[joshem]

Hi all,

Been going since October last year and up till now we've been accepting payment by cash or cheque. We're getting a bit sick of wasted journeys to customers' homes for them to tell us to come back another time. Have been looking into Direct Bank Transfers, Paypal etc. but was curious to know about Standing Orders. Do any of you lot do this with your customers? Are Standing Orders free (for both you and the customer)? Also, what is BACS and is it useful, free etc?

Your suggestions on collecting are welcome because a few of the customers need their backsides kicked into gear

Cheers all.

[Blue Frog Systems]

I have customers who pay standing order. Its free both ways.... its just an automatic payment from their account to yours on a certain day of the month / frequency.

Have started to roll standing order payments out to the masses now, but im setting the dates. Mine will be either the 1st or 15th of the month. That way i can keep track of it rather than having them on different days like the few i have. Currentley i have them on 1st, 4th, 21st & 23rd.

Another option is to offer bank transfer. This works well for me - i have about 50% of my customers paying this way. All i do is leave a 'your windows have been cleaned slip' with company name, bank name, sort, acc & payment amount. Oh and i put please pay within 7 days. Takes a little while to stop having to send out reminder texts.

All my transfers go to an account that i only use for incoming payments. I transfer the balance over to another account every few days (i get text alerts on my balance each morning)