I’ve been using PayPal for years but I do prefer when a client pays by email money transfer – saves PayPal fees.
Read Ruth Maude’s post: How do I get to the top of Google

I do however have a merchant account too. This allows me to have control over processing the payment rather than relying on prompt payment from clients. it is written in my contract that I will take payment on the day of service and then I provide them with a receipt.

I justify the expense by thinking of it as being equal to what it would cost me if i had just 1 consultation a year that I couldn’t collect.

While I don’t recommend anyone go into debt for services they can’t afford, some people, me included, use their credit cards as convenience cards. Keeps all payments in one place and only one payment to make at the end of the month. This can help keep you organized. But the trick is to pay off in full every month.

Julie, that’s very responsible of you! What if you had a client whose financial house was in order, but preferred to use credit cards so they just have one monthly bill to pay, or to collect rewards points, or some other reason? I’m just curious…

I’ve never used the Virtual Terminal myself, as it’s only available in the US, but this is the way I understand it to work. Instead of the purchaser going online and entering their credit card info, which is never seen by the seller, with the Virtual Terminal, the seller obtains the credit card information from the purchaser, then goes online and enters it for processing.

In other words, if someone called you to book an appointment and you require a deposit, you could take their credit card number over the phone.

I do, however, sell the digital products on my site via PayPal, and it works very well. I’m notified within moments, and if there’s a problem, I can fix it quickly. One day, I received a sale notification that one of my clients bought a digital product I knew I’d already given her. I picked up the phone, confirmed that she’d made a “booboo”, and was able to go onto Paypal and “reverse” the purchase, easily crediting her back her money without it costing me at all.

Janet, can you further explain the PayPal Virtual Terminal? I never quite understand the details.

I hope to get the techno-organizing part of my business up and running very soon!