Payment Methods

[JDM1983 28]

Hi All,

Just wondering if I could get a bit of advice on payment methods. I’m just starting out and going to be trading approx 3 cars a month from home. On one hand, I’m reluctant to get a card machine because it’s another monthly subscription. On the other hand, I dont want to put customers off by not having one. Just wondering what you guys have done in the past or think?

Cheers

James

[Blenheim Car Sales 111]

3 cars a month ..................  is this  undeclared income then and its just a bit of extra cash and tax man does not know anything about it

[JDM1983 28]

7 minutes ago, Blenheim Car Sales said:

3 cars a month ..................  is this  undeclared income then and its just a bit of extra cash and tax man does not know anything about it

No, doing it all above board and properly 

[Blenheim Car Sales 111]

preferred methods

 

bank transfer

cash 

card in that order..................   i do have a card reader as i was loosing business by not having it, it also enables me to increase there budget, If we are £500 away i can say  put it  on a 0% CC and spread the cost over some months

 

[Lazz 16]

I sell stuff from home upto approx 6k, only do transfer or cash and don't have a card machine and don't feel as though i have missed anything.

I prefer transfer as it saves me a trip to the bank but some customers insist on paying cash (i think they may feel empowered by it) or maybe they do cash because they are concerned if it does n't show in my account straight away they will have to hang around, when really they just want to just pay and go.

If you do get a card machine read the small print as i once got caught out quite a long time ago when i had one, with a business debit card, and got charged approx £600 pounds in fees when i was expecting a charge of approx 50p as it was then for private debit cards but as i say that was a long time ago and i am sure things would of changed.

[Anglo9 26]

I'm in between yards at the moment and cancelled the card machine when we left the last premises .

Trading from home until we can get sorted but we are insisting on Bank transfer or cash if customer insists and surprisingly haven't lost a sale because of that. Most of my stock is c£6-£10k , but we will retail cheapie P/X's too .

[Arfur Dealy 823]

Never needed a card machine in 30+ years. Bank transfer 90% of the time because its free, or cash for those who have just sold theirs and have a wad.... Not interested in a card machine, definitely not interested in those who only pay by CC..... 

[JDM1983 28]

Thanks for the advice all. Sounds like I’ll be ok without one, I’ll give that a try to start with. The card machine company has actually offered an app, no machine, no contract, same charges (0.3% debit, 1% credit), there is a minimum £20 transaction fee/month. Might try that if I find I need something.

[BHM 994]

I’ve never needed a card machine. Bank transfer or CASH. If you feel the need to accept the occasional card then simply generate a Paypal invoice for them to pay.

 

[Tony911 79]

43 minutes ago, Arfur Dealy said:

Never needed a card machine in 30+ years. Bank transfer 90% of the time because its free, or cash for those who have just sold theirs and have a wad.... Not interested in a card machine, definitely not interested in those who only pay by CC..... 

THIS

[TangoVictor32 90]

Do you guys wait until you received funds into your account if its done by bank transfer?

I had one customer once wait 6 hours. I ended up dropping him home. When i returned home I checked my bank and funds had been received. He collected the next morning.

Following this incident I had a young couple who said they wont wait around until funds are received into my account and will give me the reference number and in their eyes this should suffice.

Has anyone heard of Sumup card machine? It works via your phone. There is a £30 setup fee and per transaction you're charged 0.3% I believe

 

[Lazz 16]

Your a bravier man than me if you let a car go without funds showing clear in your account, i am sure the customer wound n't let you take it unless they had cleared funds if the boot was on the other foot. 

[JDM1983 28]

49 minutes ago, TangoVictor32 said:

Do you guys wait until you received funds into your account if its done by bank transfer?

I had one customer once wait 6 hours. I ended up dropping him home. When i returned home I checked my bank and funds had been received. He collected the next morning.

Following this incident I had a young couple who said they wont wait around until funds are received into my account and will give me the reference number and in their eyes this should suffice.

Has anyone heard of Sumup card machine? It works via your phone. There is a £30 setup fee and per transaction you're charged 0.3% I believe

 

Just looked into Sumup, £30 setup as you say, but 1.69%, which is actually fairly decent for these mobile based solutions. No contract, no other charges. For 30 quid, might be worth having one just in case. Although if you sell a 6k car on it, that’s £100, quite a lot of cash

[TangoVictor32 90]

12 minutes ago, JDM1983 said:

Just looked into Sumup, £30 setup as you say, but 1.69%, which is actually fairly decent for these mobile based solutions. No contract, no other charges. For 30 quid, might be worth having one just in case. Although if you sell a 6k car on it, that’s £100, quite a lot of cash

Sorry i got my % mixed up.

What do other card providers charge?

 

[JDM1983 28]

24 minutes ago, TangoVictor32 said:

Sorry i got my % mixed up.

What do other card providers charge?

