For Everyone Who Charges For Cakes
Decorating By sarajohnson Updated 19 Oct 2006 , 5:49am by cupcake
How do you accept personal checks for cakes? What if they bounce? And how do you except credit cards???
I'm just starting my business, thank you
I don't accept credit cards but I do take checks. If I know the person really well, I have them make the check out to me. If it is a "friend of a friend" type situation, I have them make the check out to cash and take it to their bank to cash. That way if it does bounce, it bounces back to them, not me.
If you accept personal checks, you must give yourself time for them to clear before committing to the project. To accept credit cards, you must go to the individual companies and apply. If you're just starting out, then you can try PayPal. That's an easy way for your clients to pay you with or without a credit card, providing they have access to a computer.
I would take Checks from customers that you can trust, or have them pre-pay and wait until the check clears to deliver the cake.
You can't except credit cards unless you have some sort of account set up. Do a google search on how. It is pretty expensive, so unless you aare doing enough business to pay monthly fees. I wouldn't take that step yet.
I do exactly as darandon....don't take credit cards (yet), and if the person writes a check (and they are friend of friend), I have them make it out to cash and take to their bank to cash avoid "bouncing" charges to me. I guess I would still have an issue if there's no money in the account because then their bank would not fund the check, and I would have to follow-up w/ the customer anyway, but fortunately, I have never had this happen (knock on wood).
My DH and I TRIED to start a gift basket business a couple years ago.......(basically nobody ordered until well into the first year of business and all of our products expired by then ) anyhow.......we used pay pal....and what we would do (so the customer didn't have to have access to a computer) is take their credit card number via the phone.......and told them we would process it and give them a call back if anything was wrong! We would take their info. and then we would go on the pc and put it all through........it was very simple......and I think made us out to be a more "professional" business so to speak. I think we paid like 50 dollars a year to be able to accept like 5,000 dollars in credit card purchases.
In 34 years of business, I have never had a check bounce. And alot of the checks have been from strangers. I don't do credit cards.
Keep in mind too when taking a check to their bank to cash it that a lot of banks are charging you to cash the check unless you bank there. I've been paying a $2 fee every time I do this!
Deb
I only take cash. Don't want the headaches of checks..and don't do enough business to pay credit card processing fees.
I always tell people to bring cash when they pick up their cakes.
I just got "stuck" with my first cake...so guess it's time I investigate pay pal..lol
My DH and I TRIED to start a gift basket business a couple years ago.......(basically nobody ordered until well into the first year of business and all of our products expired by then ) anyhow.......we used pay pal....and what we would do (so the customer didn't have to have access to a computer) is take their credit card number via the phone.......and told them we would process it and give them a call back if anything was wrong! We would take their info. and then we would go on the pc and put it all through........it was very simple......and I think made us out to be a more "professional" business so to speak. I think we paid like 50 dollars a year to be able to accept like 5,000 dollars in credit card purchases.
sorry for the dumb question, but where do you begin so you can start accepting pay pal?
Thanks!
Yes I had my first check bounce and it was a headache.
I was lucky enough to cash the replacement check at her bank at no charge.
As far as Pay pal if you receive a certain number of transactions you will have to upgrade your account. I did and they take I think 5% for every transaction received. If it is just a few times than you are fine.
You will have a paper trail though.
I do a fair amount of business with PayPal. I don't like that they charge a percentage to use it but I found a way around it. If you get the PayPal debit card and use it for purchases, you get cash back which usually equals what was taken out when you were first payed. Personally I use PayPal as my business account and all purchases I make for my cakes comes out of that. Even if people don't pay me with PayPal, I put it in my bank account and transfer it to my PayPal balance. Its also easy to take your share out of PayPal, just transfer it to your bank account, or if you have the debit card, just withdrawl it. PayPal has really saved my butt a couple times, especially when my ex still had access to my bank account.
I am not 100% sure, but I believe you can use your checking account to make purchases through Paypal and the Seller which would be us, dont get charged as high of a fee.
So, if you would request the numbers across the bottom of a check from a customer that wants to use a credit or debit card, instead of using the card number, use the numbers from a check and I dont think it will cost you as much.
Does this make sense. Does anyone else know if this is correct?
HTH
Paypal is good for the hobbyist, but if you're going to be running a real business, a regular merchant account is going to make you seem a lot more put-together and professional.
I use Quickbooks for my accounting software, and really like it. And I signed up for my merchant account through them. It's so easy to accept and process credit card payments through the software, and you don't have to apply to the different card companies seperately. I was charging cards the same day I applied, it was that easy.
Paypal is good for the hobbyist, but if you're going to be running a real business, a regular merchant account is going to make you seem a lot more put-together and professional.
I use Quickbooks for my accounting software, and really like it. And I signed up for my merchant account through them. It's so easy to accept and process credit card payments through the software, and you don't have to apply to the different card companies seperately. I was charging cards the same day I applied, it was that easy.
Was QUICK BOOKS a program you had to purchase?
Yep, Quickbooks is an accounting program--you can puchase it at any office supply store or computer store. It's the business version of Quicken, the home accounting software, if you're familiar with that.
One of the nice things about it is that any cpa is going to be very familiar with the program. I just make a backup and give the cd to my accountant, and she easily takes care of all my tax preperation and such. It takes a little getting used to, but it really helps me keep organized and the paperwork to a minimum.
I even do my payroll taxes through quickbooks. They have a service--costs about $150 a year--but it automatically updates the legislation every couple weeks and keeps me legal and on track.
I was a LMT and being on the road seeing clients I used a service that allowed me to take credit cards over the phone. Here are a couple of companies that do it. It's a monthly charge of anywhere between 3-10 dollars then you pay the usual per charge fee. I only used it a few times but it was nice to offer the service.
http://www.namasta.com/credit_card_merchant_account.pdf
http://www.chargeamerica.com/
I remember they didn't ask me for an occupational license #. So I wouldn't give them more info than they needed.
Hope that helps
....we used pay pal....and what we would do (so the customer didn't have to have access to a computer) is take their credit card number via the phone.......and told them we would process it and give them a call back if anything was wrong! We would take their info. and then we would go on the pc and put it all through........it was very simple......and I think made us out to be a more "professional" business so to speak. I think we paid like 50 dollars a year to be able to accept like 5,000 dollars in credit card purchases.
How did you enter their credit cards? Ever since I have been using Paypal, I thought each individual sending money needed their own account with passwords and personal info.
sorry for the dumb question, but where do you begin so you can start accepting pay pal?
.
RB...just go to Paypal.com and sign up....they do take a percentage from every purchase, but if you only used it if someone HAD to use a credit card, then charge them the fee! Lately they offer a lot of "business" oriented features....Quickbooks sounds like a good option too.....thanks modthyrth...
If you cannot collect on the check, you take it to the DA in your county, you will have to fill out some paperwork, but they will take it from there, and get your money. Out DA is good, they do a good job on collections.I take checks all the time, and have had only 2 bounce in 7 years. One she finally paid me the other went to the DA.
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