank and others - There is no equipment to rent or buy as you use your phone or computer to submit the charges. RE the "upper limits" the website says $3,000 for the Premium account I have been looking at.
There are higher level accounts that allow much higher limits "Upper tier ProPay Merchant Accounts are reserved for those who meet individual underwriting requirements. If you would like to apply for one of these accounts, please contact a ProPay sales representative at (888)227-9856."
The fee is only slightly more, but the application process seems more detailed
Its probably worth a call to answer specific questions.
That sounds more reasonable, Ed. Thanks for filling us in. We had to go through basically the same process in getting set up with our current company, and I'd expect the same here. Individual sales over $3k are rare (darn it all, anyway), but at her biggest events my wife can accumulate well over $5k of small sales in a couple of evenings. I'd expect the same for photographers with busy craft fair enterprises.
Posted by Ken Atkinson on July 14, 2008 at 11:39 AM
I used ProPay back in the 2003-2004 time frame for a small web based business. As best I can remember, they may have required you to keep a minimum in your account to cover any chargeback issues that came up. When we terminated the business, we had to wait several months to get our minimun balance back, again to cover the possibility of any chargebacks. But, on a day to day basis, no complaints.
Well, I just checked and the flee market statement was only applicable to those without any real address. Since my business has a real address with a real phone number and tax ID it is not an issue.
Ken, thanks for adding the info re chargebacks. I believe this is true for most companies which do not directly link to your bank account.
I am going to sign up and will let you know how I make out at the craft fair July 26 & 27.
Well, they wanted me to sign up on line rather than via phone. I did, and no problem. I got an immediate limit of $500 per transaction and $3000 per month. This was an application for the "premium level" and was actually more than I asked for. This was without any detailed background investigation. (although my credit rating is extremely high)
They did ask some interesting questions re past credit activities such as about the last car I purchased etc. However, the answers I gave satisfied the auto approve. It was interesting that they did know when I bought a car.
Anyway in two weeks I will be able to test it and I will keep you all informed.
Discussion
8 repliesRecently, an Internet friend pointed me in this direction
http://www.propay.com/
Propay seems to meet my needs now. There is an annual fee of $60. No monthly fees or statement fees. No monthly minimums, although there may be an upper limit on your account for individual sales as well as monthly totals. MC, Visa, Discover and AMEX are accepted.
Transaction fees are $0.35 + 3.25% for everything but AMEX. AMEX will cost you $0.35 + 3.75%
It works kind of like PayPal in that the funds are kept in an account for you. If you transfer to your bank account you pay $0.30 transfer fee regardless of the amount transferred.
While their rules do say that "flee market" businesses are not eligible, it seems that if you have a real address and a real phone mobile transactions are OK. I was told this by the rep on the phone and am awaiting confirmation.
All in all it seems like a good deal.
Has anyone here used this service? What do you think?
Thanks for any input.
Ed
Certainly looks like what I have been looking for with little success. Please keep us posted what you find out and if you sign up how it is. In the little show about the service it said the the yearly fee was $34.95 has this been changed to $60? Either way still a very good deal for someone that only uses or needs an account for a few months a year. Thanks again Ed for finding this!
I'll find out ore tomorrow and post results.
Ed
Kind of reminds me of the "latest" from AT&T on business phone accounts. That's another rant, but I'll provide a teezer. They now require businesses to pay a monthly surcharge of around $30 if you don't spend at least $100 a month on long distance calls. That in spite of exhorbitant business rates. Spend $99.99 this month on calls and they're still going to pop you the surcharge on top. Yeah, we dropped their long distance coverage entirely.
Any kind of penalties or "surcharges" floating around their system in addition to equipment charges? I'm concerned about this: "although there may be an upper limit on your account for individual sales as well as monthly totals" Our largest transactions (several thou) are virtually always paid by card.
There are higher level accounts that allow much higher limits "Upper tier ProPay Merchant Accounts are reserved for those who meet individual underwriting requirements. If you would like to apply for one of these accounts, please contact a ProPay sales representative at (888)227-9856."
The fee is only slightly more, but the application process seems more detailed
Its probably worth a call to answer specific questions.
I still need to confirm the flee market question.
Ken
Ken, thanks for adding the info re chargebacks. I believe this is true for most companies which do not directly link to your bank account.
I am going to sign up and will let you know how I make out at the craft fair July 26 & 27.
They did ask some interesting questions re past credit activities such as about the last car I purchased etc. However, the answers I gave satisfied the auto approve. It was interesting that they did know when I bought a car.
Anyway in two weeks I will be able to test it and I will keep you all informed.