TOPIC: Clients Paying for Inspections Online

If the connection drops it should have thrown an error though. Try it from a landline rather than a cell tower. I can only imagine that the upload speed on the wireless is pretty slow too.

Wow, after 2 weeks of research I've found a huge range of prices. It's not easy to find a company willing to waive monthly charges, monthly minimums, start up charges, have no contract as well as good prices. So, this brings me to a question for you guys. While I am going to continue researching other options with banks, would you be opposed to having the option of using Google Checkout, or Paypal as your processor? Your client would not need an account with either, they would just enter in their credit card information and pay like normal. The difference is that you need to request through your Google/Paypal account for the money to be transferred to your bank account, or request a check from them. Using a normal credit card processor would mean the money would be deposited into your account the same or next day.

Why would I choose Google/Paypal? Because as of right now they give you the best rates by far. In fact I even looked into what some of the other inspection software companies are getting for their users and it's still better. From what I've seen the other inspection programs are paying from 2.2%-2.6% + .50 per transaction. On a $250 job, that equates to $6.00-$7.00! If we went with Google checkout, they charge 2% plus .20 which would mean $5.20, which is a $1-$2 savings per inspection. If you're doing 2 jobs a day that could be around $60 in savings. It actually could be more as some of the other vendors banks had extra charges for different types of cards.

There's another perk. If you use Google Adwords, then you pay NO CHARGES for up to 10 times your adwords budget. So if you spend $300 on Google adwords in a month then you wouldn't need to pay any payment charges on $3,000 worth of credit card processing.

So, what do you think? Even if I can find a bank to give all of you a good rate, I might go through the extra effort of setting up Google/Paypal as an option anyways. Would you use them?

I would go with paypal just because of rep , if it is between the two.
Clients would feel more secure with that name.

Even though Google would be cheaper, after doing more research, Google can't be an option at this time. Google requires that all people making payments (YOUR Clients) have to have a Google account. Which would mean they'd have to go off to the Google site and register if they didn't have one. That's too many steps. Paypal does not have that requirement.

I'm still in negotiations with several banks trying to get the best prices possible for you guys.

My thoughts on the possibility of not allowing the client to be able to see or download a report unless they paid is a great feature.  In this way, the report is there and the client will feel more obligated to pay to get to see their report.  In waiting to email the client the report until they pay kind of gives the feeling that maybe the inspector does not have the report ready for me yet, and it is his fault that I have not paid yet.  You may think this funny, but people are real funny, especially when it comes to shelling out money and they are usually skeptical as it is.  I like to be able to put that report right in front of their eyes, ON TIME, and then the ball is ALL in their court for paying...NO EXCUSES.  As a side note, I think that the upload service is a GREAT idea in that it provides a common place for your reports to be stored; if you should happen to lose your copy on your computer because of a crash (PC's ONLY ;D) and the state of who knows wants copies for an audit...boy I will be glad that Dominic has them on his server.  Oh, and by the way, let's all get on the band wagon and pay Dominic $20.00 a month for the upload service.  This will keep the cost very reasonable and he deserves the money in that he is not charging for upgrades at this time.  Think about what you are or have been paying for upload service, updates, etc. with those other HI inspecting software outfits.  Let's do our part in keeping Dominic "employed" and reap the reasonable upload service charges and free updates.  Sign up for the service as soon as the 3 month trial runs out...I AM ;D ;D

All of my clients pay on site at this point.