[jo5hm4n]

I use Paypal Here card reader which has been fine for the last 2 years for payments £10 here £20 there.  I take a few hundred per month max and its fine for its use and there is no monthly fee.

However i took a large payment for a commercial job i did last week, the job was £1000 and after taking the payment i checked my paypal account and £550 of the money was frozen.  I did some research and payments over £500 or a certain figure get frozen for 30 days and you cant get access to them at all WTF!  So i tried to phone paypal and their customer service at present is non existant, it was literally impossible to speak to someone on the phone i tried every option possible and it just hangs up every time saying we can't help you with that problem over the phone please go to our website for support.

Has anyone else had problems like this with paypal?

Basically i am done with them now and i am looking elsewhere.  Is sumup any good?  I need a card reader or a way to take payments around 10 payments per month but every now and then if i take a large payment for commercial i need it to not freeze on me!

Any ideas welcomed.  Thanks

[Richard iSparkle]

hi

sorry you're having problems with PayPal. i was warned off them for this reason

i use stripe for our card payments. had no problems with them at all

we dont use a card reader though. i just need their long card no etc. i can take payments over the phone with it or by linking them to a payment page.

very good as it also links with Xero (and cleaner planner i think)

[Stoots]

Yes, had this a few times.

Nothing to do with window cleaning but when ive used ebay they quite often hold funds from time to time and it takes ages to release them. They claim they are doing security checks.

If you google paypal withholding money, its a well known issue.

I have a sum up card reader but personally cant be bothered to faff about using it, BACS for everything for me.

[jo5hm4n]

hi

sorry you're having problems with PayPal. i was warned off them for this reason

i use stripe for our card payments. had no problems with them at all

we dont use a card reader though. i just need their long card no etc. i can take payments over the phone with it or by linking them to a payment page.

very good as it also links with Xero (and cleaner planner i think)

Hi Richard,

That sounds good so i just need a stripe account then?  Do you mind telling what the fees are or how much its costing you?  So if you take payments over the phone do you just load up a webpage login to enter card details and payment amount then submit it?  I think this is called a moto account, i had one years ago with my old business before window cleaning.  I'll look into stripe i think, especially if it can be linked to cleaner planner, nice added bonus.

[jo5hm4n]

Yes, had this a few times.

Nothing to do with window cleaning but when ive used ebay they quite often hold funds from time to time and it takes ages to release them. They claim they are doing security checks.

If you google paypal withholding money, its a well known issue.

I have a sum up card reader but personally cant be bothered to faff about using it, BACS for everything for me.

Yeah im mainly bacs or Gocardless, but this one commercial client said will pay in 30 days on account if its bacs, or pay on the day via credit card.  Id rather do credit card on the day as its £1000 job, not in the mood to wait 30 days for that tbh lol.

[Richard iSparkle]

hi

sorry you're having problems with PayPal. i was warned off them for this reason

i use stripe for our card payments. had no problems with them at all

we dont use a card reader though. i just need their long card no etc. i can take payments over the phone with it or by linking them to a payment page.

very good as it also links with Xero (and cleaner planner i think)

Hi Richard,

That sounds good so i just need a stripe account then?  Do you mind telling what the fees are or how much its costing you?  So if you take payments over the phone do you just load up a webpage login to enter card details and payment amount then submit it?  I think this is called a moto account, i had one years ago with my old business before window cleaning.  I'll look into stripe i think, especially if it can be linked to cleaner planner, nice added bonus.

https://stripe.com/gb/pricing

we do everything over the phone or by email. you can send them a link to click and pay on.

otherwise if you're F2F Imperial sure there must be an app or something

we use it in conjunction with Xero accounting which is brill also

another good thing is you can set it to make recurring payments if you wish... we dont as we use smart debit DD providers but..

[Pete Thompson]

Surely your cashflow isn’t so tight that waiting 30 days for just £1k is going to cause such a massive problem?

But yes, PayPal is quite annoying to deal with sometimes. As you say, non existent customer service, and they’ll just hold money indefinitely if they feel like it, “pending review”.

They’ve become so big and dominant in the online payments market, they know they can do whatever they want and customers don’t have much choice but to put up with their rubbish service.

[Richard iSparkle]

Surely your cashflow isn’t so tight that waiting 30 days for just £1k is going to cause such a massive problem?

its not waiting 30 days though is it.

 its waiting 30 more days after the customer has paid.
 if you've already waiting 28 days for them to pay thats 2 months you're looking at.

and that £1000 could have been spent on marketing online or leaflets and be earning you income in the meantime

[jo5hm4n]

Surely your cashflow isn’t so tight that waiting 30 days for just £1k is going to cause such a massive problem?

But yes, PayPal is quite annoying to deal with sometimes. As you say, non existent customer service, and they’ll just hold money indefinitely if they feel like it, “pending review”.

They’ve become so big and dominant in the online payments market, they know they can do whatever they want and customers don’t have much choice but to put up with their rubbish service.

The issue is not my cashflow, it's more the fact that its a new commercial client for £1000 a pop, i've been stung before so it's nice when the money hits my bank account i feel like its safe with new clients like this.  Knowing that the money is on hold from paypal just doesn't fill me with confidence too be honest.

[jo5hm4n]

hi

sorry you're having problems with PayPal. i was warned off them for this reason

i use stripe for our card payments. had no problems with them at all

we dont use a card reader though. i just need their long card no etc. i can take payments over the phone with it or by linking them to a payment page.

very good as it also links with Xero (and cleaner planner i think)

Hi Richard,

That sounds good so i just need a stripe account then?  Do you mind telling what the fees are or how much its costing you?  So if you take payments over the phone do you just load up a webpage login to enter card details and payment amount then submit it?  I think this is called a moto account, i had one years ago with my old business before window cleaning.  I'll look into stripe i think, especially if it can be linked to cleaner planner, nice added bonus.

https://stripe.com/gb/pricing

we do everything over the phone or by email. you can send them a link to click and pay on.

otherwise if you're F2F Imperial sure there must be an app or something

we use it in conjunction with Xero accounting which is brill also

another good thing is you can set it to make recurring payments if you wish... we dont as we use smart debit DD providers but..

Thanks for the information.  I will do some research next week so far it seems quite good!

[Titan window cleaning services]

I use an izettle. £20 for reader the 1.7% of transactions no monthly. Not sure on long term and big figures as i have only used it twice but seems to work.