Online Payments

[cbale2000]

I setup a PayPal payment system as an option for other teams to pay registration costs for the off-season event we host every year. It works pretty good and the fee to use it is pretty low. It also has the nice added feature of being compatible with a "Square" card reader so it can be used as an on-site payment option as well.

Overall PayPal is great for single-item purchases, but harder to setup for multi-item shopping carts; for our purposes it works fine though. Our team has never had the need to use PayPal for any other team functions however, as we don't charge team members for anything except T-Shirts (which are optional to buy, and loaned out otherwise), and all those transactions are handled in person with cash or check.

[sanddrag]

I've used Stripe successfully in the past. It has Squarespace integration (not to be confused with Square) but Squarespace has recently become quite expensive.

Stripe has reasonable rates that are per-transaction only, with no ongoing monthly costs. However, I think they lack the mobile reader device that Square has. I haven't looked into it much.

[Chris Fultz]

We use paypal for IRI and IndyRAGE payments.

Paypal has a good invoicing process where you can detail the charges and submit a single invoice with multiple items. When someone pays, it automatically marks the invoice paid. If they pay with check or cash, you can go into paypal and enter the payment.

For the IRI charity auction, we use Square. Easy to use a credit or debit card and you can provide a receipt by text or email.

All of these services charge a fee. I think Paypal is 3% unless the paying person has a paypal account they are using (instead of a credit card). 3% doesn't sound like much, but it can add up quickly. If you use Square into a paypal account, you get fees twice. We use these because payment is much easier for teams.

[GreyingJay]

These fees are actually pretty reasonable if you consider the alternative, which is to set up your own account with a merchant services company so you can take credit or debit card payments. These usually have a monthly rental fee for terminal hardware, ON TOP of the credit card processing fees which are still in the 1-2% range.

FRC teams are probably low volume or seasonal so the pay-as-you-go nature of services like PayPal or Square are ideal for our situations.

[Scott L.]

https://www.oscommerce.com/

integrates with paypal.

Square is good option for on site payments. the reader is free for the regular swipe reader if you order right from square, and the chip reader is $60, which also includes a a wipe reader. the chip reader connects through bluetooth to your phone or tablet

[FrankJ]

We are using paypal. About 3% in fees depending on how payment is made. A lot easier than tracking down checks, and writing receipts. Payment trail is nice too. We factor in the fees in our budget.

[hardcopi]

Amazon payments is the way I would go. They have a square-type thing for your phone as well. Costs like $10 or $15 which they refund after you use it. Good rates and they have provisions for non-profits. You can get cash or amazon credit whenever you want.

They also integrate with most ecommerce programs. (I do this for a living and it worked really well on the last project)