All entrepreneurs are affected by remote payments.
Depending on the nature of your business, this type of payment may be an absolute necessity or just an opportunity to make more sales.
But do you know all the ways to collect payments remotely? By e-mail, by SMS, by telephone…?
We will start our overview of remote payment methods in a moment, but a small clarification beforehand:
We will not deal with payment solutions that require creating an e-commerce site, but only solutions that can be implemented very quickly by a self-employed person, a self-employed person, a merchant, or a VSE.
Easy remote payment with payment links
Do you know the payment links? Yes? Nope?
It is, however, the easiest method of getting paid remotely
Email or SMS is used to send a link from an application
After clicking the form link, the customer lands on a payment page, where he enters his bank card information
The customer receives a confirmation SMS or e-mail.
No need to enter the customer’s details beforehand, because payment links are a means of payment like any other and are not comparable to an invoice: instead of paying by check or with a payment terminal, the customer pays online with payment links.
Payment over the phone or by mail with the virtual terminal
It’s like having a payment terminal ready to accept card payments, except that it’s virtual. And your customer is tens or thousands of kilometers away.
How does it work?
The customer places an order over the phone or sends his order by physical mail or e-mail with his credit card details.
You enter the customer’s card data yourself into your virtual terminal
The customer receives a confirmation SMS or e-mail.
This remote payment method requires a bond of trust between the customer and the merchant. Indeed, contrary to the usual online payments, it is the merchant and not the customer who fills in this bank card data.
The remote payment modules of invoicing software
Do you still do your invoices by hand with Word and Excel?
It might be time to switch to online invoicing.
This will allow you to edit clean, standard invoices in several languages and correctly numbered, but also to accept payments by credit card and PayPal.
This will avoid checks and reduce the risk of non-payment with occasional customers. Large customers will still be able to pay you by bank transfer.
Most online invoicing software offers this service, but the number of online payment platforms varies:
You send your invoice by e-mail.
The customer clicks if he wishes on an online payment button.
He is redirected to a credit card payment page.
He receives a confirmation email and your invoicing software automatically marks the invoice as paid
Invoicing software is even capable of making reminders as long as payment has not been made!
Merchants who usually sell in B2C or newbie entrepreneurs who have not yet made the switch to online invoicing will prefer payment links.
Which remote payment method to choose?
To summarize :
Payment links are suitable for many situations in addition to a paper invoice, whether the customers are individuals or professionals.
Examples:
- A shop, which wants to start selling online very quickly because of the pandemic situation.
- A craftsman who prefers to be paid online rather than by check.
- A self-employed person who does not want to give his bank details to an occasional customer and is looking for an alternative to bank transfers.
The payment modules of online invoicing software can be used both with individuals and occasional business customers, instead of transfers. Advantages: automatic reminder in the event of non-payment, automatic validation of the payment. Disadvantages: more expensive than a transfer.
The virtual terminal will be used only in the context of an online sales activity to individuals.
