Accepting Payments

Accepting Payments

I never start a project without having payment first. When you buy anything from Amazon or Etsy, you are expected to pay first and then get your item. Your business is no exception.

Don’t Make This Mistake!

When I first started out, a beginner mistake I made was letting people pay for their item when they picked it up. I would spend hours communicating, designing, and making their project, only to have them never show up to buy it. This happened to me about 5 times over the course of a year before I smartened up and changed my policies. Everything I sold was personalized, so I was totally screwed out of the cost of the materials + all the time I spent making it. The only good thing that came out of that situation was that I now had examples for my craft fairs.

My Policy

After finally learning from my mistakes, my new policy became “payment is due prior to making custom or personalized orders.” If people told me they only had cash then I would make them meet up with me first to pay. I’ve also had people mail me checks on rare occasions and I wouldn’t make the item until the check cleared. Typically, I only accept payments through PayPal or Square.

PayPal

PayPal is nice because you can send professional invoices to your customers. All you need is the customer’s email address to send the invoice to. This is an example of what your customer will see when opening their invoice.

Another bonus is that your customer doesn’t need a PayPal account to pay the invoice. They can pay with whatever card they prefer. It’s quick, easy, secure, and professional.

I opened up a PayPal debit card that links to the account I receive payments in. I then use that card to pay for materials, postage, other business related expenses. This is what I use to keep my business and personal finances separate.