Contribute Fridays: Preferred Method of Payment
How do you prefer to be paid? PayPal? Cash? Check? Google Checkout?
Why?
I like PayPal because I get the money instantly, but hate the fees. I like checks because there are no fees, but hate the mailing time. 
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You can’t hate the Paypal visa, though, for avoiding the “transfer-to-bank” slow drip. And the fees are a write-off, right?
I also prefer Paypal, but I wish the fees would be discarded. Usually I tell my clients to send it as a gift because they don’t take out fees on money sent as gifts.
Other than Paypal, I like straight cash or checks from local clients. I usually meet them somewhere and they give me cash or checks.
That’s a great tip, didn’t know this. I actually for the first time received a payment the other day that came in full. Was wondering how they did that. I’ll have to keep this in mind!
I prefer bank transfers, it tends to only take a maximum of 2 hours. However, I am normally get stuck using Paypal which had shockingly high fees.
I hate checks – they take forever to clear, can bounce and are very insecure.
For buying online the best is Paypal, for local buys I pay mainly with my debit card and cash in small neighborhood stores, personally I don’t like to carry more thas $20 on cash so 95% payments are by card, for get paid I prefer checks, since I have only local clients mainly checks and cash for small amounts.
Definitely PayPal
. Or, if the client is local, cash.
Although, I try to get paid via PayPal even from local clients. I hate having cash in my wallet/pocket/hand.
I feel a lot more comfortable having money on my account – and taking out the amount I need whenever I need.
Paypal. Checks take 2 months in my country to clear and it can go wrong. Our banks have some sinisterly high commissions, so Paypal is so far the best option
I mainly use Pay Pal because A) Everyone knows it, it’s established, people trust it. B) Most people are familiar with actually using it. C) It’s super easy.
But, like most people, I hate the fees. I also do cash and checks for clients I meet in person. But those are all local. I might do the whole P.O. Box thing for cash and checks in the future.
p.s. Another downside to Pay Pal, which likely exists with any other similar service, is when people unrightfully try to issue chargebacks. I’ve had clients fiend satisfaction only to turn around months later and issue a money reversal stating all kinds of wacky claims from credit card theft, their child pretended to be them, they don’t recall the service (but still use the graphic/website), they liked it up until then but suddenly changed their mind (think 5+ months), and so on.
Ya paypal is the main choice for online payment.
Authorize.net is a close second and has gained some steam as most iphone/ipad terminal apps us their service to deposit the money.
I don’t mind Paypal fees owning a physical business is much more expensive overhead if that is all I had to worry about I would be lucky.
The iphone terminal apps are quite pricy virtual with service charges virtual terminals the same, oldschool terminals are expensive as they need a phone line (phone service is probably the most costly monthly expense to a business) yes there are also satellite and ethernet based but still have service charges. Its also expensive to run a online store with fees as well depending on the system plus shipping costs. I don’t get why people get angry over such minimal paypal fees, am I missing something?
Ya paypal is the main choice for online payment.
Authorize.net is a close second and has gained some steam as most iphone/ipad terminal apps us their service to deposit the money.
Not meaning to spam typed the wrong email, what no gravatar!
I don’t mind Paypal fees owning a physical business is much more expensive overhead if that is all I had to worry about I would be lucky.
The iphone terminal apps are quite pricy virtual with service charges virtual terminals the same, oldschool terminals are expensive as they need a phone line (phone service is probably the most costly monthly expense to a business) yes there are also satellite and ethernet based but still have service charges. Its also expensive to run a online store with fees as well depending on the system plus shipping costs. I don’t get why people get angry over such minimal paypal fees, am I missing something?
Because when you receive payments over $500, it’s a very large fee. I’ve had $100 taken in fees before.
I never experienced that. Its my mistake because I just associated my post with ecommerce. I really don’t receive payment by invoicing does the fee’s differ.
Honestly if I made $500 and paypal took even $100 if my overhead is low then it still wouldn’t bother me. I pay that in electric alone in a business location. It becomes harder when its an continuous investment.
I use Paypal and can afford $20 for every $500. So, for 2000 I pay $80 in fees which is not super high, as it is super convinient both for me and my clients.
Are you sure? I’m pretty sure PayPal’s policy is 60 days only.
I prefer PayPal because they can also process the credit/debit cards if needed. The fees aren’t as bad as most make them out to be. I also accept checks via PO Box or in person, but work isn’t started (upfront payment), continued (milestone payments), or delivered (final payment) until after my bank has released the funds to my account.
I prefer Paypal and follow a standard policy of requesting clients to add Paypal tranfer fee to the agreed fee right at the beginning. Never had problems this way till date…