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Online and over-the-phone card payments.
Not every sale happens at a counter. Deposits, invoices, bookings and phone orders all need a way to take a card, and it does not have to mean building a website.
The options
Four ways to take a payment without a terminal.
Payment links
Send a customer a link by text or email; they pay on their own phone. No website needed. Ideal for deposits, callout charges and invoices.
Virtual terminal
You key the card details into a secure web page while the customer is on the phone. Useful for phone orders and account customers.
Website checkout
A proper gateway wired into your site or booking system, so customers pay at the point they book or buy.
Recurring payments
For memberships, retainers and subscriptions — gyms, clubs and anyone billing the same customers each month.
Worth knowing
Card-not-present costs more, and that is normal.
When the card is not physically present, the risk of fraud and of a chargeback sits higher, so the rates are higher than the ones you see on a terminal. That is standard across the market. What is not standard is how much higher, or how clearly it gets explained before you sign.
Chargebacks are the real cost
A disputed online payment can cost you the goods, the value of the sale and a chargeback fee on top, whether or not the dispute goes your way. Getting the fraud screening right is worth more than shaving a few hundredths off the rate.
You probably need less than you are being sold
A tradesperson taking three deposits a week does not need a full e-commerce gateway with a monthly platform fee. A payment link costs nothing to sit idle. We will point that out rather than sell you the bigger package.
If you already use a booking system
Salons, studios and gyms frequently already pay for software that takes payments. Before adding anything, it is worth checking what your existing system charges, because it is sometimes the most expensive processing in the business and nobody has ever looked at it.
Taking deposits or phone orders?
There is usually a simpler and cheaper way to do it than the one you were sold. Fifteen minutes will tell you.