I'm very interested in ProPay's seemingly "too good to be true" service. Does anyone know what the catch (if any) might be with this company? (www.propay.com) They say they've been in business for quite a few years. I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop - preferably before I drop money on it. Anyone? Thanks in advance!! - Jeremy

I've used them for 3 years, with only one problem when a customer forgot that he had bought something from me and contested the charge. That cost me a fee, something like $15 although when I sent in a copy of the original receipt he payed it but I was still out the fee. I guess that could happen with any charge company?
You have to put the charges through Propay's site on the web after you get back to your computer. (I have yet to be at a fair that has wifi available) A couple of times I had a card denied, but then I had enough information to get in touch with the customer directly and got paid. I know that in some states you are not supposed to get the cardholder's address & phone # but I've never had anyone object to that. Nor have I ever had anyone object to the fact that I am copying their entire card number out longhand on the receipt. Art fair patrons seem to be so glad that I take charges at all that they aren't about to quibble at how I do it.
Propay gave me a $1000 total/ $100 per transaction monthly limit which was OK since I don't get a whole lot of charges, and I was able to split charges of over $100 into smaller bundles to get around that, but after a year I complained to them and they upped my limit to $2000/$200 which has suited me.
I had not wanted to go the whole "regular" charge company route because my charge sale volume doesn't justify paying out the large costs of having all the equipment plus the yearly fee. Propay at $35/year suits me fine. I guess if you get high volume of charge sales it wouldn't be sufficient for you.

>>I guess that could happen with any charge company?<<

Actually no! We use Global Payments out of Maryland and I've got a retrieval request sitting here in front of me now for $115.11 and it will cost me the stamp to sent in the copy of the receipt and that's it. If it actually was a charge back, I lose the sale and the fees to accomplish the sale. If it reinstates, I'm charged the fees as if it were a new sale.

Obviously, I will send in the retrieval request ASAP to avoid that. The company I use is typical of most merchant services companies out there. They all charge fees, and the one that best fits your particular needs is what works best for you.

Global Payments deposits not only our Visa & M/C sales dollars the next day into our bank, but they also deposit our Discover and Amex dollars without charge automatically, but it takes two to three days for those dollars to appear. G/P takes out their percentage before deposit, so I must contact our bank to see the actual deposits made. Amex & Discover are full dollar deposits and then they remove their fees once monthly from our checking account.

This works for us...We've heard both good & bad of Propay, so I can't help much on that line of questioning.

I have used them for 1 1/2 years and they have worked great for me. There is no catch. I took the cell phone option of calling in charges. If I get a large charge, or I have a funny feeling about a card, I call it in on the spot. At a slow time I call the rest in. At a good show I just imput them in the computer in the evening.
I like their service.

so, for propay, there is a $35 yearly fee and that's it??? What/if any percentage of sales or per transaction fees?

tweety, do you have a "knucklebuster" or do you actually write out their card info?

where is a good place to get a knucklebuster for a reasonable price?

thanks!

We've got several of them. Most credit card companies have them if you ask for them, I would think...? If you could get the plate that fits on them or a credit card that imprints your account number and name (You then run your card before the customer card) it would seem that that is all that would be necessary to have a hard copy of the transaction including a signature.

Only in a rare instance when our machines do not work well do we pull out the dreaded knuckle buster.

I have used Propay for a year now, and am pleased. The only problem I have is the aforementioned chargeback, but IMHO it's worth it.

I am on the second tier (they have three) of service. I pay $59 a year, and there is a charge of 3.25% +.35 per transaction. I can take MC/Visa/Amex/Disc, and use a knucklebuster I bought on eBay for $5. The guy who sold me the knucklebuster also sold me a set of 100 cc slips, and made me a plate with my name and address on it for $3 more.

My limits are $500 a month/$5000 a year, which is fine for me right now. I can up it if I need to.

I write it all out longhand, it takes a few moments longer but it works for me. Propay wants you to get the address for the card plus the extra number on the back of the card and you have to write that all out anyway. The .35 cents per transaction mentioned is not for each charge processed, but for each bundle of completed charges (the day's take) sent on to your bank from propay.

I have used ProPay for almost two years without any problems. My clients are grateful that I accept V,MC, AmEx, and Discover cards.
I have used my cell phone and laptop without a hitch.
Sorry, I did have a problem with denials from a couple of close friends.
I got paid cash that week.
I remember the reason was their cards were debit cards not credit cards.
Any others with this problem? Any suggestions on how to remedy this?

Propay is great I have used them for five plus years - they now havev a little machine that you can run a card through that fits i the palm of your hand check there web site for info.

Stephen,
Do you have a wireless terminal? I have an old Nurit and it works fine. We're with Merchant's Services of PA. (John Castle) I see a LOT of work writing down numbers on a piece of paper. What if you get a number wrong? And getting a customer's address as well as the CVV? That's illegal in many states. And I haven't given out my real phone number in over 15 years. The only thing we can require is a Zip code. Those pesky privacy laws, you know. That's why I like the terminal. Just swipe the card, get authorization or declination, and you're done. I'm charged a $25 fee for chargebacks and the receipt MUST be either a printout from a terminal or an imprinted slip. NO handwritten receipts will be accepted as that's not proof the customer handed me her card. After I show proof the customer did purchase from me, that $25 is refunded. And since Diane and I are doing separate shows in different states this year, I'm buying another terminal (used) on Ebay. I got one fior $300 reconditioned. And both have Store and Foward in case I can't get a signal. Just go back to the hotel, plug it into the phone, and upload all the transactions at once. It takes 3 seconds for each transaction. And I get the swipe rate (1.69%)

I signed up with ProPay several weeks ago and processed over 80 transactions without any problems. Propay requires you capture cc#, expiration date, and billing zip code. However the "Transaction Description" (which is what customers see on their bill) included my email address and phone #, and NOT my company's name. Hence I have had several calls from folks who didn't know what the transaction was for. Readily resolved over the phone. However I have been trying now for a week to get ProPay to change the Transaction Description to my company's name and phone #. I am certainly NOT impressed with their customer service so far. I've heard there is a website that compares credit card processing services. Anyone know the website address?

I have the propay card reader and really like it...my only complaint is it take 2-4 days to get your money!!

I've had propay since Dec. I also have an old nurit 3010 I put it in demo mode, edited the trailer so there's a place for a phone # and billing zipcode, so at the shows I can swipe the cards, get the full cc# and exp. date. The customer signs the sales slip and puts the zipcode and their tel # on my copy of the slip. At night I just input the cards with my computer. I've had one chargeback and one declined so far both were resolved quickly. The reason I went with propay is that I've don't do as many shows as I used to and it just didn't make sense for me to upgrade to an $800 machine and still pay all of the fees that come with a wireless merchant account. You can also go online and edit what is put on the statement that your customer gets. As for the check cards I just run them as credit cards with no problem. A friend of mine has been using propay for 6 years and she's very happy with them. hope this helps

I solved the problem of trying to get my company info to show up on a ProPay charge by using an email that incorporates my business name (artstudio@mac.com for example.) ProPay uses your email addy as the indentifier. I already have such an email addy, but it should be easy enough to establish one and edit your ProPay acct to reflect the new email. Then the customer sees your company name on the bill.

Did that make any sense?