Accepting payments from customers
Before you get your first customer you have to have facilities in place to accept payments for your goods and services, we look at the most popular ones below;
Cash - Still the most popular method of accepting payment in shops. You will however need a cash till to store the money, and possibly a safe to store any large amounts over night. It’s always a good idea to have some insurance against theft.
Cheque's - Fast becoming obsolete, many stores have begun phasing out accepting cheque’s, though lots of people do still use them. The downfall of using cheque's are that they are not an instant form of payment, and in a busy store it can take a little bit longer to process a cheque payment.
Credit/Debit cards - Now the most popular method of paying for goods and services over the counter, over the phone and on the Internet. To accept a card payment in a store or over the telephone, you will need equipment, usually provided by your credit service company or bank. To accept card payments over the Internet you will need to have a bank payment service integrated into your website. Charges normally apply per transaction and vary according to certain factors, like your trading history, and transaction value.
PayPal - PayPal is one of the easiest ways to accept credit and debit card payments over the Internet without using expensive banks services. Anyone can sign up, and configuring the service to work with your website is fairly straight forward. Fees for using PayPal start at 20p+2.5% per transaction and lower as the transaction value increases.
On-line bank payments - Another increasingly common method of receiving payment is by using on-line bank payments, you simply provide details of the bank account you want your payment made to and you customer obliges.
Remember, whenever you accept a payment from a customer make sure you have a record for your accounts and that you provide the customer with a receipt. Also whichever method of payment you accept you will need a bank account to store the funds in, so make sure you have one open before you start accepting payments.
