I'm researching the whole payment processing thing and noticed that some of you accept payment by direct deposit. How exactly does that work? Don't you have to give out your bank account info? Is that really a safe practice?
I like paypal and direct deposit sounds nice too, but I'm kind of leary.

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Norma D. Landis, Quest Virtual Assistant Services
www.questvas.com

Hi Norma, I've accepted direct deposits in the past (three years ago) and it was hit or miss as to getting paid on time [the bank didn't seem to have it's act together, and at times I think my client didn't have money to pay but used the bank as an excuse...]. As a result I switched to accepting PayPal only for a long time and only recently started accepting check payments from long time clients. One of those clients asked to to do direct deposit again so we just set it up last week - I had to give her my account number and my bank's routing number - that was all. Of course, I might not be inclined to share that info with a brand new client but she's been with us for almost four years now. All in all, I don't see direct deposit as a liability when used for payments from long term clients with a good payment history.

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Thanks Tess! That makes sense. Since I'm just starting out and all of my clients will be new clients, I think I'll put direct deposit on the back burner for a while. Thanks again for the input.

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Norma D. Landis, Quest Virtual Assistant Services
www.questvas.com

I manage direct deposits for a client of mine. I think that there has to be a high level of trust because in this day and age, you just don't know. I use PayPal and although I am not thrilled with their fees, I do like that layer of protection that I have between the depositor and my bank account!

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Doreen R. Patrick, MVA, ACS, CIVA
www.virtualbusinesspartners.net

Hi Norma:

I only have one client that took on direct deposit as a form of payment, but she assured me it was through ADP Payroll Processing - which is a valid company I have heard of before. Therefore, I allowed her my account information and such. Direct deposit works like a charm, but for any other clients that used some other means of direct deposit - I would prefer payment via Paypal. It's much quicker for me. Good luck!!

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Aspiring VA - Jean
http://network.govirtualwithjean.com

Does PayPal allow you to automatically deduct fees from the clients preferred card (with their approval of course) as opposed to having to invoice the client and wait for them to pay it?

Thank You

Susan Myers
Having a Virtual Advantage, LLC

Think about it... if you write a check to someone, they have your routing and account number. There's very little someone can do with that information that would be permanent. I have a few clients that pay me via direct deposit/ACH/etc. I love it! It shows up in my bank account, no merchant fees, no paypal fees. I would be leery of giving my info to someone from Nigeria or something, but a regular old client. Sure thing! They'd have all that information if I were to write them a check for a referral anyway

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Candy Beauchamp, OffAssist

Ditto what Candy said. Also, I don't know about the USA, but here in Canada, we also have "Interac E-mail Money Transfers" which if you are using a major bank is a form of instant payment. I use them all the time, you just need to agree on a password (kind of like Western Union) and it's all done through the wonder of e-mail and online banking. I use it all the time to accept payments on two products I sell and will use it for my VA Clients as well.

More info on the process can be found at

http://www.interac.ca/consumers/prod...ces_ol_emt.php

Amanda

Listening to all the negative stories and information on Paypal, helps me to realize that I need an alternative method to receive payment from my clients. I guess it's back to the drawing board on the research. Thank you all.

Intuit, the maker of QuickBooks, recently launched the Intuit PaymentNetwork. Both you and your client need to register for an account, which is not much different from PayPal, really. Once you both have accounts, you can request money from your client -- you pay a single, $0.50 fee and the money is transferred directly to your bank account within 2-4 days. It's a price that can't be beat, from what I can tell!! You don't have to give your client any bank information at all.

I have a blog post on the topic with more details, if you're interested:
http://greenleafaccounting.com/blog/...r-than-paypal/

Deb

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Deb Howard Greenleaf, Certified QB ProAdvisor
Virtual Bookkeeping & QB Consulting