I decided last night to go out and buy a PayPal Here reader from Officeworks. The price has dropped to $99, and whilst not generally required due to how I run my business, the reader does provide a resource that I would have liked in the past. I also noticed the current price on PayPal's site is $99. The previous price was $139, so I suspect Officeworks is matching the price, and unless PayPal puts their price up, it may be the price for the reader going forward.
Generally I invoice clients and I find the majority of clients are very good. One client I'd known for a while was going to transfer the money over the weekend. They never did. It's really my fault as this client had become a friend, but in the past had been a bad payer. So lesson learnt. In similar situations the PayPal Here reader can avoid this type of issue. Payment on delivery is a great way to ensure you get paid and really minimises the risk.
Another trend I've noticed is people are carrying less cash and prefer to pay via credit card. Having a mobile credit card facility means payment can be done on the spot. This can be done via a web page, but the PayPal Here reader provides a quicker and thus more professional presentation. In addition the fees are slightly lower.
For anyone going down the PayPal Here path I'd highly recommend they set up the app before they purchase any equipment. I was part of the original PayPal Here device release and it took weeks to get approved and my PayPal account was locked for weeks. I submitted a considerable amount of information and actually gave up. Sometime later my account was unlocked and the facility working. Not a pleasant experience at all, but at least I had everything working again. To me there is some risk using PayPal, but that's for another time. For me, in the way I wish to use PayPal, and taking the precautions I do, PayPal will suffice.
Setting up the new PayPal Here reader wasn't too difficult, but it wasn't just plug in and go either. The mobile phone didn't pick up the device so I had to work out how to force the two to see each other. After this I had the device connected. Next I needed to update the device as instructed. Again whilst not ideal, not a big issue either.
OK. The first test. I paid $2 from my credit card and the payment went through. I went to enter the customer details for myself but PayPal didn't like my email being the same as the merchant account. Go figure. So I decided to not test the invoice feature. I did receive the receipt. PayPal already knew the email address which I thought was weird. The next test was to reverse the payment via my notebook's browser. This worked well however one major concern was no email was received for the reversal. That's going to leave the customer wondering whether or not you've made the reversal. Not good really.
Next I decided to test American Express. It appears American Express is not accepted. I did want to test the magnetic card reader so I then tried the Mastercard. This failed and I was told to insert the the card. That makes sense, but it does mean I still haven't done a successful test using the strip reader.
I liked the original reader which plugged into the earphone socket as there was no power required. The original reader however was very flimsy and also couldn't handle inserting cards, so from that point of view the new reader is better. The new reader also feels more like a device the customer can enter their pin number into, which should provide greater confidence in terms of keeping their pin number secure.
For those interested in the fees, the cost is 1.95% if you use a credit card, but if you manually enter the details that increases to 2.90% + 30 cents. I've read previously that PayPal keeps the 30 cents on reversals, but in this case using the reader, the full amount appears to be been reversed so I'm not out of pocket. I get the odd payment by cheque from home users and whilst PayPal costs more, the time and cost of going to the bank to deposit a cheque is a hidden cost and often exceeds the PayPal charge.
Having to keep the device charged when I use it infrequently is a concern, but something I'll simply have to get used to. I'm looking forward to using it with my first live customer. I'll update this post to let people know how I go.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for IT support.
Now with convenient credit card facilities;-)
Update
I processed my first client purchase recently using the new PayPal Here reader. One thing I did notice is the quite long delay turning the unit on and being ready to process their credit card. I later performed this test and found the time to be around one and half minutes. When the customer is waiting with their card in hand, that length of time feels very long. You may need to work out an approach to minimise this delay.
Generally I invoice clients and I find the majority of clients are very good. One client I'd known for a while was going to transfer the money over the weekend. They never did. It's really my fault as this client had become a friend, but in the past had been a bad payer. So lesson learnt. In similar situations the PayPal Here reader can avoid this type of issue. Payment on delivery is a great way to ensure you get paid and really minimises the risk.
Another trend I've noticed is people are carrying less cash and prefer to pay via credit card. Having a mobile credit card facility means payment can be done on the spot. This can be done via a web page, but the PayPal Here reader provides a quicker and thus more professional presentation. In addition the fees are slightly lower.
For anyone going down the PayPal Here path I'd highly recommend they set up the app before they purchase any equipment. I was part of the original PayPal Here device release and it took weeks to get approved and my PayPal account was locked for weeks. I submitted a considerable amount of information and actually gave up. Sometime later my account was unlocked and the facility working. Not a pleasant experience at all, but at least I had everything working again. To me there is some risk using PayPal, but that's for another time. For me, in the way I wish to use PayPal, and taking the precautions I do, PayPal will suffice.
Setting up the new PayPal Here reader wasn't too difficult, but it wasn't just plug in and go either. The mobile phone didn't pick up the device so I had to work out how to force the two to see each other. After this I had the device connected. Next I needed to update the device as instructed. Again whilst not ideal, not a big issue either.
OK. The first test. I paid $2 from my credit card and the payment went through. I went to enter the customer details for myself but PayPal didn't like my email being the same as the merchant account. Go figure. So I decided to not test the invoice feature. I did receive the receipt. PayPal already knew the email address which I thought was weird. The next test was to reverse the payment via my notebook's browser. This worked well however one major concern was no email was received for the reversal. That's going to leave the customer wondering whether or not you've made the reversal. Not good really.
Next I decided to test American Express. It appears American Express is not accepted. I did want to test the magnetic card reader so I then tried the Mastercard. This failed and I was told to insert the the card. That makes sense, but it does mean I still haven't done a successful test using the strip reader.
I liked the original reader which plugged into the earphone socket as there was no power required. The original reader however was very flimsy and also couldn't handle inserting cards, so from that point of view the new reader is better. The new reader also feels more like a device the customer can enter their pin number into, which should provide greater confidence in terms of keeping their pin number secure.
For those interested in the fees, the cost is 1.95% if you use a credit card, but if you manually enter the details that increases to 2.90% + 30 cents. I've read previously that PayPal keeps the 30 cents on reversals, but in this case using the reader, the full amount appears to be been reversed so I'm not out of pocket. I get the odd payment by cheque from home users and whilst PayPal costs more, the time and cost of going to the bank to deposit a cheque is a hidden cost and often exceeds the PayPal charge.
Having to keep the device charged when I use it infrequently is a concern, but something I'll simply have to get used to. I'm looking forward to using it with my first live customer. I'll update this post to let people know how I go.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for IT support.
Now with convenient credit card facilities;-)
Update
I processed my first client purchase recently using the new PayPal Here reader. One thing I did notice is the quite long delay turning the unit on and being ready to process their credit card. I later performed this test and found the time to be around one and half minutes. When the customer is waiting with their card in hand, that length of time feels very long. You may need to work out an approach to minimise this delay.
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