25 replies to this topic

[EGOL]

We have a few retail websites with a shopping cart that allows people to pay with a credit card. Occasionally a customer would call us and ask if they could send us a check instead. That was fine with us and we gave them instructions to pay by check.

We decided to ad a line on the bottom of the shopping cart page that says... "Want to Pay by Check?"... That line says... "Put your items in the cart and print the cart page... Mail the cart page with your check to the address below. We will ship your order as soon as your check is received.

This appears at the bottom of the shopping cart page in small text. Most people probably don't see it. But now, we have a steady flow of checks coming in. We are all amazed at how many people pay by check.

The demographics for the site where these orders are coming from reveals that most of the visitors are males, 40-60 years old. I doubt that we would get that many checks if younger people were the primary visitors.

[tam]

That's interesting! I used to offer a choice of cheque or card when selling my first book online (2003 ish), and cheque was quite popular initially but gradually tailed off and I removed the option we I redid the site. I guess there are some demographics that are still cheque people though. Only trouble is you either have to wait for the cheque to clear (which can be quite a delay) or take it on trust that it will clear - I'm not sure it's an option I'd offer on higher value orders.

[chuckfinley]

The demographics for the site where these orders are coming from reveals that most of the visitors are males, 40-60 years old. I doubt that we would get that many checks if younger people were the primary visitors.

It's a sign they don't trust the site (maybe) and it makes sense that if that is the case, it would happen in that demographic.

It would be interesting to know if they still send checks if PayPal is offered. If they went for PayPal instead, it would confirm that trust is the issue and you could work on implementing design elements that will increase trust.

Just out of curiosity, what part of the country are they from when they send checks?

[jonbey]

I think the UK is planning to stop cheques soon. Hang on ... searching ... 2018 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8414341.stm

Few people use them in big towns etc. but certainly in the more remote areas where there are fewer VISA card readers or cash points, people use cheque. But they are a bit old hat aren't they?

[EGOL]

That is an amazing story, Jon. I have not heard anything about the "end of the check" in the USA.

I hope that they don't get rid of them soon. I like to pay that way.

[bobbb]

They don't trust the site but they send them their bank account number and their signature on a cheque. Not more secure IMHO.

With the exception of GoDaddy, today if it's not PayPal it's me doing business elsewhere. (This is not PayPal commercial)

[iamlost]

In my experience cheques are being dropped except for business use or by older people (and they use only locally where they are personally known, i.e. grocery store, because otherwise it can be days to weeks before a cheque fully clears and the merchant sends the goods - EGOL is unusual in my experience with fulfilment on receipt rather than on clear) with chipped debit or chipped credit or cash being favoured offline payment methods.

While many people I know agree with bobbb and use PayPal online almost as many use a dedicated credit card they can track in real time (to watch for misuse). The reason is for the various perks, i.e. air miles, cancellation insurance, etc.

Note: this is just the type of edge that a small webdev can build on that an enterprise site never could. While it, specifically, may not be appropriate for one's business model the idea of looking for customer value competitive advantage wedges is not. Thanks, EGOL.

[EGOL]

EGOL is unusual in my experience with fulfilment on receipt rather than on clear

My father used to have a small business as a vendor at arts and crafts fairs. When he was accepted as a vendor at a very large one we were talking with the director of the show about accepting checks and he said that he never heard of a vendor receiving a bad check. He said something like "the type of person who buys these items rarely passes a bad check". So we accepted checks for years, never got a bad one and talked with several other vendors who had the same experience.

The items that I am selling on this site are not far removed from arts and crafts thus probably bought by similar people. So far none of the checks have been bad. However, I can say that I have lost quite a bit of money on multiple occasions selling to academic institutions who have sent me a purchase order. They make you jump through high tiny hoops to accept their POs, then make you hound them to get paid - often without success. So I don't take POs anymore from anybody.

[DonnaFontenot]

Checks = old people.

[chuckfinley]

In my experience cheques are being dropped except for business use or by older people (and they use only locally where they are personally known, i.e. grocery store

The credit card fees that are coming may bring back the use of checks.

But until then, I write one check every 3 months -- did you know that you can't pay online with State Farm Insurance?

Edited by chuckfinley, 22 July 2012 - 07:06 PM.

[glyn]

There is no point getting ideological about things when it comes to payment. You might think it's an old thing a young thing or whatever. The bottom line is that the payment mechanism needs to be as broad as possible and cover as many bases so that all the options are available to the user.

Over here in Italy Bank transfer is still popular!

In another form of payment the lack of consumer protection and the ability for people to get away with being cheeky to you online, makes people much more cautious about spending before seeing things. Because of this we have a payment mechanism called "Contrassegno".

Check this out guys this will bend your minds:

A person selects this payment mechanism, and the order is sent by the seller via the post office to the recipient. When the postman rings at the door, the customers pays the postman, and you then get the money back through the postal system.

You would not believe how popular this is, and the reason is that it satisfies the "at least I know it is not a scam" culture.

