Thread: A Humble Request (Merged)

Originally Posted by everwiser

It was not an illusion...It's no different than if you bought lunch on your credit card. The restuarant is not going to wait for the actual funds from the credit card company before allowing you to eat your food. They are accepting an agreement that if the credit card company authorizes your purchase, the CC company will pay them in real funds within a reasonable time period. If not, then CC's would be useless pieces of plastic. If the CC company doesn't pay the restuarant then the restuarant is still out the dinner you ate and you're not necessarily to blame. Should they track you down and pump your stomach? Now if the reason the CC company didn't pay is due to you doing a chargeback, that is another story altogether.

This having to wait on funds from CC companies is precisely why a lot of small businesses do not accept them. Besides having to pay fees to the CC company banks for accepting cards, they also have to wait 30 to 60 days for the funds to arrive. Most really small businesses can't afford to extend themselves that far. In the case of a multi-billion dollar operation, the operating capital is there to "float" the member's account until the CC company pays up. If the CC company never pays up then the member should be out the account but not necessarily would it be the customer's fault the CC company didn't pay. If the customer issued a chargeback then the account should be null and void but what if they already received money from it?

Now here's the sinister part...A lot of CC companies allow up to 6 mos. for their customers to initiate a chargeback. A lot of people bought accounts with CC's and began withdrawing as soon as possible. Prior to the 6 mos. "grace" period being up they initiated chargebacks...They out and out "stole" lots of money out of Pips without really having to pay anything for it.

I'm sorry if this ran a little long but it helps me to reason it out for my own thinking if I write/type it. Thanks...

Sorry to bother here, but I owned a business for 20 years until very recently. I accepted Visa/MC and had a merchant account. When a client used a CC, it was either immediatly approved or declined, and the moment it was approved the funds were deposited into my merchant account. I never had to wait weeks, much less days to have access to the funds.

Originally Posted by whatever

Sorry to bother here, but I owned a business for 20 years until very recently. I accepted Visa/MC and had a merchant account. When a client used a CC, it was either immediatly approved or declined, and the moment it was approved the funds were deposited into my merchant account. I never had to wait weeks, much less days to have access to the funds.

Thank you for clarifying that...I apologize for my error in the comparison.

Then what would be the reason for the failure/delay of ECT paying PIP's? Is it a matter of the bank account the payments were supposed to go being unavailable or maybe "rerouted"?

Could it be the way your account with CC is set up? When I was bar tending at a restaraunt, the owner would have to wait to get the payments from CC purchases. I think he had to wait like 10 to 15 days or so to receive the funds.

Originally Posted by everwiser

Thank you for clarifying that...I apologize for my error in the comparison.

Then what would be the reason for the failure/delay of ECT paying PIP's? Is it a matter of the bank account the payments were supposed to go being unavailable or maybe "rerouted"?

This is what I was wondering EW..I can't imagine my relatively small business was any different than the biggies in this regard. When you are approved to be a merchant with a specific bank, their contract with you is upon immediate approval of funds you as the merchant have immediate access. Believe me, when one goes to deposit funds from their merchant account into their main account, a lack of funds would be an instant cause for alarm. Something doesn't add up.

Originally Posted by rosepettle

Could it be the way your account with CC is set up? When I was bar tending at a restaraunt, the owner would have to wait to get the payments from CC purchases. I think he had to wait like 10 to 15 days or so to receive the funds.

I can't imagine why the owner would have to wait? Did you have a direct terminal that you swiped the card in? Again, I don't think my merchant agreement was any different than anyone elses...The CC company is charging you as the merchant a percentage fee based on the # of transactions/amount of transaction. Why would a merchant, on top of that, agree to wait that long to be paid? Upon approval payment availability of funds was almost immediate.

Yes, we had a card swipe machine. I don't know anything about it, but just curious. Thanks

Could there be a difference in treaties between instant credit card terminals and credit card transactions via the internet?

Originally Posted by whatever

Sorry to bother here, but I owned a business for 20 years until very recently. I accepted Visa/MC and had a merchant account. When a client used a CC, it was either immediatly approved or declined, and the moment it was approved the funds were deposited into my merchant account. I never had to wait weeks, much less days to have access to the funds.

These things may vary depending on business type, countries involved, banks involved, local laws, whether the business is online or an actual store, electronic equipment and more.

Originally Posted by guest1

Could there be a difference in treaties between instant credit card terminals and credit card transactions via the internet?

Yes exactly.

Originally Posted by guest1

Could there be a difference in treaties between instant credit card terminals and credit card transactions via the internet?

Well, my best friend has an internet biz and she just told me (because I just called her) that her CC transactions are credited to her account every evening and she has access to those funds..She said it works 100 times better than Paypal, who she ditched for this method. Anyway, didn't mean to open a can of worms here..I just don't think merchants have to wait for accesss to CC funds in todays world. In fact, the bigger the account I would think the better the % the bank would charge you. I used to get at least 2-3 offeres each and every week from banks to open a merchant account w/ them. Much like homeownwers get tons of solicitations for mortgage refinancing.....