{"id":13768,"date":"2013-09-06T00:51:50","date_gmt":"2013-09-05T23:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=13768"},"modified":"2013-09-06T00:51:50","modified_gmt":"2013-09-05T23:51:50","slug":"paypal-here-chip-pin-card-reader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=13768","title":{"rendered":"PayPal Here Chip & Pin Card Reader"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have edited this article significantly to make it clearer. The first card reader I purchased was an iZettle, and I was happy with it for a while. I had looked at the PayPal option when it first launched and PayPal’s support staff gave me conflicting information about money be tied up ‘in reserve’, which was totally unacceptable and I went with iZettle. iZettle performed flawlessly right up until the time they botched an app update and blamed it on my HTC phone suddenly being ‘unsupported’, and basically just told me ‘tough’. They almost killed my business overnight, so when they came back and apologised after acknowledging the fact that they had screwed up, it was too late. I had opted for the PayPal system after discovering that what they<\/strong> had told me over a year earlier was incorrect. I now use the PayPal system and it is perfect<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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SEE THIS ARTICLE ON THE IZETTLE READER<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Something I\u2019ve always wanted to be able to do is take credit and debit card payments for lessons in-car. However, the traditional way of doing this has been to open a merchant account<\/a> and then purchase (or rent) a suitable credit card terminal<\/a>, which is costly \u2013 particularly if your turnover is small. The terminal rental alone would have cost upwards of \u00a310 a month (they\u2019re \"PayPalabout \u00a3200 to buy), and then there would be transaction fees on top of that, plus any set up fees for the merchant account itself. Plus, they were about the size of a toaster.<\/p>\n

Yes, I could have done it. But driving instructors do not operate with high margins, and the cost would have been unacceptably high to me as a sole trader.<\/p>\n

But all that is changing. There are a number of new solutions which combine a simple card reader with a smartphone. I\u2019ve looked at several and have finally plumped for PayPal Here\u2019s system<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A definite contender was iZettle\u2019s option<\/a>. The attraction here was the fact that their transaction fees operate on a sliding scale. However, what tipped the balance against this for me was the fact that payments only appear in your bank account 3-4 working days later<\/strong>, and I was also a little unclear on what would happen if someone\u2019s card effectively \u201cbounced\u201d, since iZettle\u2019s website at the time said that clearance didn\u2019t happen immediately. (NOTE: THERE IS A DELAY WITH ALL SYSTEMS – NO METHOD PAYS MONEY INTO YOUR ACCOUNT IMMEDIATELY<\/del> – actually, this is not true: PayPal’s system pays you pretty much straight away.).<\/p>\n

As an example, the Friday before Late Summer Bank Holiday I received a cheque in the post. I paid it into my bank account the next day (Saturday) using the automatic paying-in machine at my branch. It didn\u2019t actually clear until very late the following Friday \u2013 shortly before midnight, as far as I could tell. I had phoned my bank that Friday to find out what was happening, and the story was that the cheque wouldn\u2019t have been processed until Tuesday, thereafter it would clear 3-4 working days later. I definitely do not want any credit or debit card payments taking that long to be cleared \u2013 I\u2019d be getting paid up to a week later!<\/p>\n

PayPal\u2019s system clears payment immediately and pays it straight into your PayPal account.<\/p>\n

Since it was announced in the spring, I\u2019ve been canvassing my pupils on the subject \u2013 and all except for two have said that being able to pay by card in the car would be a huge advantage to them (i.e. it would mean not having to go to the cash point the night before). It would also be a huge advantage to me, since:<\/p>\n