Thread: What billing service do you use?

I built a website for a friend who is a pool guy down in San Diego, CA. We'd both think it'd behoove his business to add the ability for customers to pay their bills online, however, we're both clueless as to where to look. At first I suggested Volusion, but after speaking with Support we found that they do more of what we don't want and less of what we do want. Then I found

https://www.zoho.com

which looks way more promising. Being paranoid about practically everything, I'd rather not start with something that doesn't end up working out. The website I created was my first and I've only been doing this for a week, so, my knowledge is very limited. I'm learning as I'm goin It's really imperative that I get this right because if I'm successful, I'll have a new job and be able to relocate to SD.


So the point of this thread is, what kind of billing services do you guys use and like?

im not sure what your business is, but im in the car hauling/transport business, and most of my customers pay on invoice either per car or, montly depending on how much business i do with them. I dont use any particular program. What i did was make a nice invoice in Microsoft word, and print and mail or print/ fax and of course email. As far as making sure i get paid, i set up my outlook calendar to work like a reminder of 30, 60, 90 and so on days to remind me to check for payment or resend an invoice. just my method, im sure there are others out there and great billing systems, but im a "Little Guy" running a 2 truck transport business. Good luck.

This all depends on how big his business is, for small stuff perhaps you can use Google Checkout and other small processors.

If he is a 'big honcho' better look into getting your own merchant account.

It's a small pool cleaning business, that's all. We just wanted to kind of modernize and allow customers easy online bill pay. Once summer is here he'll have around 75 customers to manage.

There are plenty of options out there, it's a matter of how it all sorts on the website. I use PayPal Payment Pro, which allows me to accept credit cards through the website and goes straight to my PayPal account. The fees are a bit high, but compare to what other company offer, it beats paying an upfront gateway/setup fee and monthly gateway charges.

Originally Posted by kambodianboi

There are plenty of options out there, it's a matter of how it all sorts on the website. I use PayPal Payment Pro, which allows me to accept credit cards through the website and goes straight to my PayPal account. The fees are a bit high, but compare to what other company offer, it beats paying an upfront gateway/setup fee and monthly gateway charges.

I'd only suggest paypal as an absolute LAST RESORT. They are notorious for sky-high fees and holding your money for days on end.

I would try my best to prevent dealing with them, why not try that new start up Dwolla?

Yes, I've head a lot of negative about Paypal. I've never head of Dwolla so I'll look into it, thanks!

You definitely have options. If your business billing is heavily concerned with sending invoices than I would recommend Freshbooks as your solution.

Now, if you'd like to bill some clients on the spot than use Square. it's easy, the fees are low, it works, and let's face it...it looks cool. Your customers will dig it.

If you want customers to pay up front and you're generating leads through your website than just simply use Paypal. People will say don't use them, they've heard negative things...but that's a probabilities game. Paypal is the juggernaut so by mere numbers they're gonna have more people complain about something, anything. One can say the same for any major company...hell, just look on this forum. (Which car should I get, BMW or Mercedes? "Don't get the mercedes I've had so many problems...don't get the bmw, I've had so many problems blah blah blah") And despite all the detractors that tell you not to, you still have legions of satisfied customers out there using their services flawlessly. So if I were you, I'd give Paypal a try. it works, and it's simple.

Those are my suggestions to you. My company runs on the above and I would recommend them to anyone. Hope that helps.

^ I've never head Freshbooks or Square, however my friend has an account with "Virtual Marketing" which allows him to use his phone to take cc payments. I don't know a damn thing about VM as a company and I'm really worried about that one. I'll look into Freshbooks.

What I'm trying to do is allow people to come to our website and set up reoccuring payment for their monthly services. Not only would that get some MUCH need traffic to our site, it'll add a little flare to our business and a slight advantage over competitors.

Thanks for your post Sophist!

No problem at all Kruciall, very glad to help.

And like I said previously, if you want to do recurring payments, just use paypal. It works great and its very simple to setup on your website.

If you have any more questions just shout.

Originally Posted by Kruciall

^ I've never head Freshbooks or Square, however my friend has an account with "Virtual Marketing" which allows him to use his phone to take cc payments. I don't know a damn thing about VM as a company and I'm really worried about that one. I'll look into Freshbooks.

What I'm trying to do is allow people to come to our website and set up reoccuring payment for their monthly services. Not only would that get some MUCH need traffic to our site, it'll add a little flare to our business and a slight advantage over competitors.

Thanks for your post Sophist!