One of the things that you do need to incorporate into any form of non-electronic payment is the administrative burden that the payment processor has on your business. Do that and you can pay me in gold bars if you like, I won't care, I'll just include a fee to melt it down and turn it into money first.

Edited by glyn, 23 July 2012 - 03:18 AM.

[bobbb]

You would not believe how popular this is, and the reason is that it satisfies the "at least I know it is not a scam" culture

I don't blame them, from what I've read Italy is scam city. (before sending hate mail pls check out my family name)

It's called COD here. Not done anymore.

[iamlost]

It's called COD here. Not done anymore.

Rare... but coincidentally just 10-min ago I paid Purolator (Post office courier) at the door for a COD package from the US.
We now have a fancy towable ski tube for fun at the lake... just why we need a third even larger one I haven't got a clue...

[chuckfinley]

It's called COD here. Not done anymore.

The cost of using credit cards is getting ready to skyrocket. I wouldn't be surprised to see checks come back and with the speed and low cost of shipping, COD isn't out of the question.

Did you see that Amazon is going to standard next day shipping and same day shipping for Amazon Prime members (presumably on selected products). And what's more, Google's thinking about competing with Amazon on the same day shipping.
-- http://finance.yahoo...-151801298.html

-- http://www.forbes.co...pping-wsj-says/

If the cost of credit card use (since costs are likely to shift from merchants to users) increases, it may be profitable for Amazon to collect the money and guarantee the merchant's collections, for a fee of course. If it's profitable, the markets will deliver it.

And, doesn't it always seem to go that what was old is always recycled after time in a new wrapping? If Amazon or Google do this, it's just COD with a different name.

Rare... but coincidentally just 10-min ago I paid Purolator (Post office courier) at the door for a COD package from the US.
We now have a fancy towable ski tube for fun at the lake... just why we need a third even larger one I haven't got a clue...

That's wild! I wouldn't have thought it still existed. So now we know the service is there. If it's less expensive (considering out of pocket and loss prevention), it will come back. If the Post Office survives that is. If they don't, someone else will do it.

Only time will tell, but it's not out of the realm of possibility.

And I would imagine that the worse the economy gets, the more likely that COD will be the most profitable medium.

Edited by chuckfinley, 24 July 2012 - 02:31 PM.

[bobbb]

. but coincidentally just 10-min ago I paid Purolator (Post office courier) at the door for a COD package from the US

...and by cheque I bet.

In one comment you just destroyed two ideas, in this thread, that were tagged as going dead.

The cost of using credit cards is getting ready to skyrocket

OK that's twice I hear this. Is there a link to this that I can read.

Edited by bobbb, 24 July 2012 - 02:50 PM.

[jonbey]

Maybe that is a concern - cheques get eliminated and then the credit card companies raise fees.

Pretty sure my bank debit card as a feature that allows instant payment. Or is that my phone .... either way, probably will not be long until you can pay using a card without having to sign anything / punch in numbers.

But it does still require everybody to be up to date. Great for city businesses, not so useful for market stalls and country shops.

[chuckfinley]

Maybe that is a concern - cheques get eliminated and then the credit card companies raise fees.

Here it's the politicians trying to regulate the financial industry that will cause the increased fees for consumers. What the politicians don't understand is that a market is highly complex and impossible to control. When you try to regulate business, they just go a different way and a new group ends up holding the bag. A little like pushing on a water balloon -- if you push here, the water will be forced to a new part of the balloon.

Edited by chuckfinley, 24 July 2012 - 04:18 PM.

[bwelford]

Here in Canada, the Royal Bank has introduced virtual Visa cards. When you buy with such a virtual Visa card, the amount is withdrawn from your bank account instantly. There are no fees for using this service. In general the Royal bank is pretty swift on this online banking technology. it does require that the merchant has accepted the use of virtual Visa cards and I imagine the merchant is paying a fee for this.

[chuckfinley]

OK that's twice I hear this. Is there a link to this that I can read.

http://www.freakonom...-for-your-cash/

http://online.wsj.co...wsj_share_email

And......I assure you there will be more that the credit card companies will do to make up the difference. Beyond the move in the above articles, they can't get it from merchants. I wonder who they will charge to make up the difference? .......Be assured of one thing, they will make up the difference. Isn't that great work that Chris Dodd and Barney Frank are doing for us up there. Wonder why they both retired and won't be running in the Nov election (can you spell housing collapse)?

As I understand it, implementation of the Dodd-Frank Consumer Protection bill will take more man hours in the from of Lawyers and Bureaucrats than it took to build the Suez Canal. Is that a wise allocation of society's resources -- funding Lawyers and Bureaucrats rather than building infrastructure? Economic geniuses.......

Edited by chuckfinley, 24 July 2012 - 04:26 PM.

[bobbb]

There are no fees for using this service

For now.

I remember when they were trying to get us used to ATMs. (same with credit cards) All was free. Not too free now. Anyone else notice how banks are nickel and diming us on all kinds of stuff that use to be "free".

After reading those 2 articles:
CASH is king (no fees)..... especially when buying a coffee.

Edited by bobbb, 24 July 2012 - 04:55 PM.