 

Generally 1.75-2%, although some can be 2.5%. 

[Arfur Dealy 823]

7 hours ago, TangoVictor32 said:

Do you guys wait until you received funds into your account if its done by bank transfer?

I had one customer once wait 6 hours. I ended up dropping him home. When i returned home I checked my bank and funds had been received. He collected the next morning.

Following this incident I had a young couple who said they wont wait around until funds are received into my account and will give me the reference number and in their eyes this should suffice.

Has anyone heard of Sumup card machine? It works via your phone. There is a £30 setup fee and per transaction you're charged 0.3% I believe

 

If they show me it’s  left their account I’m quite happy to let them go, sometimes the payment is held for a fraud check though and they have to ring the bank.

Alarm bells would be going off if the customer insists they can leave on just a reference number...

7 hours ago, JDM1983 said:

Just looked into Sumup, £30 setup as you say, but 1.69%, which is actually fairly decent for these mobile based solutions. No contract, no other charges. For 30 quid, might be worth having one just in case. Although if you sell a 6k car on it, that’s £100, quite a lot of cash

It’s very expensive when you sell 150+ @ 6k .. 

[MrV 66]

Izettle is the way JDM. In my opinion why would you not offer card payments? You could be losing sales by not having the facility and for us new traders we can't afford to lose a sale, for me it's a no brainer

[Blenheim Car Sales 111]

"DO YOU TAKE CARD"..................anyone who has answered NO  i can tell you  you are  loosing business if they walk because clearly they are talking about  payment and then they leave, I have it dont  promote it  or talk avbout it but have it for odd one or two, I pass on the costs for the card reader (admin fee) its illegal to charge it for the  payment method

[Rory RSC 596]

10 hours ago, TangoVictor32 said:

Do you guys wait until you received funds into your account if its done by bank transfer?

I had one customer once wait 6 hours. I ended up dropping him home. When i returned home I checked my bank and funds had been received. He collected the next morning.

Following this incident I had a young couple who said they wont wait around until funds are received into my account and will give me the reference number and in their eyes this should suffice.

Has anyone heard of Sumup card machine? It works via your phone. There is a £30 setup fee and per transaction you're charged 0.3% I believe

 

Never do this.

We take a lot of transfer. I have recently noticed when a customer pays with a santander account the money leaves there account. Most transfers are instant and show with us right away.

With santander they then text the customer and run through fraud / security with a phone call. They even ask are they happy with car, have you driven car etc.  The customer at any point within 30mins to 3/4 hours can still cancel a payment with them as it has not been released from their bank.

 

Card is great for someone that just wants to pay and drive off with no faffing. Its also ideal for deposits and its done before your eyes and they can then pay balance pre collection via transfer.

[JDM1983 28]

1 hour ago, MrV said:

Izettle is the way JDM. In my opinion why would you not offer card payments? You could be losing sales by not having the facility and for us new traders we can't afford to lose a sale, for me it's a no brainer

Thanks, I checked IZettle our, their % is a bit higher than Sumup. Sumup doesn’t look like you can take over the phone payments, not sure about IZettle. 

Im starting to think focusing on bank transfer is the way, but having something like a Sumup or IZettle in reserve might not hurt, especially as it’s only a one off 30 quid, unless you use it of course 

[Mojo121 229]

35 minutes ago, Blenheim Car Sales said:

"DO YOU TAKE CARD"..................anyone who has answered NO  i can tell you  you are  loosing business if they walk because clearly they are talking about  payment and then they leave, I have it dont  promote it  or talk avbout it but have it for odd one or two, I pass on the costs for the card reader (admin fee) its illegal to charge it for the  payment method

I've probably had two people get shirty over the phone that we don't take cards... and that's when they want to pay by credit card. My view: good riddance to bad rubbish the car will sell to someone else.

[JDM1983 28]

2 hours ago, Arfur Dealy said:

 

It’s very expensive when you sell 150+ @ 6k .. 

Yes, when you think of it like that, it’s massive.

150 sales...I could only dream 

[MrV 66]

8 minutes ago, JDM1983 said:

Yes, when you think of it like that, it’s massive.

150 sales...I could only dream 

Its not when your charging an admin fee

Edited April 5, 2019 by MrV

[JDM1983 28]

12 minutes ago, MrV said:

Its not when your charging an admin fee

I take it you have to apply that to every sale regardless of payment method to keep it all above board?

[Lazz 16]

Let's not forget here that if someone pays for a car by credit card they then get additional protection and if it goes south for any reason you could be fighting a battle on 2 fronts ie: the customer and the credit card company wanting to do a debit back and if the customer is a good story teller you may find the credit card company will refund them for faulty goods.

I feel the safest methods myself are bank transfer and then cash and then at least if anything goes south at least you can control the money side of things instead of a credit card company perhaps making that descision for you.