Mobile Credit Card hold system

alexlyons

High folks,

Just doing a bit of a business plan, and I have the need to take some form of deposit from people, or place a hold on their card.

Just wondering what people feel about this, is it acceptable etc, and what is the best way of going about it.

Basically it will involve the rental of a product for a short period of time for a pretty small fee, and will be mobile. Someone will realise they need our service and need it now, they contact us and we bring the product to them. We know where our target market will be, but that's not the issue at all.

The issue is when we bring them the product, we need some form of collateral so we get it back, or can recoup the cost of theft/breakage etc.

Hold fees will be relatively small, about €100.

Was wondering if paypal would work or if they offer such a service, or could something like "Square" work to do it?

Basically, how would you guys go about taking deposits or credit card holds on the go, without the need for a complex website/system to process it for you.

I'm relatively inexperienced in this field so could be missing a very easy solution.

irishgeo

alexlyons wrote: »

High folks,

Just doing a bit of a business plan, and I have the need to take some form of deposit from people, or place a hold on their card.

Just wondering what people feel about this, is it acceptable etc, and what is the best way of going about it.

Basically it will involve the rental of a product for a short period of time for a pretty small fee, and will be mobile. Someone will realise they need our service and need it now, they contact us and we bring the product to them. We know where our target market will be, but that's not the issue at all.

The issue is when we bring them the product, we need some form of collateral so we get it back, or can recoup the cost of theft/breakage etc.

Hold fees will be relatively small, about €100.

Was wondering if paypal would work or if they offer such a service, or could something like "Square" work to do it?

Basically, how would you guys go about taking deposits or credit card holds on the go, without the need for a complex website/system to process it for you.

I'm relatively inexperienced in this field so could be missing a very easy solution.

do you have a credit card merchant account?

What you plan to do is called - pre authorisation.
you take a deposit of €100 of the card and then if you don't finalise the transaction the €100 disappears off trier card.


You could also use the paypal refund service

Send a refund for a purchase

You can send refunds within 60 days of receiving a payment. Refunds are available only for transactions involving the purchase of goods and services.

alexlyons

No we don't have one yet, but we're looking into it, just weighing up all the costs.

I have read that all card payments are in fact pre authorisations, and then you do the end of day and it processes them all (something I've done in shops but never fully understood the reasoning).

Is there a way of processing a deliberate deposit, that automatically cancels after a period of time?
Then say if one out of ten deposits taken in a day need to be charged, all ten would be canceled and we process the one that has to be charged again but this time not as a deposit, but as a full payment.

I ask this because say you buy something in a shop, and then go in for a refund, they have to go through the whole refund process with the card etc.
In terms of a doing a deliberate deposit like we plan, the normal payment method looks a bit messy for the customer, even if they aren't there to see it.

irishgeo

alexlyons wrote: »

No we don't have one yet, but we're looking into it, just weighing up all the costs.

I have read that all card payments are in fact pre authorisations, and then you do the end of day and it processes them all (something I've done in shops but never fully understood the reasoning).

Thats correct the credit card terminal only checks you have a balance and the card is not stolen then at night process the whole days transactions and thats waht appears on your card.

alexlyons wrote: »

Is there a way of processing a deliberate deposit, that automatically cancels after a period of time?
Then say if one out of ten deposits taken in a day need to be charged, all ten would be canceled and we process the one that has to be charged again but this time not as a deposit, but as a full payment.

I dont think thats possible to be honest.

alexlyons wrote: »

I ask this because say you buy something in a shop, and then go in for a refund, they have to go through the whole refund process with the card etc.
In terms of a doing a deliberate deposit like we plan, the normal payment method looks a bit messy for the customer, even if they aren't there to see it.

I dont quite get what you mean here.

alexlyons

On the last bit there that you don't get, let me try explain or ask a bit better. Or even ask a different question that may give me a better understanding of the way it works.

Take a car rental company for example.

They take a hold, for arguments sake, of €100, from your credit or debit card. This may last for up to 1 week or longer, for example.

They process their end of day each evening and confirm the transactions.

How does the system know that the hold placed on my card for €100 is in fact a hold and not to be processed fully?

Also, it is possible to process the "hold" on a CC machine to take a "hold" on a card, without going through the whole sale process with printing receipts one for customer one for business etc?

irishgeo

alexlyons wrote: »

On the last bit there that you don't get, let me try explain or ask a bit better. Or even ask a different question that may give me a better understanding of the way it works.

Take a car rental company for example.

They take a hold, for arguments sake, of €100, from your credit or debit card. This may last for up to 1 week or longer, for example.

They process their end of day each evening and confirm the transactions.

How does the system know that the hold placed on my card for €100 is in fact a hold and not to be processed fully?

Also, it is possible to process the "hold" on a CC machine to take a "hold" on a card, without going through the whole sale process with printing receipts one for customer one for business etc?

its explained here how it works.

Pre-Authorisation

A pre-authorisation usually occurs at a hotel or similar (e.g. Bed & Breakfast, hostel, etc). It describes the process whereby the hotel staff request your payment card upon arrival. They swipe or dip the card and in most cases will request either a signature or your PIN.

For many years, hotels have had a practice of taking a deposit upon customer arrival. This deposit is to cover costs to the hotel in the event the customer leaves without paying the full bill. Before payment cards were used, hotels would haven taken this deposit either in the form of cash or cheque. Since payment cards were introduced, hotels now take what is referred to as a ‘pre-authorisation' on the payment card. This pre-authorisation earmarks a specific amount of funds to cover the hotel bill and incidentals such as catering, etc. Funds are earmarked until the bill for the hotel is settled in full. An account is not debited when a pre-authorisation is processed.

You are entitled to refuse a pre-authorisation when booking into a hotel, but if a hotel in which you are staying wishes to take an advance deposit then they are entitled to request one and if you do not have cash or a cheque to hand, then the payment card is the obvious next option. Keying in your PIN during a pre-authorisation simply verifies that you are the owner of the card. It is a security measure for the hotel and is normal practice.

Note: Pre-authorisation is not permitted on Laser Cards.

I am not sure if its allowded on the new visa debit cards.

usually the terminal offers the option of check in and check out.

alexlyons

Lovely, that's great. Going by that, it seems to be a deliberate feature of the machines, meaning it's not going to close off the transaction with the rest of them.

I'm looking into these with the banks, but before I get a chance to do that, any idea on what sort of money your talking in terms of getting the unit and standard account charges? I know the latter would vary but an idea would be great just so its in my head until I get a chance to make formal enquiries.

irishgeo

alexlyons wrote: »

Lovely, that's great. Going by that, it seems to be a deliberate feature of the machines, meaning it's not going to close off the transaction with the rest of them.

I'm looking into these with the banks, but before I get a chance to do that, any idea on what sort of money your talking in terms of getting the unit and standard account charges? I know the latter would vary but an idea would be great just so its in my head until I get a chance to make formal enquiries.

its usually a contract and they charge a fee on every tansaction, the lower the amount of money you put through the higer the amount of fees. your only every renting the terminal

Streamline seem to be offering the best rates at present.

alexlyons

you've been an amazing help, I really really appreciate it. Your patience is to be envied!