August 18, 201016 yr What tools are available for taking payments from clients online? I'm a bit fed up dealing with cheques which take forever to clear. Obviously there's PayPal, but I'm hoping to find something to integrate into my site to look a bit more professional and hopefully go straight into my bank account as opposed to a PayPal account.
August 18, 201016 yr What tools are available for taking payments from clients online? I'm a bit fed up dealing with cheques which take forever to clear. Obviously there's PayPal, but I'm hoping to find something to integrate into my site to look a bit more professional and hopefully go straight into my bank account as opposed to a PayPal account. Get a business bank account. I recommend Alliance & Leicester for supporting free business banking for small businesses. Then you will have an account that companies (or other freelancers) can send you money to.
August 18, 201016 yr Author Get a business bank account. I recommend Alliance & Leicester for supporting free business banking for small businesses. Then you will have an account that companies (or other freelancers) can send you money to. I have a business account and provide the details when I invoice but for some reason people seem to want to send cheques. I was hoping if I provided a way to pay through my site that might encourage them to do that rather than send cheques.
August 18, 201016 yr I have a business account and provide the details when I invoice but for some reason people seem to want to send cheques. I was hoping if I provided a way to pay through my site that might encourage them to do that rather than send cheques. On our contracts and invoice we request bank trasfer nicely by saying: "Whilst we do accept cheques - we prefer bank transfer" Seems to work as it puts a barrier up before they can send a cheque - admittedly an online system would be great - but you'll lose at least 3-5% through any credit card handler or paypal.
August 18, 201016 yr Author On our contracts and invoice we request bank trasfer nicely by saying: "Whilst we do accept cheques - we prefer bank transfer" Seems to work as it puts a barrier up before they can send a cheque - admittedly an online system would be great - but you'll lose at least 3-5% through any credit card handler or paypal. That's a very good idea, I will try that and see how I go. Like you say, you'll only end up losing 3-5% otherwise. It would be a nice system to put in place though.
August 18, 201016 yr That's a very good idea, I will try that and see how I go. Like you say, you'll only end up losing 3-5% otherwise. It would be a nice system to put in place though. Hehe - those only's add up very quickly.
August 18, 201016 yr I use a tool called Freshbooks, my referel link is here -> https://hibbardtech.freshbooks.com/refer/www I use this to do all of my invoicing, taking payments, expenses and finance reports etc. You can create an account for clients to login and see invoices, make payments etc. I also use the time tracking features for hourly based work such as retainers, and use a desktop app (timersync) with tracks time worked on any selected project. As with any of these online tools you have to pay if you want more features but the pricing is pretty good considering the amount of time an effort it saves me. I also just dump the lot out into excel for my accountant for tax etc. As with anything takes some getting used to but it has really impressed me so far.
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