How do I accept credit cards online?

The idea in one paragraph

You do not take cards yourself. A payment company does it for you. It shows the customer a secure page, checks the card, and sends the money to your bank account. You get a notice and a record. Stripe, Square and PayPal are well known examples.

Each company sets its own fees and rules, and they change from time to time. Look at two or three before you pick one, and keep the account in your own name, not your designer's.

Three simple ways to start

• A payment link or pay button. You make a link for a product, a service or a set amount, and put it on your website, in an email or in a text. Stripe describes this as a way to take payments without writing code.
• An online invoice. You send the customer an invoice by email or text with a pay button on it. Good for jobs where the amount differs each time.
• Payment inside your booking box. The customer pays when they book, so the booking and the payment are one step.

What to check before you choose

• How soon the money reaches your bank
• What the company charges, and for what. Read the whole fee page, not the headline
• Whether it sends the customer a receipt automatically
• How refunds work, and whether you can do them without help
• Whether it works with your booking tool and your accounts
• Whether you can reach a real person if something goes wrong

Keeping card details safe

There is an industry standard for protecting card data, called PCI DSS. It applies to anyone who stores, processes or sends payment card data. It is set by a council founded by American Express, Discover, JCB, Mastercard and Visa, which develops the standard but does not enforce it.

The practical point for a small business is this. When the customer pays on the payment company's own page, the company handles the card data. Stripe lists PCI compliance handling as supported on both its payment links and its invoices. Never ask customers to send card numbers by email or text, and never write them down.

What customers notice

They notice a payment page that looks like your business, with your name and logo, and a receipt that arrives straight away. They also notice if the site says Not secure on the payment step, which should never happen. See why does my website say Not secure.

Offer more than one way to pay if you can. Some customers prefer a card, some a bank transfer, and some will still bring cash.

Where we come in

We connect the payment company you choose to your website, your booking box and your invoices, so a payment is not an extra job for you. See online payments, read about deposits in how do I take a deposit for a booking, or get in touch.